UNM's director of creative writing said she will resign because her colleague has not been punished for posing in sexually explicit photos with students.
Sharon Warner submitted a letter of resignation March 23 to University administrators. She will step down April 15.
Warner, director of the program for the past 10 years, said she is frustrated UNM's administration has yet to punish Lisa Chavez, who appeared in sexually explicit photos with three graduate students on a sadomasochism Web site.
Chavez is on sabbatical leave and could not be reached for comment.
In her letter of resignation, Warner said English department Chairman David Jones failed to report images of Chavez and a student enrolled in her spring 2007 class.
However, Jones said he received photos of Chavez posing for the Web site in July but did not receive the group photo until later.
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"(Warner) has a very different recollection on matter than I do," Jones said. "She believes she showed me the images several months before I actually saw them."
Jones said he received an anonymous letter in July with photos of Chavez posing for the Web site. He said he immediately reported the incident to administration.
Warner's resignation comes two weeks after Deputy Provost Richard Holder decided not to turn over the issue to the Faculty Senate Ethics Committee.
In his findings, Holder stated that Chavez "used poor judgment in participating in the Web site activities with one of her students," and "in (his) mind, this participation did not rise to the level of calling into question her 'unfitness for duty.'"
Holder also said the graduate students involved "reported their activities were consensual, and all disclaimed any recruitment, solicitation or coercion."
Warner said she suggested the issue be turned over to the ethics committee, but she was "harassed, ridiculed and even threatened" for her involvement.
"Mainly, what it amounts to is the chair, the dean and UNM legal counsel have all told me on multiple occasions that I was - and to quote them - 'perilously close to being sued by Chavez's attorney,' and that I would have to pay for my own counsel," she said in a phone interview. "I was told that they would take my house, and that I may be sued down to my grandchildren."
Brenda Claiborne, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, would not return phone calls Tuesday.
Jones said he never harassed Warner.
"Warner and I have been good friends and close associates for more years than I have been chair," he said. "I've been supportive of her programs and her work. We haven't agreed about all aspects of this case, but I would never want to treat her in that way."
Jones said Warner's leadership will be missed.
"She has been immensely valuable to the program. She has built the program into what it is today," he said. "However, it is also true that this is not a lifetime appointment. Other people have told me that it might be time for a change."
English professor Gary Scharnhorst said he is not happy about Holder's decision. Scharnhorst said he has signed two petitions to refer the issue to the ethics committee.
"I've written letters to a number of administrators at the University," he said. "I believe that what happened was profoundly unprofessional conduct and should be sent to the ethics committee for review."
Warner said both petitions were signed by 13 faculty members in the English department.
She said the latest petition has been sent to interim Provost Viola Florez.
"We're continuing all the way up to the academic chain," she said. "We're prepared to take it all the way to the governor if we have to."
Florez could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Lucy DuPertuis, a graduate student of creative writing, said she is worried about the program's future.
"I, and most other MFA students, have turned down other offers and relocated at considerable expense to Albuquerque for this program," she said. "Internet blogs are already casting aspersions on our program because of this scandal. Will an MFA creative writing degree from UNM, which we had hoped would help us get jobs and help us achieve publication, in fact work against us?"
Jones said the program is strong and will endure.
"The program is in an exceptionally sound condition from a number of points of view," he said. "We have students who are publishing around the world. We have a faculty that has a real profile in the national creative writing scene."
