MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Minutes before students took their complaints to a news conference at West Virginia University, the school announced Monday that it had temporarily reassigned the student radio station's general manager, who has been accused by station workers of sexual harassment.
Dean of Students Corey Farris communicated the decision in an email seven minutes before the news conference was to begin outside WVU's Mountainlair student center.
Matthew Fouty, 34, a university employee, has described the accusations as groundless, but Mr. Farris said the university decided it was prudent to make the move while the Title IX investigation continued.
He said it was also hoped that striking student workers would return to the station, which has been running automated play lists since Thursday, when it also was off the air for three hours.
In the interim, Kim Harrison, a university employee and former radio station general manager, will return to those duties at WWVU-FM , also known as U-92.
Mr. Farris said the personnel change is effective immediately.
The complaints by five current and former student employees come at a time when sexual harassment in the workplace has become a national issue. And at WVU, the events have been unfolding in extraordinarily public fashion since students frustrated with the university's initial response to their complaints, including those in June, began speaking out.
Mr. Farris disputed the notion that the university was moving too slowly.
"We're listening to students and we will continue to listen to students, and anyone," he said.
Students went ahead with the news conference, saying they were pleased with the university's action as an interim step but still wanted Mr. Fouty permanently replaced.
Jackson Montgomery, 23, a volunteer disc jockey designated by the group to talk with reporters, said student staff are upset with what he and others said were repeated inappropriate comments of a sexual nature, some delivered on the air.
He said Mr. Fouty, hired by WVU in March 2015, inserted himself into a morning music and talk show that was intended to be hosted by students.
"Matt would kind of always be the one to find the sex joke in the situation, throw that out there and then steer the conversation in that direction," said Mr. Montgomery, who graduated over the summer but previously held a supervisory position with the station.
He said Mr. Fouty offered an assessment, on air, about the anatomy of Mel Smith, a senior strategic communication major. She is the station's news director, and sometimes was on the air with her boyfriend, part of U-92's sports staff.
"He (Fouty) would frequently make jokes about their sex life and try to get them to talk about it," Mr. Montgomery said.
Ms. Smith is among about 40 students staffers who are staying away from their jobs, a share equal to nearly half the largely volunteer staff of U-92.
She said she was one of the current and former students who filed a sexual harassment complaint against Mr. Fouty with WVU's Title IX office, which handles cases involving the federal anti-gender-discrimination law.
Mr. Montgomery further asserted that Mr. Fouty would say -- sometimes egged on by a student staffer -- that the show was sponsored by a fictitious date-rape drug.
WVU officials have said they typically do not discuss Title lX sexual misconduct investigations or confirm when one exists, but on Thursday, Mr. Fouty confirmed to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that he had been accused of sexual harassment. He said at the time that the student complaints contained no specifics.
Reached late Monday as he worked from home, Mr. Fouty reiterated that the accusations were baseless and said he watched the news conference streamed on Periscope, listening to accusations that to him were baffling.
"It shocks me how much hate people have in their hearts," he said. "I'm almost numb."
He said he did not insert himself onto the morning show but was invited on by a then-student DJ. He also said he did not make comments about women's anatomy, press Ms. Smith about her sex life or ever refer to a date-rape drug as his accusers publicly assert. He said instead he heard an individual's name and said it sounded to him like a prescription drug.
Though Mr. Montgomery said emails supporting the June investigation were turned over to WVU in July, Mr. Fouty said the first he heard of an inquiry was Oct. 9.
He said his accusers got their message out first, and as their story ricochets across social, broadcast and print media, "All I can do is react."
With at least part of the sports staff working and covering university athletics, even as DJs and news staff remained on strike, it was a surreal start to the week for the award-winning station that began broadcasting in 1982.
The university expressed concern last week that the work stoppage could jeopardize WWVU-FM's broadcast license.
Mr. Montgomery said students involved in the job action planned to establish a web site and to look anew at their job action.
"We had planned to continue it at least into January and think about it over winter break," he said. "We'll probably meet this week."
Bill Schackner: bschackner@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1977 and on Twitter:@BschacknerPG.
First Published: December 11, 2017, 8:18 p.m.
