Retired OU professor denies wrongdoing
NORMAN — A retired OU engineering professor is denying wrongdoing even as more accusers came forward Wednesday to call him a predator.
John F. Scamehorn, 64, is being accused of misusing his financial support of the University of Oklahoma drama school and the central Oklahoma acting community to prey on “young women with impunity for years.”
Scamehorn retired from OU in 2007 but had been — until Wednesday — still on OU’s website as a current professor emeritus of the School of Chemical, Biological and Materials Engineering.
Norman police confirmed Wednesday an inquiry is underway.
“We are aware of the allegations being shared on social media and are actively looking into them as much as we can without a complaint,” a police spokeswoman said. “We still have not had any victims come forward. All information to date has been thirdparty.”
Thirty accusers Wednesday put their names to a statement released Wednesday to The Oklahoman and other media.
“To one degree or another, each of us have been exposed to and scared by the environment of perversion he created under the guise of educator and film producer,” they wrote.
“Among other things, we have been subjected to sexual advances, strong and inappropriate innuendo, regaled with stories rife with sexual content, stalked and even coerced into taking embarrassing and compromising photos,” they wrote.
Scamehorn canceled a speaking engagement at OU after the first accusations surfaced on Facebook. He denied the accusations in a short statement emailed to The Oklahoman on Wednesday.
“I am aware of the rumors and allegations made against me online and in local media reports. In the strongest terms possible, I deny any wrongdoing,” he said.
He did not respond to any other question asked by The Oklahoman.
His accusers suggested in their statement that OU officials ignored legitimate complaints about Scamehorn because he donated considerable sums of money to the university.
OU confirmed Tuesday that Scamehorn “is no longer involved in any way with the School of Drama.”
OU said on Monday that Scamehorn formally severed any remaining employment status with the university on Feb. 12, 2016.
The university has not directly addressed the accusations against Scamehorn but did release a lengthy statement Monday about its protocols.
“While the university may not comment specifically as to any potential inquiry pertaining to Dr. Scamehorn, we have followed our protocols in fulfilling our obligation to provide a safe learning environment,” OU Press Secretary Matt Epting said Monday.
“The university takes all reports of misconduct very seriously,” Epting said.
“Any complaints made to OU’s Office of Institutional Equity are promptly addressed. The office is tasked with identifying sexual harassment, eliminating the harassment, and remedying its effects. The office protocols involve not only internal inquiry, but also often involve coordination with local law enforcement and outreach to community entities,” he said. “We make every effort to ensure a safe learning environment free of discrimination or harassment.”
Epting further said Monday that OU cannot discipline former employees but that OU has returned gifts “in some circumstances when the propriety of a donor relationship is in question.” He would not say, though, whether OU ever returned a donation to Scamehorn.
He also said OU encourages but does not require victims to report and cooperate with law enforcement. OU, however, has so far refused to release any report made to campus police about Scamehorn.
The accusations about Scamehorn first surfaced on social media after he promoted his short science-fiction film, “Pax Masculina,” on a blog for “heterosexual, masculine men.”
“Tired of every new film having a militant feminist theme?” he wrote. “Want to see a universe on video in which men create a paradise on earth with their wise rule, and insolent women causing trouble are given their just reward?”
He was condemned for that promotion, particularly because he has in the past described “Pax Masculina” as a film about female empowerment. “I disavow and regret my involvement in the movie,” one Oklahoma actor, Darryl Cox, wrote on Facebook on Saturday.
“I was contracted and paid for a vision considerably different than the final version created by the producer, John Scamehorn. The same is true of, to my knowledge, most if not all of the rest of the cast and crew,” Cox wrote.
The 18-minute film was made in Oklahoma and depicts an alternate future where women are hunted down and hanged for resisting the maledominated society.