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| Myron Pope |
Myron Pope, vice president for student life at the University of Alabama resigned after being arrested for soliciting prostitution. Pope was one of 15 people arrested during a sting operation in the Tuscaloosa area.
On the other side of the state, Richard Hansen resigned as dean at Auburn University's pharmacy school after allegations that he had sexually harassed a female student. Hansen retained his position as a tenured faculty member of pharmacy.
Pope's arrest was the result of an area-wide law-enforcement effort in West Alabama. From a report at al.com:
The investigation that led to the arrest of Myron Pope, the vice president of student life at the University of Alabama, also landed 14 other people in jail, the authorities said Saturday.
Pope, who is also a former Crimson Tide football player, resigned after the West Alabama Human Trafficking Task Force charged him with soliciting prostitution.
In a press release on Saturday, Capt. Phil Simpson, the task force commander, said 15 men were arrested on Thursday and Friday nights after arranging to pay for sex through an app. When the men arrived at an agreed upon location, they spoke with an undercover officer, Simpson said.
Pope was booked into the Tuscaloosa County jail on Thursday and released after posting $1,000 bail.
The authorities have not released the other men’s names. Simpson said all of the men are charged with a misdemeanor count of soliciting prostitution, though some face additional felony charges.
“If buyers were not seeking commercial sexual services, sex trafficking would no longer be profitable,” Simpson said in a press release. “We hope these operations targeting buyers show that we take this very seriously. Our goal is to prevent future exploitation of human trafficking victims who are forced or coerced into prostitution.”
The university announced Pope's resignation in a statement on Friday, and President Stuart Bell said he would appoint an interim vice president of student life:
Pope had held the position since May of 2020. He previously worked for the university as a clinical assistant professor in the higher education administrative program, according to a press release announcing his appointment. He also served as director of recruitment programs/alternative certification from 1997-2000.
In 1992, Pope was a walk-on member of the Crimson Tide football team that beat Miami to win the national championship.
At Auburn, allegations against Hansen came to light after a report in the student newspaper. From al.com:
Richard Hansen, the dean of Auburn University’s pharmacy school, has resigned from his role as dean, the university announced in a campus email Friday.
The change came a day after The Auburn Plainsman student newspaper published a report about alleged sexual harassment by Hansen against a student.
“The creation and maintenance of a safe environment for our students will always be the highest priority for Auburn,” university officials said in the campus-wide email. “The university prohibits sexual harassment and addresses all reports under its policies, including allegations of off-campus conduct when appropriate.”
Hansen remains a tenured professor in the college, according to a university spokesman, who said that disciplinary action regarding faculty, up to and including dismissal, are handled according to the faculty handbook, but declined to comment further.
The email did not detail the allegations against Hansen or whether any of them were found to be credible or were related to his departure.
Hansen became dean in 2017. He did not respond to a request for comment from AL.com, and AL.com has not been able to independently verify The Plainsman’s reporting.
The allegations against Hansen reportedly involve off-campus conduct:
The Plainsman reported Thursday that in April 2021, Hansen made inappropriate comments to a student working at an off-campus bar. After she complained to the university, she said he again came to the bar and made her uncomfortable.
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| Richard Hansen |
According to The Plainsman, the Title IX office investigated the incident, found the complaint credible, and said that Hansen had “created an intimidating and offensive University environment for [the student].” It is not clear whether Hansen ever received disciplinary action at the time; The Plainsman story details conflicting reports about how the school handled the incident under its policy for off- campus Title IX violations. In 2020, new federal guidance led many universities to adjust previous Title IX guidance and change oversight of off-campus harassment and assaults.
Prof. Dan Surry has been named acting dean of pharmacy at Auburn.
This story makes me cringe. Both of these guys could have so easily avoided these pitfalls. But they just couldn't avoid touching an oven they should have known might be hot. Very sad for everyone involved.
ReplyDeleteIt makes me cringe too, and yes, it is sad all the way around. I especially feel for the guy at Alabama. He's not a tenured faculty member, so he's out of a job completely. The guy at Auburn might never be a dean again, but he likely will keep right on teaching pharmacy courses. It's going to be hard for the guy at Tuscaloosa to rebuild his career with that arrest on his record. The charge is a misdemeanor, so his best bet might be to enter a plea, where he would get a probationary period, and then the charge would go off his record if he has no problems re: probation. I'm not an expert on such options, but I believe they exist in many states for misdemeanors.
ReplyDeleteThis option, if it's available might allow him to get his career back together in a few years.
This story shines light on the two-tiered system that exists on many university campuses. If you have tenure, you essentially are unionized and protected, and you can do your work without looking over your shoulder. If you do not have tenure, and the vast majority of higher-education employees do not, you are vulnerable every day, with the possibility of being fired based on one person's whim.
ReplyDeleteWhat does a vice president of student life do?
ReplyDeleteIt probably varies from campus to campus, but usually, I think that's the person who oversees student publications, concerts, speaker series, intramurals, Greek system, student housing, student parking, student health, student government.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure I'm leaving out some things, but as you can tell, the job can be pretty involved, with a lot of political land mines that are best avoided.
One of the worst student-life screw-ups in history happened in Alabama.That was the Brittany Benefield episode, which brought the university all kinds of unwanted media attention. Here is the URL to an ESPN story on the subject:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.espn.com/magazine/vol5no12uab.html
Some of the worst student-life screw-ups in history were successfully covered up, so we can't talk about them.
ReplyDeleteThe above is a statement of opinion and not referencing any past events or persons. No specific knowledge of any past such events, or that the preceding opinion is true, but go ahead and argue against the opinion.
One thing for sure: Alabama won't ever open a window to allow sex abuse claims that have passed the statute of limitations.
Your statement of opinion won't draw any argument from me.
ReplyDelete