Three women accused this Pellissippi professor of sexual harassment. He still has his job.

Travis Dorman | Knoxville

Show Caption Hide Caption Pellissippi State professor accused of sexual harassment Three women have accused Pellissippi State Community College professor Tom Gaddis of sexual harassment.

At the end of a cooking class in the fall of 2013, Caitlin Knight and her classmates at Pellissippi State Community College milled about, sweeping the floor and cleaning dishes.

Then, Knight says, the coordinator of the school’s Hospitality and Culinary Arts programs, Tom Gaddis, walked up behind her, reached his hand inside her chef’s pants, grabbed the top of her underwear and pulled up, giving her a wedgie in a classroom at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

“He laughed after it,” Knight, now 25, said in a recent interview. “It was just absolutely petrifying."

Knight said that wasn't the first time Gaddis harassed her, but, fearing retribution, she stayed silent for years. She finally spoke out in December 2017 and filed a complaint with Pellissippi, detailing several allegations against Gaddis, including the wedgie.

More: Read Pellissippi's investigative report into Knight's allegations

Knight is not alone in accusing Gaddis of sexual harassment. Two other women — Anna White, also a former Pellissippi State student, and Holly Knowling, a current culinary professor — have told college officials that Gaddis harassed them on campus, too.

Pellissippi administrators investigated and found Gaddis had sexually harassed Knight, but they didn't fire him. Instead, they issued him a written reprimand, telling him to complete sexual harassment training and keep his hands off students, documents show.

Gaddis denies Knight's allegations and said he only accepted the reprimand to avoid legal expenses.

Meanwhile, the University of Tennessee — where some of the culinary classes take place — has temporarily banned Gaddis from its campus as officials work "to clarify a timeline of events and gather additional information," said UT spokeswoman Tyra Haag.

But he remains on the job as long as no one else accuses him of sexual harassment.

"This is why women don't tell," said Knowling, whose own sexual harassment complaint against Gaddis was resolved in 2015.

‘This is some kind of manipulation’

When Caitlin Knight enrolled in Pellissippi’s Culinary Arts program in the fall of 2012, she was depressed. She continued to grieve the death of her father as she coped with the pain of watching her older brother struggle with opiate addiction. Her love of cooking, she said, "was probably the only thing I knew for sure at that time."

She talked to Gaddis about her father's death, and he told her he "would really look out for me when I was in the program," Knight said.

"At 19, I was like, 'Wow, the ego on this guy to protect this young student who needs his protection,'" Knight said. "You get that feeling like this is gross. This is more than someone being kind. This is some kind of manipulation going on."

Knight said Gaddis began to massage her shoulders, whisper in her ear and initiate hugs where he’d grab her by the waist, pull her close and hold her “for several minutes” as he spoke to her.

When she didn’t tell him to stop, he began pulling her onto his lap “like Santa” when they would meet in his office at Pellissippi’s campus on Division Street, Knight said. It was not uncommon for him to pinch or pat her bottom afterwards, she said.

“It’s just all very inappropriate. So that was just sprinkled in all the time, any time I saw him,” Knight said, adding that Gaddis’ interest in her became a running joke among her classmates.

“Everybody knew,” she said. “‘Tom Gaddis, oh Tom Gaddis is coming. Caitlin here comes your boyfriend.’ It was normalized by everyone around me that he was a creeper, but nobody really said, ‘Hey, you should really speak out about this,’ or, ‘Hey, this isn’t OK.’ Being so young I had no idea that I had any power and was able to do anything.”

As coordinator, Gaddis seemed to be everywhere. Knight’s cohort, a group of students that progress through a degree program together, contained about 20 students, and Gaddis advised them one on one. He also supervised instructors, taught classes and frequently stopped by classrooms and culinary events.

Because of the power he wielded, many students believed Gaddis was a dean, three former students said. He’s not. He answers to the dean of Business and Computer Technology; the Hospitality and Culinary Arts programs are concentrations within the school’s two-year Business Administration program.

“He’s been at Pellissippi for so long” — two decades — “and he basically made it out like, ‘I’m the manager. I have total control over your grades. I can make you or break you,’” said Anna White, whose last name was Hickey when she was a culinary student at Pellissippi from 2011 to 2013.

