Asking from References with alleged charges

[Duns Eith]

I had a professor in philosophy write me a letter of recommendation for a program in a related humanities field (which I entered, completed the MA), and now I am looking to return to the same discipline.

 

Since the first program, the reference has been arrested. It made such news that the top 3 hits on Google for the professor's name are for the charges (which were dropped, by the way).

 

I have not asked for a letter of recommendation this round, but I have this nagging feeling I should have since one of my references did not know me nearly as well and another reference knew me but was in the related humanities field. I feel like I shot myself in the foot.

[fuzzylogician]

Look, since the deadlines have passed, I don't think there is anything to gain from worrying about this. It's a very unusual situation and I don't know that anyone here could give you good advice. If it does come up again, I'd suggest consulting with someone who knows the people involved. Maybe you have another recommender who knows about the situation and can tell you whether a letter from this prof would help or hurt, or maybe even the prof himself, if you feel comfortable asking him about it. It's a question about his reputation among his peers; an arrest that didn't lead to charges could be interpreted in different ways and you can't really know what his colleagues think. But right now, I think you have to let go of this. There are so many factors that go into admissions, you may never know whether any particular thing had a serious effect. 

[FinallyAccepted]

How deeply do POIs look into LOR writers? If they're going to look into it that much, shouldn't they also see that the charges were dropped? I don't know that I would be too concerned about it, especially now.

Edited January 13, 2015 by shana.teacher

[Duns Eith]

Look, since the deadlines have passed, I don't think there is anything to gain from worrying about this. It's a very unusual situation and I don't know that anyone here could give you good advice. If it does come up again, I'd suggest consulting with someone who knows the people involved. Maybe you have another recommender who knows about the situation and can tell you whether a letter from this prof would help or hurt, or maybe even the prof himself, if you feel comfortable asking him about it. It's a question about his reputation among his peers; an arrest that didn't lead to charges could be interpreted in different ways and you can't really know what his colleagues think. But right now, I think you have to let go of this. There are so many factors that go into admissions, you may never know whether any particular thing had a serious effect. 

 

This is my first round of applications in my discipline, and there are two more schools I could apply to if I went ahead to ask the reference. Even outside of the practicality of the first round, if I have to apply next year, it is worth knowing.

 

I thought about asking a colleague, but I didn't know whether that would be a faux pas. I heard somewhere that people aren't supposed to know who is recommending whom, as a matter of etiquette.

 

I am unsure asking the prof directly either.

 

I guess one thing that could work in my favor is randomness (in either direction: that I did not include that reference may not matter much; if I did, maybe no one would notice the charges)

 

How deeply do POIs look into LOR writers? If they're going to look into it that much, shouldn't they also see that the charges were dropped? I don't know that I would be too concerned about it, especially now.

 

This is a huge part of my question. I don't even know.

 

As far as the charges, let me say that the question is not over whether the prof did immoral acts but rather whether there was due process in charging appropriately. The reality of the former is front and center in the headlines, the technicalities of the latter are subtle and brief.

Edited January 14, 2015 by Turretin

[MathCat]

As far as the charges, let me say that the question is not over whether the prof did immoral acts but rather whether there was due process in charging appropriately. The reality of the former is front and center in the headlines, the technicalities of the latter are subtle and brief.

 

By this do you mean that the prof definitely did what s/he is accused of?

 

I think it would depend on what the charges are. I understand why you might not want to post this, though. Some charges would probably not change their opinions, even if known - e.g. some sort of civil disobedience. If it's something like sexual assault, I would probably not ask for that reference.

 

Also, if this is as big news as you have made it out to be, there's a fair chance others in your field will have heard about it, but perhaps not the details that the charges were dropped.

Edited January 14, 2015 by MathCat