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Director of creative writing resigns
Warner says she is angry the department has not punished a colleague for appearing in sexually explicit photos with 3 students.
Brandon Call
Issue date: 4/2/08 Section: News
UNM's director of creative writing said she will resign because her colleague has not been punished for posing in sexually explicit photos with students.
Sharon Warner submitted a letter of resignation March 23 to University administrators. She will step down April 15.
Warner, director of the program for the past 10 years, said she is frustrated UNM's administration has yet to punish Lisa Chavez, who appeared in sexually explicit photos with three graduate students on a sadomasochism Web site.
Chavez is on sabbatical leave and could not be reached for comment.
In her letter of resignation, Warner said English department Chairman David Jones failed to report images of Chavez and a student enrolled in her spring 2007 class.
However, Jones said he received photos of Chavez posing for the Web site in July but did not receive the group photo until later.
"(Warner) has a very different recollection on matter than I do," Jones said. "She believes she showed me the images several months before I actually saw them."
Jones said he received an anonymous letter in July with photos of Chavez posing for the Web site. He said he immediately reported the incident to administration.
Warner's resignation comes two weeks after Deputy Provost Richard Holder decided not to turn over the issue to the Faculty Senate Ethics Committee.
In his findings, Holder stated that Chavez "used poor judgment in participating in the Web site activities with one of her students," and "in (his) mind, this participation did not rise to the level of calling into question her 'unfitness for duty.'"
Holder also said the graduate students involved "reported their activities were consensual, and all disclaimed any recruitment, solicitation or coercion."
Warner said she suggested the issue be turned over to the ethics committee, but she was "harassed, ridiculed and even threatened" for her involvement.
"Mainly, what it amounts to is the chair, the dean and UNM legal counsel have all told me on multiple occasions that I was - and to quote them - 'perilously close to being sued by Chavez's attorney,' and that I would have to pay for my own counsel," she said in a phone interview. "I was told that they would take my house, and that I may be sued down to my grandchildren."
Sharon Warner submitted a letter of resignation March 23 to University administrators. She will step down April 15.
Warner, director of the program for the past 10 years, said she is frustrated UNM's administration has yet to punish Lisa Chavez, who appeared in sexually explicit photos with three graduate students on a sadomasochism Web site.
Chavez is on sabbatical leave and could not be reached for comment.
In her letter of resignation, Warner said English department Chairman David Jones failed to report images of Chavez and a student enrolled in her spring 2007 class.
However, Jones said he received photos of Chavez posing for the Web site in July but did not receive the group photo until later.
"(Warner) has a very different recollection on matter than I do," Jones said. "She believes she showed me the images several months before I actually saw them."
Jones said he received an anonymous letter in July with photos of Chavez posing for the Web site. He said he immediately reported the incident to administration.
Warner's resignation comes two weeks after Deputy Provost Richard Holder decided not to turn over the issue to the Faculty Senate Ethics Committee.
In his findings, Holder stated that Chavez "used poor judgment in participating in the Web site activities with one of her students," and "in (his) mind, this participation did not rise to the level of calling into question her 'unfitness for duty.'"
Holder also said the graduate students involved "reported their activities were consensual, and all disclaimed any recruitment, solicitation or coercion."
Warner said she suggested the issue be turned over to the ethics committee, but she was "harassed, ridiculed and even threatened" for her involvement.
"Mainly, what it amounts to is the chair, the dean and UNM legal counsel have all told me on multiple occasions that I was - and to quote them - 'perilously close to being sued by Chavez's attorney,' and that I would have to pay for my own counsel," she said in a phone interview. "I was told that they would take my house, and that I may be sued down to my grandchildren."
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dankprofessor
dank professor
posted 4/07/08 @ 2:26 PM MST
For information, commentaries, and links to interviews with Professor Chavez and an involved student,go to my blog on sexual politics in higher education-http://dankprofessor. (Continued…)
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