The Culture that is Academia

All the way from Naples FL comes this heartwarming tale:

"The same FGCU associate professor suspended for touching a mannequin in a sexual manner has been fired for depositing university checks into his personal bank account.

David Lounsbury, 56, was terminated July 14 after an internal audit found he collected cash and checks worth $15,210.

Lounsbury is accused of asking students to issue checks directly to him, or pay in cash, instead of FGCU for an interview and interrogation course.

Auditors handed their investigation to the university police department, although no criminal charges have been filed.

The department did not return calls about the investigation.

On Thursday, FGCU assigned Lounsbury’s fall courses to other faculty members while stripping his biography from the criminal justice department’s Web site.

In documents obtained by The News-Press through a public-records request, Lounsbury argues he simply was expediting the reimbursement process for supplies he purchased for the criminal justice department, along with his share of fees due to come his way for teaching the class.

“The only one out any money, a small amount, is me, not the university,” Lounsbury wrote in a July 6 memo, dismissing the allegation as a “technical violation.”

Lounsbury, a former Army criminal investigator, initially was suspended with pay Nov. 4 after students reported he touched anatomically correct mannequins in a sexual manner during their death investigation class. FGCU changed his suspension to unpaid leave Jan. 26, but Toll [the provost] allowed him to return this August, instead of firing him, so Lounsbury could “contribute in a supportive way to our learning community.”

WOW!! Suddenly I feel a lot better about myself. I have made students cry, made other faculty members yell at me after getting under their skin in a seminar or faculty meeting, posted insensitive remarks on a political science listserver, and take up to 3 months to write a referee report, but hey, I am practically in line for sainthood if this is any guide to what the rest of my colleagues are up to.