Article
Ruth Padel: Oxford poetry smear campaign could have been a conspiracy
May 26, 2009
Padel began her day apologising to Walcott for tipping off journalists that students were concerned about his past conduct. But she strongly denied any involvement in the smear campaign – in which allegations that he had sexually harassed students were anonymously circulated to Oxford lecturers.
"I apologise to Derek Walcott for doing something which could be misconstrued in the context of a large campaign that had nothing to do with me and which I didn't know about," she said. "I don't want to be against him. He is my revered colleague and I do not want him to be humiliated."
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The saga of the Oxford professorship of poetry plunged on today as Ruth Padel, who resigned from the post on Monday, conjured a conspiracy theory, which she said could have been intended to ruin her prospects.
Speaking to the Guardian at the Hay Festival, she said that a smear campaign conducted against Derek Walcott, her chief rival for the post, could have been "a plan to undermine me".Padel began her day apologising to Walcott for tipping off journalists that students were concerned about his past conduct. But she strongly denied any involvement in the smear campaign – in which allegations that he had sexually harassed students were anonymously circulated to Oxford lecturers.
"I apologise to Derek Walcott for doing something which could be misconstrued in the context of a large campaign that had nothing to do with me and which I didn't know about," she said. "I don't want to be against him. He is my revered colleague and I do not want him to be humiliated."
To read more, click here.
Source: guardian.co.uk, 26 May 2009
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