Bad chemistry

A former Brown professor is accused of assaulting 10 students

by Ted Czech

Four women have filed civil suits against Brown University in US District Court in Providence alleging that university officials failed to discipline a visiting professor properly after he sexually assaulted them in his office in the early '90s. Overall, the suits allege, some 10 female students were harassed or assaulted by Kayode Adesogan, a visiting organic chemistry professor from Nigeria, until the university fired him in March 1994.

"This is the most offensive behavior I have ever seen by a school and an employer," says Sheila Engelmeier, an attorney for the Minneapolis, Minnesota, firm representing two of the alleged victims, Stacy Gray and Marketa Wills.

In response, Brown has denied all of the charges and has moved for at least two of the cases to be dismissed. The decision is pending, says Andrew B. Prescott, an attorney for Brown contacted by the Phoenix.

In her lawsuit, Gray, now enrolled at the University of Chicago School of Medicine, says that on March 10, 1993, she went to Adesogan to discuss a low grade. She was hoping he'd show her how to study more effectively, but instead, he touched her stomach and breasts, ran his hands along her legs and buttocks, and kissed her, she says. Then he told her that he knew she could get an A in his course.

Gray says she felt sick and violated. But when she complained to Karen Romer, an associate dean of academic affairs and one of Brown's designated sexual harassment officers, Romer allegedly said, "Maybe it's better that this happened now, because in your profession [medicine] this kind of thing happens."

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Sexual assault at Brown

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Romer did not return phone calls from the Phoenix, but according to court documents, she later denied saying the assault was a good thing, but admitted saying "this kind of thing may happen again" and "that empowers you to move on and handle them the next time."

A few days after the incident, the university dismissed Adesogan, but not before he allegedly assaulted other students over the weekend.

Indeed, Gray later found out she was not the first to complain about Adesogan. After she and others who claimed to have been assaulted by the Nigerian professor formed a support group, they discovered he'd assaulted three other women in 1992, they say.

In September of 1993, one of these women had complained to Romer, saying she wanted to pursue a formal complaint. But Brown did not investigate, because university officials considered it a "retroactive assault," Wills's suit alleges.

Brown, however, denies that any complaints were made about Adesogan prior to December 9, 1992, the day he allegedly attacked Marketa Wills.

According to her lawsuit in US District Court, Wills had gone to Adesogan's office for help, and Adesogan had asked about her religion and other questions not related to chemistry. Wills says Adesogan held her on his lap and sexually assaulted her while singing spiritual songs with her.

At the end of the study session, Wills says Adesogan "prayed" that the devil not confuse her into thinking that "anything sexual" had happened. He told her she needed to continue her sessions with him until her next exam to ensure a good grade.

On December 11, Wills went to Romer, who allegedly claimed she'd never heard any cases like this before. According to Wills, Romer, who is still a dean but no longer a sexual harassment officer at Brown, tried to discourage her from filing a formal complaint.

In court documents, Brown denies this allegation, insisting that Romer told Wills that Brown took sexual harassment seriously. But when Wills filed a complaint a few days later, Brown officials told her there was nothing they could do, she says. Brown denies this as well.

When asked about the alleged incident with Wills, Adesogan admitted to Brown officials that he'd hugged Wills and had conducted a study session with her on his lap, according to court documents.

In a letter to Adesogan dated December 23, 1992, Frank G. Rothman, then provost of Brown, reprimanded Adesogan and placed him on probation for the rest of his stay at the school. Rothman, who declined to comment on the cases, also told Adesogan that Brown would postpone consideration of reappointing him for the 1993-1994 academic year.

"Physical contact of the type you engaged in is not acceptable, and is not excused by your wishing to establish a father/daughter relationship or your sense that you were drawn together since you were both committed Christians," Rothman wrote in his letter. "Any second incident of unacceptable behavior will constitute grounds for immediate dismissal."

In other court documents, Rothman, who resigned as provost in July 1995 and now works in Brown's biomedical department, says he considered dismissing Adesogan right then, but he decided not to because Adesogan was a highly effective, popular professor. "So there were a lot of positive things about Adesogan to balance against this one negative behavior."

Another quote of Rothman's concerning Adesogan's reprimand reveals that Brown may have been hesitant to dismiss Adesogan because of the university's commitment to affirmative action.

"Brown, at that time and still, has been endeavoring to apply affirmative action for people of color on the faculty with less success than Brown had hoped to have in this field," he says. "Professor Adesogan was, to the best of my knowledge, the only black member of the chemistry faculty."

Prescott denies that Adesogan's nationality was "a determining factor with regard to Brown's decision in determining how to discipline" the professor. But Gray's lawsuit alleges that Rothman did not in fact follow through on his threat to fire Adesogan if there was another incident.

Wills's lawyers say the university's decisions about the chemistry professor directly contradict what is written in Brown's policy: "The university's policy prohibiting the sexual harassment of students is endorsed by the faculty, and in accordance with procedures providing due process, a faculty member or teaching assistant violating the policy will be subject to immediate suspension and/or dismissal."

But, Brown says, Wills stated she did not want Adesogan fired and repeatedly expressed satisfaction regarding the disciplinary action taken by Brown.

Wills and Gray also contend that Brown did not conduct a background check on Adesogan and that there was no record of Adesogan participating in any sexual harassment training.

"Adesogan did not have any formal sexual harassment training at the university -- that's not standard practice," says Prescott. He also claims that another Brown chemistry professor did conduct an informal background check on Adesogan before he came to the university.

While Wills's and Gray's cases proceed through court, two other Brown students filed suit against the university earlier this year. Julia C. Stunkel, enrolled at Brown as a full-time student in 1992, alleges that Adesogan sexually harassed and assaulted her in his office on March 8, 1994. Emily Borod, who entered Brown in 1993, alleges that on March 10, 1994, Adesogan sexually harassed and assaulted her as well.

According to court documents, Adesogan has all but disappeared. His wife, who lived in Providence at the time, was served a copy of the complaint and a summons on December 7, 1995. Adesogan was supposed to answer it within 20 days.

Court documents state that he didn't and that no attorney filed an entry of appearance on his behalf. Documents also state that Adesogan's last known address was either Rhode Island or Nigeria.

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Sexual assault at Brown

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