Six Sangamon State University faculty members have signed papers charging SSU President Durward Long with sexual harassment.

Richard Battles, spokesman for the Illinois Department of Human Rights, said the faculty members signed the charges individually for the past two weeks. The Board of Regents—NIU and SSU’s governing body—also was named in the charge against Long.

Regents Chancellor Roderick Groves said the board received formal notice of the charge, but “a specific charge was not provided to us.”

Seven SSU faculty members initiated the sexual harassment charges against Long on Nov. 15.

Pat Langley, SSU professor of women’s studies, said charges were filed after several students and faculty members approached her with complaints of sexual harassment against Long.

One complaint about Long came from two female students who said Long made advances toward them at an SSU pigroast Aug. 26. Langley said one of the students involved in the Aug. 26 incident approached her in October with the student’s account of the incident.

As reported by the SSU News, the school’s student newspaper, Long said during a public speech to SSU Nov. 15, “Many of us have been greeted by a hug or an arm around shoulder by the opposite sex… and we have often responded with similar friendly action without any motivation other than friendly reception. That is what occurred on the night of Aug. 26.”

Langley said no new complaints against Long were made since the fall “when this first started.”

Porter McNeil of SSU University Relations said he does not know if Long was given papers notifying him of the charges. Long could not be reached for comment Friday.

Battles said because the charges were signed, the department will begin to investigate the allegations soon.

The Nov. 15 announcement of charges followed Long’s return from a 60-day leave of absence for alcohol abuse and extreme fatigue. During his leave, he entered an alcoholism treatment program in Florida. When Long returned, the Regents said he had successfully completed the treatment program.

According to the SSU News, Regents lawyer Carol Fines conducted an investigation on the SSU campus in 1988. During the investigation, Langley and an SSU student gave Fines an account of some of the incidents involving Long.

Fines reported the account to the Regents, but the Regents did not address the issue, Langley said. The Regents were included in the charges because of the failure of the board to act on Fines’ report, the SSU News reported.

Langley is teaching a class on sexual harassment this semester. “Given the kind of controversy about sexual harassment we have had on this campus for three years, and given my expertise, I thought I’d teach this class.” Langley is a lawyer with an emphasis on women’s legal rights.