Las Cruces Sun News

NMSU memo details apology in e-mail uproar
By Ashley Meeks Sun-News reporter

LAS CRUCES — Larry Olsen, the New Mexico State University administrator accused of e-mailing pornography to a whistle-blowing professor in the College of Health and Social Services, has apologized for doing so, according to a confidential memorandum.

Olsen, who is the associate dean of the College of Health and Social Services, and department head James Robinson are representing NMSU at the national convention of the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance. Because both administrators have temporarily stepped down pending the results of a university investigation, graduate student Freedom Chetani says at least four NMSU students have left for the Fort Worth (Texas) Convention Center to protest Olsen's and Robinson's representation at the convention.

The written apology and the traveling protest are the latest chapter in the investigation of the dismissal of two married, tenure-track professors in the college, Drs. John Moraros and Yelena Bird. In January, Robinson made the decision not to renew their contracts; Moraros said he and his wife were told they were not a good "fit" with the college. Robert Buckingham, the most senior faculty member in that college and a member of the promotion and tenure committee, said that group's unanimous consensus at its Jan. 31 meeting was to renew the couple's contracts.

Moraros, who is Greek and Hispanic, and Bird, who is British and black, say they were subjected to racist comments from administrators and sexual e-mails from Olsen. Bird said she was told once she was "too educated to be black."

The investigation is currently being handled by NMSU's Human Resources and Office of Institutional Equity.

In the memo, dated March 31, Olsen acknowledged that he e-mailed material he called "a bad attempt at humor." Two e-mails from 2007 and 2008 provided to the media and originating from Olsen's administrative e-mail address show 15 explicit pictures of full frontal male and female nudity. One set, tagged "Nice paint job!" shows a naked woman being airbrushed with shorts and a top, then walking down the sidewalk to elicit reaction. Another set, tagged "Where do I sign up?" purports to show a "sperm bank in China" — a row of women handling the genitals of a row of male patients.

"In my role as Associate Dean, I clearly erred in sending this material to Dr. Moraros using my NMSU account," Olsen wrote in the memo. "I regret this mistake and know it will never recur."

Despite repeated attempts in writing and by phone, the offices of the president and provost did not respond. Robinson did reply via e-mail that he had no comment on either the memo or his presence at the conference. University counsel Bruce Kite, according to University Communications, said there would be no public comment on any ongoing investigation.In the memo, Olsen claims Moraros never complained about the e-mails — a claim Moraros disputes.

"I filed a written grievance with the department head in August, with the dean in December. I didn't hear anything from either. I tried to take it to the Office of Institutional Equity; I printed it out," Moraros said. "The moment I raised these concerns ... they slammed the doors in our faces and they refused to see us."

Moraros said he and his wife just want to be reinstated and for the discriminatory practices to cease, but that they have been "flabbergasted" by the university's "horrific and extremely frustrating" response, including a public apology by NMSU President Mike Martin to Olsen at a morning meeting March 17 with College of Health and Social Services faculty and staff.

"Martin started ... by saying "Let me be the first to offer a public apology to Larry,'" Moraros said. The college's two most senior professors, Buckingham and Satya Rao, said Martin, after apologizing, then stated "that there was no evidence" to any of the allegations under investigation.

Moraros said last week he saw Olsen in the college hallway, "high-fiving people and saying he was "back in the saddle again.' Those were his exact words," Moraros said. "I felt like puking."

Olsen and Robinson temporarily stepped down March 12 and March 13, respectively, because of the investigation. Luis Vazquez, associate dean of the graduate school and Regents professor, has assumed their roles in the interim.

Moraros, Rao and Chetani say Olsen and Robinson's offices have merely been relocated to adjoining rooms on the third floor and that they are still acting in their previous capacity, including alerting faculty to research opportunities and representing the college at the Texas conference. Chetani said Olsen and Robinson's presence in Fort Worth has led him to further question the integrity of the university's investigation.

"If they're actually on suspension from academic duties, then why is the school paying for them to represent the college and the school? They should not be going there using the school name," Chetani said Wednesday.