PLAYBOY PROFILES PROFESSOR'S PLIGHT

English professor Theodore Hirschfield believes Playboy magazine has depicted the naked truth about his legal fight with Southeast Missouri State University.

But the school's attorney believes the magazine article doesn't reveal the true picture.

Hirschfield's case is mentioned in an opinion piece in the October issue of Playboy.

In a section called "The Playboy Forum," writer Ted Fishman takes aim at Southeast and two other colleges that have attempted to discipline professors over sexual harassment complaints.

The article is titled, "Kangaroo Campus, The Closing of the American Mind."

Fishman wrote, "The Clarence Thomas hearings made sexual harassment household words. And that fiasco has empowered the fainthearted and the easily offended to form their own lynch mobs."

Hirschfield has been accused of making sexually offensive comments to students.

Among other things, it is alleged he said in a creative writing class that "all a woman has to do is lay on her back, spread her legs and the government rewards her for each child she produces."

Hirschfield said Friday that he believes a male student in his creative writing class actually made the remark.

But he said it doesn't matter who made the remark. The issue, he said, is academic freedom.

Leonard Clark, Southeast's affirmative action officer, investigated complaints made by two female students in 1993.

Last October, Clark recommended that Hirschfield be suspended without pay for a month, undergo counseling and make written apologies to the students. In December, Provost Charles Kupchella asked Hirschfield to undergo counseling.

In January, Hirschfield filed a lawsuit in federal court, alleging that his civil rights of free speech and due process were violated.

Hirschfield said Friday that he was caught in the middle of "this hysteria" about sexual harassment in the workplace. "Everybody is just standing around waiting to be offended," he said. "Everyone wants to be a bona fide victim."

The author of the Playboy article contends that Hirschfield's remarks weren't hostile, abusive or physically threatening.

Diane Howard, a Cape Girardeau lawyer who represents Southeast, said the Playboy article presents a one-sided view of the situation.

When the sexual harassment issue was being investigated last year, Hirschfield didn't indicate that the alleged remarks were made by a student or students, she said.

"If it had been verified that he had not said those things, obviously the results would have been very different," said Howard.

Hirschfield has taught at Southeast for 29 years. He was on sabbatical last semester and is on sick leave this fall.

He said he suffered a heart attack while on vacation in Florida this summer and has continued to suffer from the stress caused by the sexual harassment case.

"I know my reputation has been ruined, and I have been held up to ridicule," he said.

Hirschfield said his intention isn't to damage the university. But he added, "I have to defend my profession."

The university, he said, hasn't responded to his attorney's offer of a settlement.

Howard said she has asked Hirschfield's attorney to send her the offer in writing, but she has yet to receive it.