Professors Behaving Badly: 11 Shocking Academic Scandals

Professors are supposed to serve as academic mentors and points of inspiration -- but sometimes, their life-teaching skills just don't make the grade.

Below, check out 11 college professors (and administrators) who might ask you to "do as I say, not as I do."

Have your own story? Share in the comments section.

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Tihomir Petrov

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Although Tihomir Petrov, former professor of mathematics at UC Irvine, maintains that he is not guilty of the two counts of public urination with which he has been charged for peeing on his colleague's door, prosecutors say his second act of outer-bathroom waste release has been caught on tape. Apparently, Petrov was in a dispute with a fellow professor preceding the alleged, er, marking of territory.

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10 College Profs And Faculty Behaving Badly

Although Tihomir Petrov, former professor of mathematics at UC Irvine, maintains that he is not guilty of the two counts of public urination with which he has been charged for peeing on his colleague's door, prosecutors say his second act of outer-bathroom waste release has been caught on tape. Apparently, Petrov was in a dispute with a fellow professor preceding the alleged, er, marking of territory.

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Comments

[pleasantlyvague]

01:20 AM on 02/21/2011

I would like to know why anyone thinks it matters if a professor is a phone dominatrix in their spare time. It's not like they're advertising their services to their students. Beyond that, it's not even prostitution, or illegal. People have their stuff. Are you implying this woman was somehow psychologically unfit to teach... legal adults how to write creatively? I know there's no point in trying to correct this sort of non-sensical public opinion, but I still believe that whatever people do in their private lives generally has nothing to do with their professional lives and should be discounted as such. The only times I don't follow this rule are when the personal life does directly compromise the professional life, such as when SC governor lied to his staff and neglected his duties as governor to have an affair abroad. It has nothing to do with the fact that he had an affair. The problem is that he compromised his work in order to do it. So unless this professor canceled half her classes to dominate some random over the phone, I'd leave her job alone.

[1freedom]

11:08 AM on 03/04/2011

EXACTLY!!! I actually re-read to see if I missed the impropriety. It was a public university right? Not a private, religious school. What's the beef?

[Widespread Panic]

03:36 PM on 02/20/2011

Dang! And I thought it was scandalous when the pretty young married prof started an affair with another married prof. at my college.

[SangZe]

09:49 AM on 02/17/2011

Only 11? Congress outscores the teachers easily, even without looking at other government officials.

[silencedogooder]

07:33 PM on 02/15/2011

While he was President of UMW, William Frawley got two DUIs within 24 hours and (the 2nd time) was pulled over driving on three tires .

http://www.fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2008/042008/04292008/375201

[Pharoah Narim]

11:17 AM on 02/22/2011

"Bub" is a university president? What's he like 124 years old now? Steve would be soooo disapointed to hear this.

[slaxx]

02:45 PM on 02/11/2011

How about finding thousands of images of child porn on a prof's computer, who was then found guilty on 130 felony counts?

http://www.dailyfreeman.com/articles/2009/04/02/news/doc49d42ce8f35f7439330942.txt

[maslin]

01:42 PM on 02/11/2011

Plagiarism, embezzlement and falsification are all semi-predictable bad behavior. I'd submit that you will see the same kinds of bad behavior in any professional discipline or large organization.

This is not meant to excuse it. I'm just saying that standard professional oversight methods and corrections will probably work for these. A robust system should be able to minimize this kind of expect-able bad behavior.

More worrying to me is the drug-dealing gun-running prof. A prof holding thousands of pills and thirty loaded guns is a potentially serious problem. I'm glad they caught that guy.

Also, the "doorman" story is pretty weird.

[frw55]

05:53 AM on 02/10/2011

I'm surprised the female professor who gunned down her colleagues and was suspected in the death of her brother years earlier wasn't mentioned. It was about a year ago and it apparently involved not getting tenure.

[jackbutler5555]

01:02 PM on 02/11/2011

Separate story in today's Huffington Post.

