THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, April 19, 1995 TAG: 9504190401
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT
LENGTH: Short : 30 lines
The state chapter of the American Association of University Professors will support a graduate student who has sued the College of William and Mary, alleging that the school has mishandled her sexual harassment complaint.
The Virginia conference of the AAUP - the major faculty association in the nation - agreed at a recent meeting to help finance the legal costs of Karen Veselits, a part-time instructor in W&M's American studies department.
Veselits filed suit last month in U.S. District Court in Newport News. She alleged that a tenured professor made sexual advances in 1993 and that the college still has not acted on her complaint. College officials have declined comment.
``We're very concerned when anything happens to denigrate the concept of tenure,'' James Tromater, a psychology professor at the University of Richmond and president-elect of the state organization, said Tuesday. ``When a faculty performs inappropriately, that doesn't help us.'' Tromater declined to say how much financial support the chapter would give Veselits.
KEYWORDS: LAWSUIT SEXUAL HARRASSMENT by CNB