Today’s Pittsburgh Post Gazette had this story in it: “Ohio University prof’s nude, topless photos trigger suit”
http://www.post-gazette.com/localnews/20030511photog0511p3.asp
ATHENS, Ohio — Eight years ago, Ohio University hired renowned
Larry Nighswander
photojournalist Larry Nighswander to direct its visual communications school, figuring his talent and industry contacts would add prestige to OU’s acclaimed communications program.
Larry Nighswander.On Monday, Nighswander was fired as director in the aftermath of a $3 million lawsuit filed by a student who says Nighswander used his position to coerce her into posing topless for him while they were alone in a locked campus studio.And in a locked safe in his law office near campus, OU special counsel James Sillery has stowed numerous photos of other students — completely nude or topless — that were confiscated from Nighswander.
For now, no one will reveal how many students appear in those digital photos, which were obtained from Nighswander’s Palm Pilot and copied onto a disk.
Because of the unknown facts, I can’t figure out if this guy was a monster, a chump or just plain shit out of luck. I’m just unsure if the noted “sexual comments and touching” (detailed in the full story on the newspaper’s website) actually occurred. It comes down to ‘he said, she said.’ Therefore, doesn’t the ’she said’ usually win by default unless there is proof otherwise? I’m not a lawyer, but you read stories about incidents like this all the time. This is what scares the hell out of me when I receive emails from women asking me to shoot. I feel like I would need to have to several assistants (aka witnesses) there for the entire shoot. I guess I could fear that a man would do the same thing, but I don’t. I believe that if I niche my brand, Tony Sand, in an area where I feel safe and if I become known as Pittsburgh’s Photographer of Nude Men, then there is some built in safety in the brand awareness that is created.
I feel bad for Larry, and I’m not sure I can even comment on whether professors should be allowed to shoot nude photos of their students. I can see it as an abuse of power on one side but I can also see it as a great expression of art. I feel bad for all parties involved and I really hope Larry did not hurt that girl.
