Wharton Dean Clarifies Friendship with Unspeakable Pervert
See Philadelphia media? If we all team up, we can sometimes make Penn speak — that is, beyond the inane drivel that Dementor-ish University spokeswoman Lori Doyle shits out every few days.
Philadelphia magazine’s online Daily Examiner picked up where we left off re: new Wharton Dean Thomas S. Robertson’s academic and domestic partnership with Scott Ward (left), ex-Wharton prof and disgrace to humanity. The two were teaching at Harvard when they bought the home in 1977, according to Philly Mag. And according to Jerry Bessette, who broke the Ward-doing-boys news to Robertson last fall, Robertson responded, “This scares the hell out of me.” He also called Bessette about a month ago, shortly after starting the new post at Wharton, and asked “Do you think there’s going to be any fallout [from my friendship with Ward]?”
In other words, the response “Dean Thomas” — not to be confused with the token black kid in Harry Potter — sent Philadelphia today has probably been sitting in his e-mail’s Drafts folder for some time. The letter and some other pressing super-important issues after the jump.
Quoth the Wharton Dean (from Philadelphia):
My wife and I had joint ownership of a house on Cape Cod with Prof. Scott Ward. My wife, three children, and I spent time at the house over the years in the summer, but never at the same time as Prof. Ward.
Prof. Ward was a colleague for many years. I collaborated with him on research some years ago. My research since the late 1980s has been with many other academic colleagues. My family and I have had very limited contact with him in the last 13 years while we were away at London Business School and Emory University.
It is now clear that he was leading a double life and fooled me, my family, and many others, who thought they knew him well. I am appalled and angry at his actions, and I’m deeply embarrassed by my past association with him.
Two observations:
- omg the Dean has three kids! I hope he’s for serious when he says they never overlapped, because Fourth of July weekends could’ve gotten a touch too sparkly for Ward if the Robertsons were crashing.
- Umm, Ward was brought up on sexual misdemeanor charges twice in the ’90s. So… why was Robertson so shocked to hear about the child pornography arrest last year? The only appropriate responses are “No shit” or, for most of us, [laugh because he loves doing little boys].
Still, nice to hear some word from Roberton himself. His (ex-)colleagues — Lee Stetson and the Gutmann administration — should note the example: An issue was raised, and the person in question responded. Now everybody’s cool! So, let’s try again, Lori Doyle: Can you comment on Lee Stetson’s sudden departure as Dean of Admissions?
