Emory professor investigated for abuse two years ago

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Posted 8:07AM on Monday, October 7, 2002

ATLANTA - Emory University law school professor David J. Garrow, who is accused of abusing a staff member, was investigated two years ago for a similar complaint, according to an internal document. A confidential letter obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution said Garrow, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, yelled at a secretary during a March 2000 confrontation in a hallway. The letter was from the university's Office of Equal Opportunity Programs to then-law school dean Woody Hunter. The university found no basis for taking formal action against Garrow, according to the letter. Garrow, 49, was arrested last month and charged with simple battery after another law school staff member, Director of Operations Gloria Mann, said he pushed her during an altercation. According to Mann's complaint, Garrow "went into an uncontrollable rage" on Sept. 19, verbally abused her and, when she tried to walk away, "grabbed (her) by her wrists and pushed her backwards." Garrow, speaking through his attorney, has denied the charges. In a phone interview Friday, he declined to discuss the earlier complaint. A university spokeswoman also declined to comment, citing a policy guaranteeing confidentiality in personnel matters. In the letter, a secretary in the law school complained about Garrow's reprimand of her, which according to witnesses, consisted of yelling, hostile tones and finger wagging. The letter said Garrow considered his reprimand of the secretary justified but "agreed the location of the exchange was inappropriate." He promised to send the woman a written apology. Garrow won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for his book "Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference."