March 18
Professor Accused of Assault
Assistant Professor of English Ephraim Russell has been accused of sexual assault by one of his students, the Daily has learned. According to a source inside the administration, the assault took place in Grafton Hall in December. Dean Arjun Choudhary has confirmed Professor Russell has been suspended pending an investigation. Graduate students in the English Department have been asked to take over his two classes.
This is not the first time Professor Russell has been at the center of troubling events. In October, he was accused by students of allowing racially insensitive language to be used inside his classroom, a charge that was ultimately dismissed.
In a possibly related story, a student, identified as first-year Louise Harris, has been waging an unusual protest for the last several days. At the same time each evening, Harris has been seen crawling with an iron ball and chain from Grafton to her dorm on East Quad. There, she stands each night and screams. A handful of students have started to accompany her on her nightly journey and have joined in the scream. Drew Stokes, a sophomore, is one of those who has been following Harris on her nightly crawl. “Clearly, this is a cry against gender violence,” he told the Daily. Others seemed to agree.
Harris herself has not responded to repeated requests for comment, and she remains steadfastly silent during her nightly procession. It can be confirmed, however, that she was a student in Russell’s English 240 class this fall. Furthermore, Russell’s classes are given at Grafton, where Harris begins her crawl each night. One person even noted that Harris’s clothes are similar to those typically worn by Russell. While these facts are suggestive of a connection between Harris and the accusations against Russell, it cannot be confirmed at this time.
Eph stared blankly at the brick walls of his apartment. All he’d been told was that he was suspended pending an investigation. Teaching assistants would take over his classes. He could have learned all that in the Daily.
After he got word, he’d headed to Grafton to collect some things from his office. They only allowed him in after conducting a “search.” For what, Eph had no idea. He noticed that a couple of the departmental offices near him had SAFE SPACE stickers on their doors. Were those there before?
He’d hardly been able to function since his night at Casey’s with Fred Hallowell. D’Arcy had been sympathetic, but Eph could swear he heard doubt in her voice. They’d met earlier in an empty classroom to talk.
“Why do you suppose that girl would make something like this up?” she asked.
Eph had played that day in the office over and over in his head. “How the hell should I know?” He allowed his frustration to show. “I think she was annoyed I wasn’t interested in her. Or, maybe she’s just crazy. In fact, based on my experience with her, I’m quite confident that’s the case.”
“I recognize her from around campus. She doesn’t strike me as the militant type. She’s always wearing expensive clothes, for one. And why would she bail you out on Huck Finn just to do this to you now? It doesn’t make sense.”
“Not to me, either. But she apparently now thinks it’s good sport to ruin my life.” Eph also told D’Arcy something else Fred Hallowell had told him that night: that the university had a photo of Eph and Harris, in his office, dated the same day as the alleged assault. He recalled that Harris had sent him that photo. Did the university look through his emails? The thought made him nauseous.
“I don’t get it. Why did you take a picture with her?”
“She just ran around my chair and took it. It was a selfie. I don’t know why.”
“But why would she just do that?”
Eph was getting angry, although more at circumstances than D’Arcy. “Again, I don’t know. Maybe she planned all this. Or maybe, as I said, she’s batshit crazy. Just look at what she’s doing, crawling around and screaming every night like some animal.”
“Hey, I’m on your side. I’m just trying to understand, okay? Maybe you should tell me everything.”
“She came to my office to drop off a paper. She hands in her paper and then tells me she was the one who cleared me on Huck Finn. Then she starts talking all flirty, and just when I’m trying to process the shift in the conversation, she jumps on my damn lap and plants her face on mine. I shove her off, she gets up, takes the picture, and leaves. Door was open the whole time. End of story.”
“And that’s it?”
“She came by my office one previous time to talk about her paper topic. Also, she emailed a lot, but it seemed like harmless stuff. Other than that, she was a face in the crowd.”
“Why didn’t you tell me any of this at the time?”
“I don’t know. I should have, but it was right around that other stuff, and I guess I didn’t want you to think I was some kind of magnet for trouble.”
D’Arcy thought about this. “Listen, I believe you. Of course I do. This will work out, just like the last time. I think this girl may be troubled. Let me keep my ear to the ground and see what I can find out.”
“Don’t do anything that’ll get you in hot water. Please.”
“I’ll be careful.”
Sitting alone in his apartment, Eph knew what had been left unsaid, that the stakes were higher this time, much higher. Devon had erected a wall of silence. Not even Titus was returning his calls. Tenure? That was a fantasy Eph could put to bed. This was about survival now.
His apartment seemed even smaller than usual.