In one story, a male professor was propositioned by a female supervisor. The male professor refused to respond and thought the matter had ended. The female supervisor enlisted the assistance of several students who were having academic problems with the male professor. When the male professor found himself being harassed publically in school, he reported to the school’s administration what was happening and named the female supervisor who had propositioned him.
The administrator reported the male professor to the supervisor to let her handle the situation. The female supervisor accused the male professor of slander and sexist behavior towards her. His troublesome students found themselves in control of a professor whose class they had no way of passing without the female supervisor’s assistance.
The male professor was threatened with termination and when he went to his office one morning was evicted by the female supervisor and the very same students to whom he had given low grades to. During graduation exercises at the college, the male professor was publically defamed by the president of the college.
Where did the professor go wrong? He went wrong by assuming that his word would hold up better than a female supervisor. He forgot his own line of power and barged in where angels fear to tread. The college could face a serious lawsuit from a female supervisor who was being accused by a male professor. Standing to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars from a real lawsuit or closing the door on a snuckered peer gave the administrator and the president of the college little room to make a fair choice. That is the new reality of what is currently happening in the hallowed halls of colleges being run by workplace bullies.
The professor should have fallen back on his first lesson in kindergarten, he should have made friends with the students who were approached by the female supervisor. Together both their needs would have been met. The sullied halls of academia would have been washed and the backward students could have hired a tutor and gotten a grade change from the professor. There is no other way to fight a professional bully at work.