Andrew Crighton
News Editor
Herb Maschner, the former Director of the Idaho Museum of Natural History who was subject to a sexual harassment lawsuit has been stripped of his title and duties at his new position at the University of South Florida.
After a judge upheld the case against ISU and Maschner filed by Kelly Pokorny, Maschner was actively recruited by USF as Executive Director of the Center for Virtualization and Applied Spatial Technologies in August of 2015.
Maschner did not inform his new employers of the sexual harassment until over a year later. The Tampa Bay Times has reported that this was due to Maschner learning that an Idaho newspaper was about to publish an article about the impending court date.
After this information became public at USF, faculty members of the College of Arts and Sciences and Department of Anthropology met to discuss the issue on October 28. After a unanimous vote, the Department of Anthropology submitted a letter to its dean requesting that Maschner be distanced from the department under fears that it could harm the department’s reputation and future recruiting.
In mid November, Maschner was informed that he would be stripped of his title and any duties inside of his department, he would keep his benefits and $195,000 salary for at least 90 days after this decision.
His permanent employment and position will be determined after further consultation between him and the university.
USF administrators came under fire concerning hiring practices after this information came clear.
University spokesperson Lara Wade said that the hiring of Maschner did not include the usual reference checks or met with individual faculty members.
USF has had issues with not maintaining strong hiring practices. In late June of this year, USF removed Samuel Bradley from the position of Director of the Zimmerman School of Advertising and Mass Communications.
Bradley was hired in 2013, and USF did not check with his former employers at Texas Tech University, where Bradley resigned amid an investigation of have inappropriate relationships with students.
Last year, Hans Reichgelt resigned from his position as Regional Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs for USF St. Petersburg’s after sexually harassing a professor under his supervision.
