University of Central Florida adjunct faculty member William Wise lost his job due to sexual harassment allegations, according to an investigative report.
The Office of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Programs found that Wise “committed both harassment on the basis of sex and retaliation,” the report said.
A student sent in the accusations after appealing a grade in Wise’s EDG 2311, Teaching, Learning & Strategies for Substitute Teachers class in fall of 2014, the report stated. However, the student and Wise had met prior in April 2014 to discuss two courses the student had taken with the faculty member in spring semester.
“Oh! There’s that boy again,” Wise said to the student when reviewing the spring 2014 assignment grades, according to the report. “What’s the boy’s name?”
“What boy?” the student asked.
“The boy you are doing instead of your homework,” Wise responded according to the report.
The report also said that Wise kept asking for the boy’s name and told the student he hoped he had fun because “the boy” cost the student an ‘A’ in the class.
The student felt “uncomfortable and afraid,” according to the report.
The student did not want to take Wise’s EDG2311 in the fall due to this meeting but he was the only professor teaching the required course.
The student’s father attended the student’s interview with the EOAA and said that the student returned home “visibly upset” after meeting with Wise in the spring and that the student felt “upset and humiliated,” according to the report.
The student said that the first report of Wise to the university was a grade appeal for the class in the fall of 2014, according to the report.
The document states that Wise denied his comments to the student and that he did not recall the meeting where this occurred.
“He stated that the student earned a failing grade in the Fall 2014 class because of poor attendance and failure on many of the class assignments,” the report said.
The student alleged that they “received an automated e-mail stating that, immediately before the grade appeal hearing, Dr. Wise tried to change [the] grade on one of the assignments for his fall 2014 semester course” from a perfect 10 to a zero, according to the report.
The report states that Wise did not provide a clear reason for the grade change.
The student provided emails between them and Wise where Wise said the student could stop by his office hours on April 3. The report states that Wise said he “searched his Outlook appointment database and could find no appointment with the student referenced.” However, this was contradicted by the student emails.
“Well, I guess it has finally caught up to me,” Wise said at the end of the hearing, according to the report.
“EOAA learned from the Assistant Dean of the college that it had received no prior complaints of sex-based harassment concerning Dr. Wise,” according to the report.
