DATE: Saturday, March 1, 1997               TAG: 9703010275

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY MARIE JOYCE, STAFF WRITER 
                                            LENGTH:  136 lines

EVMS RESEARCHER QUITS IN WAKE OF SETTLEMENT UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN SETTLES SEXUAL SUIT

The University of Wisconsin-Madison has agreed to pay $390,000 to settle a sexual harassment suit prompted by the alleged actions of Dr. William B. Ershler, a respected researcher who abruptly stepped down this week from his post at Eastern Virginia Medical School.

Ershler, 48, says he told EVMS officials about the allegations before they hired him from Wisconsin last year. How much they knew is unclear. EVMS officials have declined to comment about the reasons for Ershler's departure as head of the new Glennan Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology.

On Friday, the school announced in a written release that Stefan Gravenstein, a doctor who came with Ershler from the University of Wisconsin, has been named interim director of the Glennan Center.

The suit was filed against the University of Wisconsin by a woman who worked for Ershler when he headed the university's Institute on Aging. Ershler denies that he sexually harassed the woman and has claimed that sex was consensual.

The lawsuit is dated April 4, 1996, about three weeks before EVMS announced that Ershler had been hired.

Dr. Xing-Gu Lu, a 36-year-old Chinese immigrant who worked for Ershler as a research specialist, claims he forced her to have sex by implying that he could affect her ability to hold her job, according to the lawsuit. Her lawyer says she was afraid she could lose her visa if she didn't do what Ershler wanted.

Lu alleged that she performed oral sex on him, and had intercourse with him about twice a week, according to an article in the Wisconsin State Journal based on court documents in the case.

The University of Wisconsin settled the case last week, one day before trial was to begin. The settlement and details about the alleged harassment from court documents were reported in Wisconsin newspapers.

University of Wisconsin officials confirmed that the university's chancellor was trying to fire Ershler when the doctor accepted the job in Norfolk last April.

But Wisconsin administrators have not said whether they believe the relationship between Ershler and Lu was consensual or forced. The chancellor never determined whether sexual harassment had occurred, said Casey Nagy, executive assistant to the provost at Wisconsin.

Nagy says Ershler was pressed to leave primarily because he violated a university policy that requires employees to report any sexual relationships with subordinates.

EVMS administrators have declined to be interviewed about the case. In a prepared statement, EVMS president Edward E. Brickell said, ``We knew there were certain allegations. We investigated, and we were assured that everything was in order.''

Ershler's hiring was a major accomplishment for the Norfolk medical school. He was wooed by major programs, according to the doctor who replaced him at Wisconsin.

But he decided to come to Norfolk as the first director of the new Glennan Center.

``I had a true sense of warmth and `family' at EVMS and hoped that my presence would make a difference here,'' Ershler wrote in a statement given to The Virginian-Pilot Friday night. He declined to be interviewed further.

He brought prestige to the school's fledgling geriatrics center, as well as a $1.5 million federal grant to study osteoporosis. He also lured several colleagues from Wisconsin to work here.

Nagy says EVMS knew about the university investigation when Ershler was hired. Before EVMS offered him the job, Norfolk administrators called Wisconsin leaders to discuss the situation, Nagy said, although he said he can't remember who from EVMS did the investigation.

Nagy couldn't say how much detail EVMS leaders were given, since Wisconsin's administrators hadn't made a judgment on the allegations. ``They certainly would not have been told that we believe he engaged in sexual harassment,'' Nagy said.

In Ershler's statement, he said he was honest with EVMS officials during the interviewing process, even having his lawyer write them a letter detailing the situation.

``The important details of the claim and the likely legal consequences were provided to those recruiting me at EVMS,'' he wrote. ``And I am aware that several phone calls inquiring about this and about my personal integrity were made to the University of Wisconsin.''

EVMS had good reason to want Ershler for the new Glennan Center, which had been started with a $2 million gift from a Virginia Beach resident. Ershler had an excellent reputation nationally, said Dr. Molly Carnes, an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the acting director of Wisconsin's geriatrics program since Ershler left.

``He's really a wonderful leader,'' Carnes said. ``He's very charismatic, very bright, very creative, very hard working. We already had a very strong base of geriatrics when he came here, but he helped to build the program a lot.''

Carnes said Ershler was repeatedly ranked as one of the top 10 geriatrics specialists in the nation by journals in that field and was highly sought after by other programs.

Lu worked for him for several years, according to the lawsuit. Lu was a physician in China, but she was not certified to practice in the United States, so she had taken a job below her training, as a research specialist at the Institute of Aging, said Michael Fox, one of the Madison lawyers who represented her. Her husband had not yet come from China to join her, and she was not fluent in English, Fox said.

The suit says Ershler, who was and still is married, first began making advances to Lu around November 1994. The advances were ``unwelcome,'' the suit says.

But ``he had indicated to her, in relation to the sexual encounter, that she should please her boss and want to please her boss,'' said Fox. She was afraid that if she refused, she would put her job in jeopardy, and thus endanger her ability to stay in the United States, he said. ``Having employment here was an asset to her ability to stay,'' Fox said.

In August 1995, Lu complained to the university's affirmative action office, said Susan H. Trebach, the university's news director. The university launched an investigation, and Ershler lost his director post the next month, although he continued as a professor.

Lu was transferred to a job elsewhere in the university.

In early October 1995, Chancellor David Ward sent Ershler a letter saying he would seek Ershler's dismissal, said Trebach. Two weeks later, she said, Ershler responded that he would appeal Ward's decision.

During the investigation, Ershler said in his statement to The Pilot, ``I honestly and openly provided other details of what was a troubled period in my life.'' But when he faced the prospect of disciplinary hearing, he said, ``I was so ashamed to have that information reviewed by a committee of faculty colleagues that I elected to find a position elsewhere.''

He had become the frontrunner for the EVMS job several months before the suit was filed in April 1996.

The University of Wisconsin's appeal process was canceled when Ershler left to come to Norfolk, said Trebach.

The university, which as Ershler's employer was named the defendant in the lawsuit, agreed to a settlement last Monday.

Nagy said the university was not admitting wrongdoing, and administrators decided to settle as a strategic move - the chance of even greater penalties was too high if a jury believed Lu.

And Ershler, who was not named in the suit, said he regrets the settlement, since he will lose his ability to clear his name. ``I was never allowed to defend myself,'' he said. MEMO: Staff writer Tony Wharton and news researcher Diana Diehl

contributed to this story. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]

Dr. William B. Ershler abruptly stepped down this week from his post

at EVMS.

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