Dr. Jay has an anger management problem?
http://www.yerridlaw.com/verdict58.cfm Secretary sues over scholars' fracas at USF
By JAMES HARPER
St. Petersburg Times Staff Writer
February 4, 1994
TAMPA - A secretary at the University of South Florida who says she was injured during
a faculty fracas just before Christmas filed a civil suit Thursday against one of the
professors involved.
Jay Wolfson, a USF professor and member of the Hillsborough County Hospital Authority,
threatened secretary Yolanda Santos, grabbed her and jumped on her back - all in a struggle
over Santos' personal tape recorder, the suit charges.
"This is something one would expect to read about in grade school," said Santos'
attorney, Steve Yerrid. "It's ironic in a place of higher learning that the very basics we learn
as children were cast aside."
"We're comfortable that Dr. Wolfson did nothing inappropriate that day," said Tracy
Sheehan, one of the lawyers representing him.
Santos' story is nothing but "a fabrication" designed to fuel a bitter faculty turf war at
USF, she said.
The suit claims that Wolfson's actions amounted to assault and battery, false
imprisonment and negligence and asks for $300,000 in punitive damages.
State prosecutors and USF officials are still investigating the Dec. 17 incident, which
occurred at a faculty meeting in the Department of Health Policy and Management in the
College of Public Health.
Details of the incident have been sketchy.
Department chairman James Studnicki, who along with Santos filed a criminal complaint,
has declined to speak with reporters about it. Wolfson and interim public health dean John
Skinner, who were both at the meeting, have said there was a lot of yelling that day, but
nothing violent.
Santos' lawsuit offers different version of events. The meeting, which Santos was there
to record, began with an argument between Studnicki and Wolfson. When Studnicki tried to
adjourn the meeting and asked Santos to leave with him, Wolfson grabbed her by the arm
and thrust her back into her chair, the suit says. Santos said she was frightened by
Wolfson's yelling and threats.
A few moments later, Studnicki again asked Santos to leave the room and to take her
tape recorder with her. When Santos reached for the recorder, Wolfson "jumped on her back
and reached over her in an effort of wrestle the records from her possession," the suit
says. "As a result of (Wolfson's) unexpected attack, (Santos) was violently pushed
headfirst into the chair upon which the recorder had been resting and as a result sustained
personal injuries."
The Provost Office has asked three professors to decide whether faculty rules were
broken.
51 posted on 10/23/2003 3:14 PM PDT by Sabatier