To help their new professor learn names, students in English 201 place nametags on desks half-way into the semester .
Aaron Berkowitz – General Assignment Reporter
Students in an English 201 class were left with unanswered questions after their second professor of the semester exited their classroom for the last time with a silent wave and no explanation.
When Professor William Friskey, an ex-adjunct professor at SCSU, was escorted out of the classroom during his creative writing class’s time by a few of his peers, some of his students knew something wasn’t right.
“He’d always make jokes when someone in the class would walk in late and say something like ‘I’m nervous someone is going to come in to take me and have to watch the class,’” said Matt White, junior communications major. “I was always asking myself ‘why is he so nervous?’ I mean he’s a good teacher, we liked him, and he was hired already so that was questionable to me.”
White was a student of Friskey’s during his two weeks teaching at SCSU and said he came off as a nice guy, but there was some mystery to his personality.
Friskey was charged with having sexually assaulted a 17-year-old girl at Ledyard High School on July 30 of this year. According to the Counter Pedophile Investigative Unit’s website, statistics show that between one and five percent of teachers sexually abuse or harass their students.
Chief Human Resources Officer, Diane Mazza, and Chair of the English Department, Michael Shea, said they are unable to comment on issues concerning personnel but can say that the university no longer employs Friskey.
Mazza said once a position becomes vacant the university posts it externally and begins accepting applications. She also said the university’s Human Resource department is responsible for conducting background checks on potential employees in order to verify their criminal records, social security, employment history, and their education credentials.
“The recommendation of who should be hired comes from the department to the dean to the provost and then ultimately we would get the information about who they want to hire. Then at that point we would conduct the appropriate background check for the prospective employee,” said Mazza. “They cannot begin working as an employee until everything has been cleared through our office. “
Sandra Gomez, sophomore journalism major, was also in Friskey’s English class said she was shocked to see what her professor had done and felt like she had been violated in a way.
“I guess I just don’t understand how this could happen when we found the information so easily on Google,” said Gomez. “I was just in shock. It’s a creative writing class where we share a lot of personal details and finding this out makes me feel uneasy.”
His name doesn’t appear on SCSU’s website or on his Linkedin account; the students believed it was due to his extremely short time at the University. According to posts on ratemyteacher.com, he was well liked as an instructor and plenty of students found him to be good at his job.
White said Friskey’s departure is unfortunate, but they know they have to focus on the task at hand.
“It sucks because we really did like him and we liked our first professor,” said White. “Now we are at midterms and are having to reset again for a third time. It’s a distraction.”
Gomez said she couldn’t help but feel a sense of betrayal after watching the situation unfold.
“He seemed like a great guy, but from the reports that I have read online I still think its still ridiculous and could of put a lot of us in danger,” said Gomez. “Even though he claimed the relationship between him and the girl was consensual, it just goes to show that he could have been out looking for something else.”
Photo Credit: Aaron Berkowitz