Lake Wash. Tech. student: Sex harasser kept job

A student at Lake Washington Technical College has filed a $300,000 claim against the state, saying her professor was allowed to keep his job even after the school substantiated her complaint of sexual harassment.

Taryn Woolworth says that while the professor, Bob Mandy, got two written reprimands and was told to take a one-day training course, she was unable to continue taking classes with her fellow students. She was assigned one-on-one to another professor.

She filed the harassment complaint in March, saying Mandy, a married father, had repeatedly flirted with her and sent her hundreds of text messages and e-mails, many of them after she told him to stop. Some of his e-mails apologized for his inappropriate behavior and begged her to write him back.

School spokewoman Regine Adams says the school followed its policies and its collective bargaining agreement in punishing Mandy.

Lake Washington Tech is a state school in Kirkland with about 5,500 students.