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A West Texas A&M University professor has left the institution amid allegations that he groped two students. Nabarun Ghosh faces misdemeanor charges of indecent assault and is currently barred by Randall County Court from going within 200 feet of campus, court documents show.
A Texas ABC news station reported Friday that the university “terminated” Ghosh, a biology professor, about a week after he was charged on Sept. 25. Jesse Quackenbush, Ghosh’s attorney, told Inside Higher Ed that the professor actually “retired for health reasons.”
The two students who accused Ghosh also filed internal Title IX and ethics complaints through the university, Quackenbush said, adding that Ghosh learned those complaints were dropped after he retired. Quackenbush said Ghosh might not have retired had he known those internal complaints would be dropped. But the criminal case against Ghosh continues.
“Their claims are hogwash,” Quackenbush said of the accusers.
One complainant is named in the court documents, but Inside Higher Ed was unable to reach them Monday. A spokesperson for the university said it “does not comment on personnel matters or ongoing investigations.”
Quackenbush called this a “case of academic extortion.” He said one of the complainants retaliated against Ghosh—including by enlisting a friend to also complain against him—because Ghosh didn’t give her a paid teaching assistant position that she hadn’t completed prerequisites for. Quackenbush said one complainant “tried to entice a sexual response” from Ghosh.
The students accused Ghosh of touching them in his office when he was “seated behind them while reviewing academic matters on a computer,” Quackenbush said.
“He’s, you know, trying to read over their shoulder and they’re alleging he got too close and touched them in a sexual manner,” Quackenbush said.
