As they returned Monday from Thanksgiving break, students and faculty members at UC Berkeley's law school were reeling from newly revealed allegations about the incident that prompted the school's dean to resign from his prominent post.
John Dwyer, 50, announced Wednesday that he would leave Boalt Hall School of Law after a woman who is a former Boalt student filed a sexual harassment complaint against him with the university. On Sunday, the woman's lawyer, who expressed outrage at Dwyer's characterization of the incident as "consensual," revealed the student's account of what she says was an unwanted sexual encounter.
Dwyer couldn't be reached for comment Monday, but in a statement Wednesday announcing his resignation, he acknowledged a "single encounter" with a student and said it was consensual. The woman was never his student, and there was no allegation of sexual intercourse, he said.
Dwyer, who is twice divorced, said, "I acknowledge that this reflected a serious error in judgment on my part and was inappropriate."
But Laura Stevens, a Berkeley lawyer representing the woman, said Sunday that there was nothing consensual about what happened that night two years ago.
In a news release and a phone interview from Amsterdam, she said Dwyer hooked up late one night with a group of students, including her client, who were celebrating at Cafe Venezia in Berkeley. Dwyer and a smaller group of students then traveled to a bar in Oakland called Kingman's Lucky Lounge. At the end of the evening, the woman got separated from her friends briefly, and Dwyer offered to give her a ride to her Oakland apartment, Stevens said.
While he used her bathroom, the woman, who was "very intoxicated," passed out on her bed, Stevens said. When she woke up, she discovered that her panty hose had been removed, and her skirt and shirt were pushed up, she said. Dwyer had his head on her chest and his fingers in her vagina, the lawyer said.
"She knew him almost not at all. There was no date. No flirtation. No implication of the possibility of consent," said Stevens. "There was nothing."
The news of Dwyer's resignation stunned legal experts, particularly because it occurred at one of the nation's most prestigious law schools, which boasts nationally known experts on sex discrimination.
"The fact that he stepped down speaks volumes," said Judith Kurtz, a San Francisco lawyer who specializes in sex discrimination cases. "If there's no smoke," she said, "there's no reason to jump out of the fire."
Dwyer's ex-wife June Beltran called The Chronicle on Monday after reading an account of the woman's allegations in the paper's online version. She defended her former husband.
"I'm devastated. I don't think John's capable of what's described," said Beltran, who was married to Dwyer for seven years before the two divorced two years ago. Beltran said she had not talked to her former husband about the incident.
Beltran said she had been unable to reach Dwyer since news of his resignation broke last week but said she felt someone needed to speak on his behalf.
"He wouldn't assault somebody," said Beltran, who graduated from the law school in 1986 but had never been a student of Dwyer's. "He's really principled in that way."
At a hastily scheduled meeting on campus Monday afternoon, some 200 students gathered to talk with faculty members and administers about the impact of the resignation and allegations on the school.
One student said she didn't want this to result in a "radical feminist" being appointed dean. Others were worried that it would hurt the school's reputation and its recruiting efforts -- especially in trying to draw female teachers.
But professor Bob Berring assured the students that "what makes Boalt Boalt is the students and faculty here. That essential enterprise still exists,"he said.
A faculty member will serve as interim dean, but Associate Dean Jan Vetter said the school is not likely to have a permanent dean before January 2004.
In the meantime, university officials scrambled to defend themselves in their response to the incident.
The woman's lawyer, Stevens, accused university officials of mishandling the case. She said the woman made an anonymous call to an official on campus who oversees discrimination complaints under federal Title IX law, which applies to educational institutions.
But Stevens said the official refused to assure the student that her identity would be kept confidential or that she would be protected from retaliation.
In a statement Monday, the university said the woman visited the campus Title IX office in May 2002 but declined to name the dean or take formal action even though she was told the office would enforce its strong policies against retaliation. Five months later, on Oct. 16, the university received a complaint from the woman. The university then took immediate action, launching a confidential investigation the next day, UC's statement said.
When the student filed her complaint, she requested that it be treated as a complaint under the Faculty Code of Conduct and as a general sexual harassment complaint, the statement said.
According to the UC statement, because Dwyer has chosen to resign from the university voluntarily, no further personnel action will be taken.
However, the university is investigating its handling of the case as well as its general sexual harassment policies, the statement said. The university says it now gives deans and department chairs a presentation on sexual harassment policies every year and distributes its policies to students.
Even though her client "won round one" when Dwyer resigned, Stevens said, she still may sue if the university does not strengthen its policies and procedures to comply with state and federal laws.
"Our goal is prevention, not punishment," she said. "The main thing she is seeking is compliance."
Stevens said UC Berkeley does little to train its staff against sexual harassment.
"Their policies and procedures on sexual harassment are minimal. They don't distribute them. They have failed utterly," Stevens said. "Nobody who works there has ever gotten any training. They never did what they were required to do."
Boalt law professor Linda Hamilton Krieger, who teaches employment discrimination including sexual harassment, said the California Education Code requires a university to take "affirmative steps to prevent harassment."
"There are some pretty specific requirements. I have never received any training at all. I've never gotten a document that contains the university's policy," said Krieger, who has been at Boalt since 1996.
After the incident, the student did everything she could to avoid contact with Dwyer, Stevens said. But one last encounter couldn't be avoided.
As dean of the law school, Dwyer handed the woman her diploma.
Said Stevens, "It was dreadful for her."
