DATE: Tuesday, March 11, 1997               TAG: 9703110341

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MARIE JOYCE, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:  140 lines

AFTER DOCTOR DEPARTS, EVMS STANDS TO GAIN FROM SCANDAL GERIATRIC EXPERT LEAVES BEHIND STAFF AND FUNDS.

When officials of Eastern Virginia Medical School hired Dr. William B. Ershler, they knew he had been accused of sexual harassment by a woman who worked for him at his previous job.

But they didn't know all the details of the University of Wisconsin-Madison's internal investigation of Ershler's case.

As those embarrassing details became public a few weeks ago, the medical school - in the middle of a $62 million endowment campaign - pushed Ershler to resign after only a seven-month stint leading the Glennan Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, say sources close to the case.

In spite of the embarrassment, Norfolk's medical school still stands to gain from the scandal. The school will keep the scientists and support staff who followed Ershler to Norfolk and probably will retain a $1.5 million federal grant he had brought with him.

Since Ershler's departure, EVMS leaders have been deciding how to regroup at the Glennan Center, which opened just last year with a $2 million gift from a Virginia Beach resident.

``Dr. Ershler began a program . . . of exceptionally high quality that will continue to serve the citizens of our region and beyond,'' said school President Edward E. Brickell in a prepared statement.

The information that unnerved the medical school administration was part of a sexual harassment suit against the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where Ershler worked before coming to Norfolk.

The complaint was brought by Dr. Xing-Gu Lu, a former employee who said Ershler pressured her to have sex. Lu, a Chinese immigrant, said she was afraid she would lose her job and endanger her visa if she didn't comply.

The law did not allow Lu to sue Ershler directly, so she filed suit only against his employer.

On Feb. 13, the Wisconsin State Journal ran a story based on court filings that Ershler and Lu's attorney said were supposed to be closed to the public.

The Journal article, citing the university's internal investigation, said Ershler downloaded pornography to his office computer in July and August 1995. It included pre-trial testimony from Lu in which she said Ershler forced her to have sex in his office. Both are married.

Days after the article ran, the university settled the lawsuit by paying Lu $390,000. A university official said that Lu's charges weren't valid but that potential liability was too great if a jury believed her. Ershler and university officials have said the affair was consensual, not forced.

That large settlement and the ``tabloid'' accusations in the Wisconsin newspaper were too much for EVMS, said Dr. John Franklin, professor emeritus at EVMS, who helped found the Glennan Center and who continues to support Ershler.

``I think that frightened the medical school,'' he said. They couldn't ``afford the publicity in the midst of a campaign.''

In an interview last week, Ershler admitted downloading pornography during what he said was a ``a troubled period in my life.''

``I lost control for a while,'' he said.

He said he had left the University of Wisconsin rather than have that information revealed to his colleagues during a faculty hearing. The university's chancellor was trying to fire him because Ershler violated a university policy requiring him to report a sexual relationship with a subordinate. The hearing was required because Ershler had filed an appeal.

Ershler decided instead to look for another job. ``I knew I was going to be leaving there,'' he said.

When he interviewed with EVMS, Ershler told medical school officials that he had been accused of sexual harassment, according to Ershler and others. Ershler said he told them that the accusation was false, and that he would be vindicated.

``The word we got from Wisconsin was that they hated to lose him and there was no basis of truth in any of the charges that had been made,'' said Franklin.

Although Ershler told EVMS about the harassment charge, he apparently decided not to disclose all the details of the case.

``I was not at liberty to discuss with EVMS officials any information in a University of Wisconsin internal investigation that took place two years ago. university was the client,'' said Ershler in a signed statement, delivered to The Virginian-Pilot by the head of public affairs for EVMS.

In an interview last week, Ershler said he considered certain things private. He is still married and regrets the affair, he says.

``I told them what I honestly thought was the truth, and what I think they needed to know,'' he said.

EVMS did try to check up on him.

Casey Nagy, executive assistant to the provost at Wisconsin, said he spoke to an EVMS administrator - although he can't remember who it was. EVMS won't say who called.

Nagy can't remember any specifics about the call, including whether he shared details uncovered in the university's investigation. He said he kept no notes from the conversation.

``My assumption is we would have verified things that Dr. Ershler had admitted,'' he said. Nagy said he probably told them that the university had not been able to decide whether the allegation was true.

The University of Wisconsin dropped its internal investigation when Ershler left.

Brickell, the EVMS president, has declined several requests for an interview. The dean of the school, Dr. Jock R. Wheeler, and Dr. H. Verdain Barnes, chairman of EVMS' Department of Medicine, did not return phone calls.

Several members of the medical school's community board, which voted on Ershler's appointment, said they don't remember whether they were told about the allegations against him.

Even if the subject had been brought up, said Joseph A. Leafe, a former mayor of Norfolk, board members would rely on school administrators to look into it. ``At the board level there would have been very little discussion as it relates to a personnel hiring question,'' he said.

Madeline Sly, a former member of EVMS' board and of a committee that reviews faculty appointments, says she remembers discussions about the charge around the time Ershler was recruited.

Sly said she had some qualms about hiring him before the matter was resolved. ``I guess it's just my personal feeling, when someone has that type of a problem,'' she said.

But, she said, EVMS administrators seemed to feel comfortable with the assurances they got from the University of Wisconsin. ``To balance (the accusation) with what he was bringing to the medical school. . . my mind was at ease,'' she said.

Although the board votes on approving high-level faculty hires, the action amounts to a formality. The board was told that Ershler had accepted a job in March, three months before they actually voted in open meeting to approve his hiring.

The recruiting and hiring of doctors and scientists is done by the dean, who is a medical doctor, and the doctor who heads the department involved. The appointments are reviewed by a committee made up of faculty and a few board members, who pass their recommendations on to the board.

``I was not a part of the recruiting. That's not anything the board was involved with,'' said Andrew Fine, who was rector of the board at the time.

Ershler stepped down the week of Feb. 24, about a week after the Wisconsin newspaper published its story.

Ershler said he wasn't fired from EVMS, but school leaders made it clear to him that it would be best if he stepped down.

Franklin says the loss of such a renowned doctor will be ``devastating'' to the fledgling Glennan Center. ``We lost a very important person,'' he said.

But the school gained three Wisconsin scientists who followed Ershler to the Glennan Center, along with some support staff, about 10 people in all.

Ershler also brought a $1.5 million federal grant to study osteoporosis, a weakening of the bones that is most common in older women. He will ask the government to leave the grant at EVMS.

Dr. Stefan Gravenstein, acting head of the center, said Ershler ```has really set a pace for us and defined a direction. . . . I think that we will be able to regroup and pull it off.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color photo]

Dr. William Ershler has been embroiled in a sexual harassment case.

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