Santa Rosa Junior College ends investigation into sexual assault allegations against instructor

Santa Rosa Junior College allowed the president of the Academic Senate to return to work Friday, ending its investigation into allegations that he engaged in an inappropriate sexual relationship with an underage student two decades ago while teaching at the now-shuttered Ursuline High School.

The allegations, first aired on Facebook last month by a woman who said she was inspired by the #MeToo movement sweeping the country, set off a controversy on campus that intensified after SRJC President Frank Chong announced religion and humanities instructor Eric Thompson had been placed on paid voluntary administrative leave while the college investigated the claims.

A union representing faculty members has filed a grievance against the college, contending that Chong violated privacy rules when he sent an email to SRJC employees addressing the investigation into Thompson’s alleged actions.

Thompson denied the woman’s allegations of sexual assault but, in an interview?Friday, said he entered into a romantic relationship with his former student after she turned 18 and lived with her for several months.

“I’m so not a sexual assaulter,” he said. “I’m the extreme opposite of that.”

The college hired a law firm in late November to investigate the woman’s charges - its second investigation into her allegations against Thompson in five years, Chong said. It concluded it could take no action because the alleged misconduct occurred so many years ago and notified Thompson on Thursday that he could return to work.

“There’s a four-year statute of limitations,” Chong said.

There have been no other complaints against Thompson at the college, Chong said.

The allegations first surfaced in mid-November when Sarah Chavez, 39, accused Thompson in a Facebook post of sexually assaulting her over a two-year period while he taught at the all-girls Catholic school in the mid-1990s.

Chavez criticized the college for allowing Thompson to return, saying it failed to properly investigate.

“They didn’t investigate the sexual assault,” she said late Friday. “They were solely concerned with his behavior over the last four years.”

Chavez said she was?16 when the sexual relationship started. She said she decided to share the story publicly on Facebook because she was inspired by the nationwide discussion over sexual assault and harassment, sparked by the social media #MeToo movement.

“For a long time, I felt ashamed and I felt people would think it was my fault,” she said.

Thompson, who is? 20 years older than Chavez, was working part time at the high school and college when they met at Ursuline, said Chavez, who now lives in Maine. She said the teacher first began coming on to her just before her junior year while taking part in a summertime play in Sonoma Valley. The inappropriate behavior started when he drove her to practice, performances and cast parties, she alleged.

“There was a lot of touching and hugging,” Chavez said in an earlier telephone interview. “He would tell me how attractive I am.”

She said she was uncomfortable at first, but over time “it became more normal.” She didn’t tell her parents about the relationship until years later, after she dropped out of high school and temporarily moved in with Thompson, she said.

“I was afraid to tell them,” said Chavez, who also accused Thompson of encouraging her to drop out of school.

Thompson, who was elected by SRJC faculty to serve a three-year term as president of the Academic Senate, denied the allegations. He said he did have a romantic relationship and briefly lived with her, but she was over the age of 18. He said they’d shared a house with several other friends who were all involved in theater and the arts, and that he only found out about the 2012 complaint after the college closed its investigation.

Thompson said in earlier email that he has never sexually assaulted, molested, preyed upon, coerced or harassed anyone.

“I have been a devout advocate for human rights, most especially woman’s rights, by which I mean equality, dignity, respect, choice, autonomy and independence, my whole life,” he stated. “Anyone who knows me well, knows that the accusations are foreign to all of my behavior.”

Chavez said she told her parents about the relationship when she was 18. Her father, Mike Chavez, 71, said he then went down to Ursuline to talk to the principal the following year after she returned from Seattle, where she lived for a year.

“We, both myself and wife, wanted him fired. Sarah wanted him fired,” he said. “I wanted that tuition for that year given back to us.”

He said the school returned the tuition they’d paid that last year. The school also assured them the teacher would be fired, he said.

“It didn’t occur to me to go further with it or to notify police,” Mike Chavez said. “My intent was just to get him fired.”

Sr. Dianne Baumunk, who was principal at the time at Ursuline, didn’t return repeated telephone messages and emails seeking comment over the last two weeks. The Press Democrat could not independently confirm the money had been refunded to Chavez.

Chavez said the sexual assault came up in therapy years later while she was living in Berkeley. The therapist said she contacted Child Protective Services in Santa Rosa on Nov. 22, 2011. She said she was mandated to report the incident to CPS because as a community college instructor he may have contact with minors.

“There could be students as young as 15 taking college courses,” she said.

The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office and Santa Rosa police could find no records of the 2011 report in their archives. There are no records of any criminal charges filed in Sonoma County court archives.

SRJC first investigated the allegations against Thompson in 2012 after Chavez notified the college about the relationship, Chong said. He said Thompson was questioned but not disciplined during the investigation, which occurred just before Chong became president of the college. Investigators looked into the earlier allegations as part of the latest probe, he said.

After the woman’s claims spread on social media and she contacted the college again, SRJC opened a second investigation into the instructor in November. Thompson said the college asked him to go on paid leave because of the “alarming language” and “public nature” of the accusation.

Chong said he asked Thompson to go on leave while the investigation was ongoing.

“We mutually agreed that it was the best thing he not be on campus,” said Chong, who notified SRJC employees of the allegations in a Dec. 7 email, one day after The Oak Leaf, the student newspaper at the college, reported on the allegations.

Chong said he felt compelled to address the situation after the accusations were publicized.

“I tried to be transparent and tried to show that the college took these allegations seriously,” Chong said.

You can reach Staff Writer Eloísa Ruano González at 707-521-5458 or eloisa.gonzalez@pressdemocrat.com.