Written by Andrew Morris<\/p>\n
California State University San Marcos Professor Dr. Chetan Kumar was reviewed by officials for reports of misconduct by several students last November.<\/span><\/p>\n The violations of school and state education codes led the university to tell Kumar of his termination.<\/span><\/p>\n Following this, the employee union stepped in to defend Kumar and appeal to the school, eventually leading the school to drop the termination if he stops talking to the girls who complained.<\/span><\/p>\n Investigators looked into four specific instances of misconduct, including one case of a woman who was previously his teacher\u2019s aide. She told investigators that after a prior engagement ended, he said they \u201cshould get together to cry on each other\u2019s shoulders.\u201d After this, they planned to get coffee, and after cancellation and several emails and text messages, she begrudgingly agreed to meet.<\/span><\/p>\n She later reported to investigators that the meeting was romantically driven, during which he asked several personal questions which were \u201cunprofessional.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Afterward, he continuously sent text messages, until she asked him to keep their relationship \u201cpurely professional\u201d in the future.<\/span><\/p>\n Additionally, three other students came forward with reports of romantic encounters which were \u201cunprofessional,\u201d but not \u201csexual.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n As of now, the university is not firing Dr. Kumar but received paid leave until Feb. 26, and a three-month suspension without pay. The charges on his record will be dropped in three years if no further incidents occur, according to an agreement signed in January by both parties.<\/span><\/p>\n This case is a testament to the daunting power of a union. \u201cUnions are just so strong that if the union is telling them, ‘This is what\u2019s going to happen,’ the district does what the union says,\u201d states Terri Miller, president and founder of the Stop Educator Sexual Abuse, Misconduct & Exploitation group.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Written by Andrew Morris California State University San Marcos Professor Dr. Chetan Kumar was reviewed by officials for reports of misconduct by several students last November. The violations of school and state education codes led the university to tell Kumar of his termination. Following this, the employee union stepped in to defend Kumar and appeal…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6169,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\n