I've thought a lot about how I wanted to frame this next entry. I've told this story to close friends and their reactions have always been of the "oh my God, how awful" variety.
As a sophomore in college I was put in the difficult position of having to file a complaint against one of my professors. What made the situation more painful was that Professor "G" was a brilliant, animated teacher who lectured from memory. I had enjoyed my first class with him so much that I decided to take a second one to fufill an elective.
I was poorer than usual that term and buying my books piecemeal with the proceeds of my work study checks. I put off purchasing Professor G's last book (of seven on the required reading list) until shortly before the term ended.
Only to discover that the bookstore had sent all the copies back.
Frantic, the only option I saw was hunt Professor G down and find out what my alternatives were. I was not the only poor student in the class and was aware that the majority of my classmates had not purchased the book either.
When I told Professor G that the book had been sent back, he reacted in a fashion that was completely in character with his personality. He started advancing on me, speaking loudly. In my attempt to put some distance between us I backed right into a wall. He had me cornered and grabbed the sides of my unzipped jacket. I could not say anything at that moment. All I knew was that something had gone terribly wrong and I was afraid.
He let go of me when one of the other professors came out of his office to see what was happening. With a casual "Is everything alright here?" Professor G came to his senses and backed off. I collected my wits and fled without another word.
I don't wrestle with whether I did the right thing. Had I known what was to come in the next month, that friendships would be irretrievably broken, that the Director of Housing would treat me like a criminal, that the administration would attempt to slap the label of sexual harassment on the situation because they could not find another label to fit, I still would have reported him.
I admit, I did not make it easy for the school. For one, I turned down the option of dropping Professor G's class. I am pretty certain that I could have walked away with whatever grade I currently had (which turned out to be an A), but I could not do that. If I had, I would have been afraid of him, and I did not want to be afraid.
For another, I rebuffed every single attempt that the administration made to turn it into sexual harassment. Professor G may have suffered a lapse in judgment, but he never acted in a sexually inappropriate manner towards myself and I never observed him act in such a manner towards other women. He would have acted exactly the same if I had been a male instead of a female. While a male student may have brushed the incident off, I could not. Male or female, the second he laid a hand on a student, he crossed the line.
In the end, Professor G was not granted tenure and moved on to teach at several other colleges. As far as I know, he is still teaching.
As for myself, I understand firsthand the difference between what is right and what is easy.
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