The University News

Issue date: 8/20/07 Section: News

Media Credit: UMKC File Photo Chancellor Guy Bailey must guide UMKC through a discrimination lawsuit and a second investigation into alleged sexual harassment.

Media Credit: UMKC File Photo Grace Hernandez, director of Affirmative Action, is leading the second investigation into allegations of sexual harassment by two professors.

The University of Missouri - Kansas City has launched a new investigation into allegations that two professors sexually harassed female students and staff.

The allegations, initially reported by a graduate student in May 2005, charge that Drs. Keith Haddock and Walker S. Carlos Poston II, then of the Psychology Department, created a sexually hostile environment in the Health Research Group lab.

The first internal investigation was completed in June 2005, with the then-director of Affirmative Action concluding there was insufficient evidence to sustain the charges, said Chancellor Guy Bailey.

However, acting on advice from its legal council, UMKC in July 2007 agreed to a $1.1 million out-of-court settlement with Dr. Linda Garavalia, associate professor of Psychology, and Megan Pinkston-Camp, a former psychology graduate student.

Bailey said he was briefed about the lawsuit by the University of Missouri System legal council in Nov. 2006, at which point he realized the allegations were new and another investigation would be necessary.

"The lawsuit was not against [Haddock and Poston], it was against the university based on our response and so forth," he said.

Bailey noted the university had to wait until the legal issues were resolved before conducting a second internal investigation.

"Almost as soon as we settled out of court, we began a full-scale investigation into all of the allegations," he said. "We're going to get to the bottom of everything and take the appropriate actions."

Bailey appointed Grace Hernandez, director of Affirmative Action, to conduct the new investigation.

"We're committed to due process for everybody," Bailey said.

Hernandez stressed that in light of the ongoing investigation, objectivity is essential.

"In order to be fair to both sides, I asked them to present to me lists of who they wanted me to interview," she said. "What I'm focusing in on right now is what exactly happened in the lab."

Hernandez estimated she would interview roughly 100 people and is currently about halfway through the process.

According to the lawsuit filed by Garavalia and Pinkston-Camp, Haddock and Poston "made references to oral sex as plaintiffs and other women ate bananas," and "made references to their own penis sizes in relation to pencils, bananas, rulers and other objects" in addition to other sexually-oriented behavior.

"If we knew [the allegations] to be true, that these very egregious things had occurred, we wouldn't even be doing a reinvestigation into the matter," Hernandez said.

Haddock and Poston were promoted from associate to full professors and assumed additional duties as interim chair and interim vice chair of the Informatic Medicine and Personalized Health Department in the School of Medicine.

Bailey said they were promoted in April 2006 and the lawsuit was filed in August 2006.

"[Haddock and Poston] weren't promoted while these allegations were out there," he said. "The dean of the School of Medicine would have known nothing about [the charges] because the [internal investigation] was closed, essentially."

Replying to inquiries from the University News, University Communications stated that they were promoted Sept. 1, 2006, and that Haddock's annual salary was increased from $75,876 to $93,376, while Poston's raise was from $76,707 to $101,707.

Haddock and Poston were unavailable for comment, but released the following joint statement through University Communications: "Given the active investigation, I have chosen not to respond to questions from the media." As the investigation continues, both continue their work in the School of Medicine. Garavalia is on sabbatical this year.

"This is one of the most serious sets of allegations that have ever hit the university," Bailey said. "We're going to get to the bottom of it and do the right thing."

jseiden@unews.com

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