Poet Ruth Padel (pictured) turned down an Oxford poetry professor spot yesterday after admitting she sent journalists emails reminding them about sexual harassment charges in Derek Walcott’s past.
The race for what the Guardian called “the most influential in poetry in the UK behind that of the laureateship” has been fierce, and Walcott dropped out after 100 academics mailed organizers missives an 1982 allegation of sexual harassment leveled against the poet. The university will still replace the departing poetry professor Christopher Ricks, but it might not be able to complete the search before classes start in October.
Here’s an excerpt from the article: “But passing on the concerns, [Padel] said today, was ‘naive and silly of me–a bad error of judgement. I can of course see that people can misconstrue these two isolated emails of mine as part of a larger campaign I had nothing to do with,’ she added.”