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Oxford head of poetry resigns over scandal

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-05-27 09:20

The first woman to chair Oxford University's poetry department announced she was stepping down Tuesday following allegations that she was involved in a campaign to discredit a rival for the post.

Ruth Padel, Oxford University's first female Professor of Poetry, speaks at a press conference at The Hay Festival, Hay-on-Wye, Wales, Tuesday May 26, 2009 when she explained her resignation after acknowledging she had helped publicize charges that her rival for the post had sexually harassed a former student. Ruth Padel, the great-great-granddaughter of Charles Darwin, made history at Oxford when she became the first woman to be elected to the position of Professor of Poetry since the job was created in 1708. [Agencies]

Ruth Padel, an award-winning poet who has taught at both Oxford and Cambridge, was elected Oxford's professor of poetry just 10 days ago after her chief rival, 1992 Nobel literature laureate Derek Walcott, pulled out.

Walcott, a West Indian born poet, withdrew after a dossier laying out sexual harassment allegations made by a student he taught at Harvard University more than 25 years ago was posted anonymously to a group of Oxford academics.

In a statement issued earlier this month he described it as a "low and degrading attempt at character assassination".

Padel, 63, denied having anything to do with the mailings but admitted having contact with journalists about Walcott.