A theology professor who is a former U.S. ambassador to the Vatican is moving from one Roman Catholic university to another after an investigation found it likely that he sexually harassed a married couple where he now works.
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Read entire article and view comments\u2026\u00a0Here<\/a><\/p>\n Miguel H. D\u00edaz, who was President Obama\u2019s representative to the Holy See from 2009 to 2012, was found to have likely engaged in \u201cunwelcome conduct of a sexual nature\u201d toward a married couple who were his colleagues at the University of Dayton, according to a confidential letter written by Dayton\u2019s provost.<\/p>\n The married couple \u2013 husband and wife professors who teach in the humanities \u2013 accused Diaz of making various sexual requests and references to sexually explicit feelings. The suggestion that a Catholic theologian suggested an adulterous encounter involving both another man and another woman and that he made unwelcome requests of fellow academics could be problematic for Diaz, a Catholic theologian, who is a married father of four.<\/p>\n Diaz served as ambassador during the reign of Pope Benedict XVI and maintains a high profile.<\/p>\n D\u00edaz and his wife, a fellow academic, are both expected to soon leave Dayton for Loyola University Chicago, also a Catholic institution.<\/p>\n A spokeswoman for Dayton said that, \u201cTo our knowledge, the University of Dayton was not contacted by anyone from Loyola about Dr. D\u00edaz\u2019s new position.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe University of Dayton complies with Title IX, promptly and thoroughly investigates all complaints and takes effective remedial action,\u201d the university said in a statement. “We’re committed to ensuring a safe, non-discriminatory environment for our students, faculty and staff.\u201d<\/p>\n D\u00edaz declined to comment through his attorney, Gabriel Fuentes.<\/p>\n Loyola said he is expected to start work this summer but declined to comment.<\/p>\n The accusations against D\u00edaz were made on an evening in the middle of June last year, according to a letter from the Dayton provost to the alleged victims, which was obtained by Inside Higher Ed from a source other than the victims.<\/p>\n The university brought in an outside attorney to investigate the matter and resolved it within six weeks. The investigation included interviews with D\u00edaz, the alleged victims and D\u00edaz\u2019s wife. The university also had an outside medical expert who specializes in sexual abuse and harassment review the case.<\/p>\n A \u201cpreponderance of evidence\u201d led the outside attorney to conclude there was \u201creasonable cause to believe that some of [D\u00edaz\u2019s] conduct constituted sexual harassment that created an intimidating, hostile, or offensive environment,\u201d according to a letter sent to the alleged victims by Dayton\u2019s general counsel.<\/p>\n A summary of the outcome of the investigation said it was violation of university policy to \u201cchange a professional or educational relationship to a personal one\u201d or to make \u201cunwelcome and repeated flirtations and sexual advances\u201d or \u201cgraphic commentary about an individual\u2019s body, sexual prowess, sexual deficiencies, or sexual preference.\u201d<\/p>\n Dayton appeared to be mindful of the contradiction between D\u00edaz’s behavior and the church’s values.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are very mindful of our obligations under federal law, but above and beyond what the law requires, we are very concerned about any behavior that appears to be inconsistent with our Marianist values,” the letter from the provost said, referring to the Catholic order with which Dayton is affiliated.<\/p>\n The husband of the victimized couple declined to comment. The couple is not being named in order to protect their privacy.<\/p>\n Dayton Provost Joseph Saliba told the couple in his letter that the university was taking steps to \u201cremedy this violation\u201d by D\u00edaz. Namely, Saliba said D\u00edaz was not permitted to contact the couple or have any say in their careers. Further, \u201cAs a condition of his continued employment, Dr. D\u00edaz is to refrain from discussing \u2013 in any personal, one-on-one, private or otherwise intimate way \u2013 matters of a sexual nature with any university student, anyone employed by the university who has a position of less influence or stature than Dr. D\u00edaz, or any other invitee to the university (other than his immediate family).\u201d The letter from the university’s general counsel said other unspecified actions were being taken that she could not reveal because of privacy laws.<\/p>\n The provost said D\u00edaz would be terminated if there was another complaint about his behavior.<\/p>\n The documents surfaced amid a dispute at Dayton between faculty and the provost.<\/p>\n It is not clear whether D\u00edaz\u2019s departure from Dayton has anything to do with the incident. At Loyola, he is set to become the John Courtney Murray University Chair in Public Service and will be a theology professor. His wife, Marian, will become an assistant theology professor. At Dayton, he is a professor of faith and culture and she is a lecturer.<\/p>\n Read entire article and view comments\u2026 Here<\/a> A theology professor who is a former U.S. ambassador to the Vatican is moving from one Roman Catholic university to another after an investigation found it likely that he sexually harassed a married couple where he now works.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[464],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-miguel-diaz","wp-image-borders"],"views":1070,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.behindthepinecurtain.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.behindthepinecurtain.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.behindthepinecurtain.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.behindthepinecurtain.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.behindthepinecurtain.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8411"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.behindthepinecurtain.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8411\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8414,"href":"https:\/\/www.behindthepinecurtain.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8411\/revisions\/8414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.behindthepinecurtain.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.behindthepinecurtain.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.behindthepinecurtain.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nUnwanted Advances
\nInside Higher Ed
\nMay 5, 2014<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"