Prof. may be sued in harassment case

Former student initiates legal proceedings A former University student who is alleging that Assistant English Professor Malcolm Woodfield sexually harassed her last year initiated legal action against Woodfield last week in Commonwealth Court. Alice Ballard, attorney to the student, Lisa Topol, filed a document on March 21 in Commonwealth Court, which "basically initiates the action," she said. The document, called a praecipe in legal terms, allows Topol to investigate and collect evidence relevant to the case, Ballard added. "It's a first step," she said. "We thought it was important to address all of the affected parties in the litigation." Two weeks ago, Topol filed suit against the University, alleging that administrators violated her rights by failing to resolve her complaint over an extended period of time. Topol also filed suit against Bates College, where Woodfield taught for two years before arriving at the University, for allegedly withholding information of other sexual harassment accusations against Woodfield. However, Ballard added, the primary purpose of the legal action against Woodfield is to determine whether his financial assets warrant a lawsuit. "If [Woodfield] doesn't have any money, then it might not be prudent to invest a lot of time and money in pursuing the case," she said. Alan Lerner, Woodfield's attorney and a Law School professor at the University, questioned the motives of Topol's most recent legal action. "It's all strategic planning," said Lerner. "Do you know any rich English professors?" Lerner added that he thinks Topol is only trying to put pressure on the University, and that she has no right to demand that the University speed up its handling of her complaint. "I think the proceedings against the University and against him are all part of a strategy to put pressure on the school into getting rid of him," Lerner said. "By threatening to sue maybe they think they'll make him cave in." Topol claims in her lawsuit against the University that administrators "failed to investigate her complaints, or otherwise take any action to determine whether or not there existed grounds to suspend or terminate Woodfield." In addition, Topol's lawsuit states that the University discouraged her from seeking outside counsel and promised her that the matter would be resolved last summer. Topol alleges that she and Woodfield were involved in sexual relations during the first three months of 1992, while she was a student in his class.

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