SOUTH BEND, Ind.—A tenured electrical engineering professor at the University of Notre Dame was fired in June after an investigation concluded that he had inappropriately used research grant money and university funds to purchase more than $190,000 worth of equipment, which he then used to take pornographic photos. The professor, Oliver M. Collins, sued in July for breach of contract in a case that is ongoing.
According to the South Bend Tribune, “A university investigation revealed Collins received the grant money for research and instead bought at least seven digital cameras, many lenses, surveillance cameras, an oversized printer and computer equipment he used to produce pornographic photos.”
In his suit, Collins claims the university failed to prove the dismissal was merited. “Collins claims he presented two expert witnesses at a hearing who testified that the equipment he bought might plausibly be used for valid scientific research,” the paper reported.
In its response to the complaint, filed recently in U.S. District Court in South Bend, Notre Dame claimed “Collins took many of these cameras and accessories to his home and used them extensively in pursuit of his personal hobby of photography, including taking landscape and pornographic photographs.”
Collins, who joined the Notre Dame faculty with tenure in 1995, now lives in Key West, Fla., and claims that the fallout from his dismissal has made it all but impossible for him to find teaching employment in his area of expertise.
Notre Dame counters that while the dismissal of a tenured professor is rare, in this case it was more than warranted, especially considering the fact that a campus appeals board upheld the decision, as did the Rev. John I. Jenkins, Notre Dame's president, who sent Collins the June letter notifying him he was fired.
Notre Dame is asking that the suit be dismissed and that Collins be ordered to pay the legal bills, reported the Tribune.
