March 29, 1998

Court Rules Against Prominent Professor in Harassment Case

THACA, N.Y. -- A New York state court has dismissed the last of eight claims in a $1.5 million lawsuit against Cornell University brought by a psychology professor who challenged the university's procedures in finding him guilty of sexually harassing four female students.

The professor, James Maas, 59, has long been one of Cornell's most popular professors. Each semester, nearly 2,000 undergraduates have enrolled in his introductory psychology class, one of the largest college courses in the country. He is also nationally known for his research on sleep deprivation and for the dozens of educational films and television specials he has produced.

The court decision, issued last week, came more than three years after Cornell administrators upheld a unanimous ruling by the faculty ethics committee that Maas had behaved unprofessionally in his relationship with the former students, and that in effect his behavior constituted sexual harassment.

The students worked for the professor as teaching assistants, members of his film crew and, in one case, a nanny to his children. Three of the women who filed complaints told the committee that Maas had repeatedly kissed and hugged them and made sexually suggestive comments, and all four said he had bought them gifts.

Maas sued Cornell in 1995, asserting that the procedures used by Cornell's College of Arts and Sciences to review the sexual harassment accusations against him were invalid and violated his employment contract and relationship with the university.

Maas said Friday that his only punishment for the committee's determination, which he said did not include any finding that he had any physical or intimate sexual contact with the students, was a one-year postponement of a merit pay raise and a requirement that he get approval before hiring students to work on his film crew.

Last December, Maas suffered a legal setback when a state appeals court affirmed the dismissal of six of his eight claims against the university. The ruling last week, by a Supreme Court judge in Cortland, dismissed the remaining two claims of negligence on the part of the university and denied a request to add a claim of fraud.

Responding to questions by e-mail Saturday, Maas emphasized that he was never found to have had or sought sexual relations with any of the students or to have engaged in any physically abusive behavior. He said he would appeal the court's ruling.

"This case is far from over," he said. "I will appeal and fully expect to be vindicated."

The finding by the faculty committee that Maas had violated the university's sexual harassment policies shocked many of his colleagues and students and led to a heated campuswide debate over when a relationship between a professor and a student crosses the boundary of ethical conduct and becomes sexual harassment.

Cornell officials said the court ruling vindicated the university's handling of the accusations.

"The office of the university counsel believed from the beginning that the professional ethics committee, the dean of the college and the provost all exercised their delegated responsibility with care and integrity," said Nelson Roth, the associate university counsel who argued the case for Cornell.