Diane Dimond: When Sexual Harassment Complaints Are Used as Weapon

Article here. Excerpt:

'This will not start out as a good year for professor Nick Flor of the University of New Mexico. Beginning Jan. 1, he will be suspended from this tenured position, without pay, for a full year. He is not allowed to get another full-time job; the multimillions of dollars in grants he has received will dry up; and his ability to win new grants will be next to impossible.

Flor's predicament follows a rather bizarre and brief interaction with a 35-year-old graduate student who reportedly has a history of pursuing and then complaining about professors.

Under federal law (so-called Title IX), schools that receive public funds must investigate whenever there is a report of sexual harassment, violence or gender discrimination that could hinder a person's education. The problem with Title IX responses has been the frequent inequitable way in which university investigations are conducted. Many males have protested, saying that their accusers' claims of sexual misconduct were taken as gospel, and that they were left to prove their innocence and denied due process.
...
That day, Flor reported the situation to his department chair, who, in turn, reported it to UNM's Title IX office. An investigation was launched, and the woman filed her own complaint alleging sexual harassment and a quid pro quo, as evidenced by the professor's job offer. To Flor's astonishment, he became the focus of the investigation.

Flor is still seething that UNM would take the word of the woman over his, especially after he turned over the 3,258 emails and 174 texts she had sent him, which he maintains clearly show that she was the aggressor. Nine months after he reported the woman's threats, Flor was informed that he had been found guilty of harassment and retaliation. His punishment: that life-altering one-year suspension that will cost him his $130,000 salary.'