[slaxx]

02:46 PM on 02/11/2011

I'm think maybe because she has not been tried and found guilty yet, like the NYU prof accused of incest?

[Predeliction Three]

07:07 AM on 02/09/2011

A running headline story in Denmark
http://universitypost.dk/article/media-brain-scientist-faked-lab-reports-lied

[duchat]

11:08 PM on 02/07/2011

At Kingston University of London, UK, two professors, Fiona Barlow Brown and Fred Vallee Tourangeau were caught on tape pressuring students to falsify their responses to the National Student Survey, a required survey of student experience used by the British government as part of its system of awarding funding to higher education institutions.

See: http://www.sirpeterscott.com/scandal.html

[duchat]

11:02 PM on 02/07/2011

Prof. Lawrence Schiffman of NYU has been publicly accused of plagiarizing the ideas of Dead Sea Scrolls Scholar, Norman Golb.
For further details see:

http://www.manhattanchronicles.com/The-Dead-Sea-Scrolls-Scandal.php

[prisva19]

11:41 AM on 02/07/2011

Is sad what is happening with the teachers, they do not treat them as it should be, and have no right to call the attention of students when they do not comply with rules...
http://www.collegedegreereferral.com/

[Natoya Ebony]

11:19 AM on 02/07/2011

i had my share of bad professors at Florida A & M University...most of them were at clubs and bars with the students...lol, good times
http://natoyaebony.blogspot.com/

[diamondeyes83]

03:31 PM on 02/18/2011

Nice!

[bobbiisadukefan]

08:51 AM on 02/07/2011

The college was named Hazard.....no one should tell you to stay away from that college.

[Time Before]

12:55 AM on 02/07/2011

I wonder how many here have studied the history of education? How has it changed?

What is the mission statement for your college?

They all have one on what they call an educated mind. Have any of you read it?!

What was the curriculum like in the 1960's and 1970's? What books have you read on it?

Has anyone read Noam Chomsky in “Miss Education.” He states we have a colonial style system: mindless drills and sets of conditioning to stymie thinking. You need to be obedient – docile – conformist. That is number one.

How about John Dewey?

What is the most important thing in education?

The professors – I knew could never give the answer! The only one that could was Frank Schiavo and he was rare!

Let us hear it from the professors – what is an educated mind? What does it look like? Tell us about how that is made?

Why do you think kids hate school so much: Like the Song THE WALL states!?

[chaya]

10:30 PM on 02/06/2011

Wow, can this be true? Professors are human beings, too? Wow! Who knew? There are some who do bad things! (Unlike the many right-wing politicians and corporate players who carry around such a load of corruption you can smell them a mile away).

This is one of the stupidest articles I believe I have ever seen on Huffington Post. Arianna, why are you now going after teachers? "Have your own story? Share in the comments section." I have more suspicions about you with every day that passes.

Not only that, but Mark Talbert and Lisa Chavez weren't even "academic scandals." You had to root around really deep to even come up with 9.

Can hardly wait until you come up with the next installment: "Scientists Behaving Badly."

[Culturegeek]

01:08 PM on 02/07/2011

They are now going after teachers because they are now owned by Rupert Murdoch.

I thought the Linda Chavez thing was especially ridiculous, at least the details included in the story.

Although didn't a Linda Chavez run for governor of Maryland or similar about 15 or 20 years ago? As I recall, she lost (among other things, the Linda Chavez I'm thinking of is a Republican, and Maryland is a very blue state), but during the campaign, she said some things that were, at the time, over the top Is this the same Linda Chavez?

If so, the story is entertaining on those grounds, but not for any of the reasons given in the story.

[chaya]

01:29 PM on 02/07/2011

Undoubtedly a different Linda Chavez. No question.

You know, Chavez is an incredibly common name. Here in New Mexico, where our Linda Chavez teaches, Chavez is a lot like "Smith."

Good point about Murdoch.