Montgomery College professor fired after making female students take their shirts off in class: DOE report

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. - The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights says it has wrapped up an investigation into a Montgomery College professor accused of sexually harassing multiple female students.

According to the DOE OCR, following a three-month investigation, it was determined that the professor created a hostile environment by asking at least 11 female students to remove their shirts down to their sports bras in some sort of class demonstration and then commented on the student’s breasts, "ostensibly to demonstrate a medical assessment despite the fact that the assessment did not require the clothing removal, or the bodily commentary."

According to the report, when some of the women put their lab jackets on "for modesty purposes," the professor demanded that they remove them. 

The incident, which happened at the Takoma/Silver Spring campus, was first reported in October 2019. Montgomery College says the day after the report was made, the faculty member in question was placed on administrative leave and never taught at the school again. 

"We appreciate the thorough investigation conducted by the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights in regards to this matter. The College fully supports the determinations and resolutions outlined in its final report, made public this week," a spokesperson for Montgomery College said. 

Throughout the investigation, it was noted that one of the female students involved said she failed the class and believed that it was because the professor harassed her. The college helped the student re-enroll in the course and paid for her to retake it. The college also provided tuition reimbursement or paid for at least three other students in the class to retake the course. 

While the professor was ultimately fired, there are still questions surrounding the report.  The college hasn’t said if the matter was referred to police, why the professor is not being named or which class it was. 

"I wouldn’t expect anybody to release anyone’s name until there’s been an investigation. If it’s not a police matter, if it’s like discipline, a personnel matter, personnel things don’t get discussed," Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich said. 

The report does credit Montgomery College for conducting a prompt investigation but it also expresses concern not all involved were notified of the findings.

Montgomery County councilmember Will Jawando, who chairs the council’s Education Committee said he’s surprised to be learning about this just now, four years after it happened. 

"I do think the most important thing happened when this horrible sexual harassment happened, the person was removed immediately when the complaint came in and they were shortly thereafter fired," Jawando said. "I think that worked." 

Jawando says he contacted the college president directly. He also spoke about how there could be certain privacy reasons for why certain information still hasn’t been shared but says he does believe the professor should be named and will push for that.

The Department of Education is requiring the college inform all the students involved by Aug. 15. The resolution agreement also states that the college has to provide OCR with the results of the 2022 climate survey and a summary of the steps it has taken in response to any concerns raised by the survey by Sept. 15. 

While the college does have its own Board of Trustees that governs its policies, Jawando says the county does fund Montgomery College – and so the council does have "power of the purse" over the school.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE DOE OCR REPORT

CLICK HERE TO READ THE RESOLUTION AGREEMENT