No sexual harassment by professor, investigation shows

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) -- A campus agency found that a University of Oklahoma professor did not commit sexual harassment when he compared a woman's vagina to a handgun. <br><br>"That's the way it

Thursday, March 23rd 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) -- A campus agency found that a University of Oklahoma professor did not commit sexual harassment when he compared a woman's vagina to a handgun.

"That's the way it should have turned out," said David Deming, an associate professor of geology and geophysics.

The complaint had been filed by Becky Hebert, an OU adjunct associate professor and director of the United Ministry Center in Norman, after a letter Deming wrote to the student newspaper.

Deming's letter was in response to an article published Feb. 18 in The Oklahoma Daily, written by Yale Daily News columnist Joni Kletter.

Advocating stricter gun control laws, Kletter wrote that "easy access to a handgun allows everyone in this country, including criminals, youth and the mentally disabled, to quickly and easily kill as many random people as they want."

Deming, a gun owner and member of the National Rifle Association, said he was insulted by the column. He responded by writing that "Kletter's easy access to a vagina enables her to quickly and easily have sex with as many random people as she wants."

Kletter's "possession of an unregistered vagina also equips her to work as a prostitute and spread venereal diseases," Deming also wrote.

Lisa Millington, OU's equal opportunity and affirmative action officer, informed Deming this week that her investigation was complete and that the sexual harassment complaint was unfounded.

"While it is not my duty to pass judgment on the appropriateness of your letter to The Oklahoma Daily, in accordance with my authority ... I hereby find that you have not violated the University of Oklahoma's Sexual Harassment/Sexual Assault Policy," Millington wrote.