Opinion ID: 1964721
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: evers' sexual harassment complaint

Text: Evers began teaching at Creighton in the fall of 2001 and did not have much contact with Recio for several months. Recio was on sabbatical during the 2002-03 academic year. Recio returned in the fall of 2003. It is apparent from the record that the faculty in the Department did not get along with one another. On February 10, 2004, the Spanish section of the Department held a separate meeting. The Department chair, Thomas Coffey, attempted to preside over the meeting, and Recio objected because Coffey was primarily a French professor. The meeting became contentious, and Evers walked out, returned, then walked out again. On February 12, Recio sent an e-mail to Coffey and Creighton administrators, complaining about Evers' conduct at the meeting. On February 13, Evers and three other members of the Spanish faculty sent a letter to Coffey complaining about Recio's conduct at the meeting and other alleged emotional outbursts by Recio. A few days later, Evers provided Coffey, the dean of Creighton's college of arts and sciences, and the Creighton legal department with copies of Recio's 2001 e-mails to her. Evers later contacted the chairperson of Creighton's sexual harassment committee and Creighton's affirmative action officer. On March 17, 2004, Evers filed a complaint with the sexual harassment committee, attaching the e-mails and her translations of them. The sexual harassment complaint also set forth a Timeline of Incidents with ... Recio, describing the events listed above, and other instances in which Evers alleged Recio had behaved inappropriately. The complaint also stated that Recio's frequent public outbursts created a hostile environment for anyone required to work with her and that because Evers did not want to have any further contact with Recio, Evers suggested that the only adequate solution would be to dismiss ... Recio from the faculty and remove her presence from the Department. The sexual harassment committee held five meetings and heard evidence from Evers, Recio, several other faculty members, and one student. Other members of the faculty reviewed the e-mails in Spanish. A member of the faculty of Creighton's college of business administration, who was a friend of Recio's and apparently fluent in Spanish, said that the e-mails could be `explained away by culture and effusiveness. ' But members of the Department's Spanish faculty believed that the e-mails were inappropriate, even accounting for cultural differences. The committee found that Recio's messages were inappropriate, noting that [w]itnesses from various Hispanic cultures including Cuba, Venezuela, Spain, and Puerto Rico differed with ... Recio's interpretation that culture could be used to explain away the e-mails and had described them as inappropriate, shocking, and of a sexual nature. The committee found that [a]t best, the emails in their intensity and obsessiveness are ominous and caused ... Evers great distress. The committee also noted several other incidents, including a sexual harassment complaint against Recio and difficulties that had allegedly occurred when Recio had been at another university, and personal behavior toward other new faculty members. The committee noted that departmental witnesses described her in the following terms: obsessive, a bully, aggressive, irrational, ... demanding, creates conflict, stalking, retaliates, rages, verbal violence, explosive, forceful and creates a hostile work environment. The committee concluded that the emails constituted sexual harassment and a hostile environment by displaying a pattern of obsessive behavior which created discomfort and distress for ... Evers. The committee believes the implicit sexual overtones and the aggressive, demanding tone of the emails reflected a need by ... Recio to create a sense of power in this relationship. It is inconceivable that a senior member of the Creighton ... faculty would write these words to a new faculty member. The committee also found that the February 12, 2004, letter that Recio wrote, complaining about Evers, borders on retaliation for not responding to Recio's advances. And the committee found that Recio displayed a pattern of obsessive, aggressive and retaliatory behavior toward Evers and that Recio's long-standing unprofessional behavior has contributed to a dysfunctional and hostile academic environment for the entire department that continues constantly to be addressed by the administration. The committee unanimously recommended to Creighton's president, Fr. John P. Schlegel, S.J., that Recio's employment be immediately terminated. Schlegel agreed with many of the committee's conclusions, but decided, in a letter dated May 12, 2004, that the case was much more than a sexual harassment case and stated that his recommendations for action reflect that fact. Schlegel concluded that Recio would benefit from a program of psychological counseling and educational programs on communication, appropriate interactions with others, teamwork, etc. Schlegel placed Recio on a term of probation of a little more than a year and directed her to have no contact or communication with Evers. Recio was directed to commence a psychological counseling program, at her cost, and to attend educational programs recommended by the dean of Creighton's college of arts and sciences.