Local view: Sexual harassment at UMD? ‘Rod was just being Rod’

Allan L.
Duluth, MN     11/12/2009 2:19 PM

Sarah S., no one is attacking Emilie’s right to have an opinion, but she did choose to write an opinion piece on a controversial issue. She therefore enters the arena of public opinion and debate. I agree that personal attacks are inappropriate and should not be part of the debate. The debate should be based on facts. Many of us read the UMD report attached to the original article and based our opinions on the facts contained in that report. Emilie in her own op ed piece admits that Rod’s comments toward her made her feel uncomfortable at first but she chose to ignore them. The facts contained in the investigative report documented enough bad behavior and incidents that were serious enough to justify a recommendation to terminate Rod’s employment by the person conducting the investigation. Those were the facts that were presented to us in the original article, and those were the facts that some of us based our opinion’s on. Hopefully people base their opinions on credible information. The truthfulness of facts can and should be able to countered or debated with better information.

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Sarah S.
Duluth, MN     11/11/2009 6:23 PM

Grow up, people. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion about whether Rod is guilty or not, but taking shots at Emilie for expressing her opinion is NOT okay. This opinion piece is well written, despite numerous comments that attack her writing, and like it or not, she doesn't have to base what she's written on facts. That's why there is a separate section in the paper for OPINIONS; not everything that's noteworthy has to be spelled out in numbers and figures. Emilie feels in her heart that Rod has been falsely accused, and as someone that has personal experience with him, she probably has more credibility in her conviction than most of you that read a few articles written from a single perspective and are now convinced that he's guilty. The DNT sends a lot of editorials by complete psychos to print, and quite often very few take much offense, but here we have a young and intelligent writer standing up for a person she holds in some esteem and all most of you can do is criticize her for her honest and heartfelt perspective? Give me a break. Emilie, I appreciate that you've written this, and I agree with what you've said about Rod. Someone needed to do it. -Sarah Spangenberg, Duluth

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Sam P.
Duluth, MN     11/10/2009 8:36 AM

Raymond’s defenders seem to be “cherry picking” the least damaging allegations against him. If you read the report, there are FAR WORSE ALLEGATIONS. For example… 1. The UMD report states that multiple females claimed they were lured by Raymond under dubious pretexts to be alone with him in the privacy of his house where they experienced unwanted sexual advances. 2. The report states that 5 women claimed that Raymond sexual harassed them. 3. The report states that 12 individuals claimed Raymond had inappropriate sexual relationships with students, and it was claimed that these relationships were "supposed to be secret" according to Raymond. Raymond admitted to having had sexual relationships with two students. 4. The report states that Raymond retaliated against and intimidated students who brought harassment claims, and he "defamed the characters" of these female students by his own words and by enlisting others to do so. 5. The report states that Raymond tried to kiss a female student in a hotel during a University trip to the Twin Cities, and when she refused he invited her to his hotel room for a "backrub." 6. The report states that a number of women claimed that Raymond regularly made inappropriate sexual comments. 7. The report states that a number of women claimed that Raymond engaged in inappropriate sexual touching. 8. The report argues that this is long-standing behavior for Raymond. 9. The report states that Raymond made ambiguous, evasive responses to many allegations, made excuses for other allegations, and never showed understanding that anything he did was wrong. 10. The report states that multiple female students found Raymond's behavior "predatory." The allegations are far more serious than many realize.

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Brad S.
Duluth, MN     11/08/2009 3:22 PM

I just hope this encourages other women who have been harassed by him to speak up. It seems this takes some guts to do. I applaud the young ladies who were the first to speak up, they will not likely be the last we will hear from. I like UMD as an institution but this leaves me with a sick feeling.

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Louis N.
Minneapolis, MN     11/07/2009 9:41 PM

All sexual predators are "nice guys", Rod is a sexual predator, send him to treatment.

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Allan L.
Duluth, MN     11/07/2009 3:21 PM

Ned N., you would be offended if you were labeled but you have no trouble trivializing and labeling the women who filed a complaint with the University as “Tattlers” as if they betrayed your trust. Decent, respectful treatment has nothing to do with political correctness and in fact how you are treated or mistreated may violate the law or employment requirements. The next step is up to UMD.

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DM A.
Duluth, MN     11/07/2009 3:17 PM

This kerfuffle neatly illustrates the vast gap between popular culture and how real people think and act. Turn on TV at any hour of the day or night and you find people acting 10Xs more outrageously than Rod portrayed as normal and healthy. Movies, same thing. Magazines? Ditto. David Letterman tell the world about his habits, everyone laughs. Any wonder why kids are confused?

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Marikay J.
Park Rapids, MN     11/07/2009 8:57 AM

Pray you never are harassed, or your wife, or your daughter, or your grand-daughter! When a person in some capacity of authority uses that authority to intimidate someone under them, be it student-teacher, staff-employer, IT IS WRONG> If indeed this person has this so ingrained into his personality, then he needs to be removed from that position of authority. I pay taxes that help support a state-run university, I expect that that university will provide a safe, non-harassing environment. If even one more complaint is lodged against his continued employment, he should be summarily removed.

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UMD S.
Duluth, MN     11/06/2009 10:01 PM

As a former acquaintance of Rod I do not doubt the sexual harassment suit against him. I’ve personally known Rod for about five years. A few years ago, when I was a senior (age 22) at UMD I trained with Rod. I knew he was an energetic person, however, he would always mistreat women. I was appalled at some of the comments he made to women and most of them were UMD students my age. I know at least three other women he made feel uncomfortable while I was standing in the same room. On more than one occasion he would make attempts to date women my age. I don’t believe a person’s age should determine ones love for one another, but like the previous article stated 20 years their senior. I can give plenty more examples, but I don’t have that much time. I’m surprised Rod’s ex-wife hasn’t commented on the topic. It looks like Rod just being Rod finally caught up to him; it’s about time! Anyway, future women beware of Rod Raymond. P.S. This is another classic case of a person abusing their power. Rod is suppose to be a role model for students, but instead uses his position for personal gain.

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paul e.
Newton, IA     11/06/2009 6:58 PM

Emilie--Please get some training concerning sexual harassment! I feel embarassed for you as you obviously do not know what sexual harassment is--and now everyone knows that you don't.

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