American University’s Student Government Undergraduate Senate voted to pass Resolution 21-009, advocating for transparency from the administration regarding unconfirmed allegations against School of International Service Professor Earl Anthony Wayne on Feb. 7.
Wayne’s name was identified within the millions of recently released documents from the U.S. Department of Justice’s investigation into the late convicted sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein. In addition to the resolution, the SG Executive Board posted a public statement on their Instagram account condemning Wayne’s alleged behavior on behalf of the student body.
The vote came after students protested the lack of response from the University and a later statement from the interim Dean of SIS, Rachel Robinson, dismissing the allegations that Friday.
Resolution 21-009 called on the University’s administration to investigate the allegations and be more transparent with the community, requesting that Wayne be placed on an unpaid, indefinite leave.
In its initial draft, the writers of the legislation called on the administration to fire Wayne regardless of the outcome to ensure student safety. But this section was removed when the resolution was brought to the floor, as the larger AUSG association expressed concern about legal action against the student government and the University.
“It was necessary to include this clause because students voiced their concerns about being taught by a professor who has these allegations against him,” Senator Kanha Jain, a sophomore in the School of Public Affairs, said.
According to Senator Sebastian Sanchez Clavel, a junior in SPA, the primary focus of the bill seeks transparency with students about the state of the investigation and any potential consequences Wayne could face.
“I speak with a lot of students on a daily basis, and they kept telling me the same thing. They hadn’t heard anything from the school,” Sanchez Clavel said.
The day before the vote, the University sent out an email to the SIS community informing them of their ongoing investigation. According to the resolution’s authors, this email did not alleviate concerns.
“The email only went out to SIS students. While some might point to that as being the school putting a statement out on what’s happening, I see it as not enough,” Clavel said. “The [University] needs to be transparent with everybody, not just SIS.”
Throughout the drafting process, SG senators collaborated with student organizations and sought out student input.
“We signed on to a statement condemning Wayne’s alleged actions,” Senator Aasiyah Beamon, a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences, said. “We saw what it was that the student body wanted, and they wanted accountability.”
According to Beamon, senate leaders spoke to stakeholders who have specific expertise in issues relating to equity and Title IX, such as It’s on Us and No More. It’s on Us was a co-sponsor of the resolution as well. Senator Jain noted attending a scheduled protest against Wayne, where he spoke with students about their concerns.
Typically, the board releases statements when there isn’t a need for a full resolution or when they want to get information to the student body in a quicker, more accessible manner. While resolutions advocate for something on behalf of the student government, e-board statements are a way to take a public stance on a topic.
“I think there needs to be a thorough investigation. Even if it comes out that this is not true, it needs to be acknowledged that students are feeling unsafe that this person is on campus,” the vice president of student government and SPA senior, Quinn Fitzpatrick, said.
The statement posted on SG’s Instagram was crafted based on the resolution, which it directly linked to on its page. Originally, the statement called for the University to place Wayne on indefinite leave, as stated in the resolution, but after consulting with the Center for Student Involvement, SG shifted their dialogue to a transparency-based approach.
“I think it’s important for us to instill in the administration that they work for us rather than we work for them. Regardless of whether or not the allegations are found to be true, students still do not feel safe,” Beamon said.
This article was edited by Natalie Hausmann, Payton Anderson and Walker Whalen. Copy editing done by Avery Grossman, Jaden Maitland Anderson, Ryan Sieve and Ava Stuzin. Fact-checking done by Andrew Kummeth.