'Oh, he does that to you, too’

White was 22 years old when she was hospitalized and missed her class’s orientation. Gaddis later gave her a one-on-one tour of the University of Tennessee Visitor’s Center on Neyland Drive, where UT instructors teach cooking classes for Pellissippi’s Culinary Arts program. Pellissippi’s website describes the program as a “collaboration” with UT.

White said Gaddis suggested she ride with him in his car to the Visitor’s Center. She turned down the offer and drove herself. As soon as she arrived, Gaddis ran over to her and insisted she hold his hand, White said.

Throughout her time at Pellissippi, White said Gaddis gave her special treatment, allowing her to redo tests and homework assignments if she made a bad grade.

He also gave her long hugs, looked her up and down, and made comments like, “Anna, in another life, I would try to make you my wife," White said.

Whenever she went to meet with him in his office, White said, “He would always pull me onto his lap and tell me, ‘You know you’re my favorite,’ that kind of thing.”

One day when White passed by Gaddis’ office, the door was cracked. White said she looked inside and saw Knight on Gaddis’ lap.

“Me and her talked afterward like, ‘Oh, he does that to you, too,’” White said. “We kind of became close. We bonded over that.”

White never formally filed a complaint with Pellissippi, but she did talk to the Pellissippi official who investigated Knight’s complaint. She spoke of her experiences with Gaddis then and said she didn’t come forward earlier because she feared Gaddis would retaliate against her.

‘Oh, he wants me to change in front of him’

At a culinary event at Pellissippi’s Division Street campus in the spring of 2013, Knight said Gaddis approached her and suggested she change her chef’s coat.

Knight said Gaddis took her into his office, handed her a spare coat, shut the door, wheeled a chair in front of it, sat down, and looked at her, saying nothing.

“I just go, ‘Oh, he wants me to change in front of him,” Knight said.

Knight was only wearing a bra underneath her chef’s coat. She said she faced Gaddis and quickly changed into the new coat while “thinking he could not possibly do something right now."

After she finished changing, Knight said Gaddis grabbed her hand and pulled her onto his lap.

"I was absolutely panicked and terrified that I was going to be molested in some way," she said. "I felt cold and dead, and he eventually opened his door and was like, 'Well, it's time to get back to the event, you've got to go.' I remember thanking my lucky stars that nothing happened because I think it would have broken me further."

Then, in the fall of 2013, Knight said Gaddis gave her a wedgie when he stopped by Tyler White's cooking class at the University of Tennessee Visitor's Center. Tyler White is a chef at UT’s Culinary Institute who is now married to Anna White.

When Carole Gary, Pellissippi’s human resources director, investigated Knight’s complaint in December, she didn’t speak to anyone who could say for sure that they witnessed the wedgie.

But Gary did talk to one former student in the class who reported seeing Gaddis’ arm “hanging behind” Knight in the area “of the center of her back and bottom,” Gary wrote in her report. The former student said she couldn’t see what Gaddis was doing but noticed Knight “had a solemn blank stare and looked distressed.”

Knight told the former student later that week that Gaddis had reached inside her pants during class, according to Gary’s report.

Knight also confided in her then-roommate, Bailey Brown. Brown confirmed that Knight told her in 2013 about the wedgie and about changing in front of Gaddis.

‘This is why women don’t tell’

Gaddis’ behavior was not just reserved for students.

Holly Knowling, a 52-year-old culinary professor at Pellissippi who shared an office suite with Gaddis until recently, said he subjected her for years to unwanted hugs and unwelcome comments.

“‘Looking at your butt is the best part of my day,’ was a frequent statement I got,” she said.

In 2015, Knowling complained about Gaddis to a coworker, who then reported the conversation to Pellissippi officials.

During that conversation, Knowling said Gaddis often gave her hugs, introduced her to colleagues as his “wife at work,” initiated conversations “of a sexual nature,” constantly asked her to lunch, and frequently had closed-door meetings with female students.

Knowling told the USA TODAY NETWORK – Tennessee that she didn’t tell her coworker everything Gaddis had said and done. She said she didn’t know the coworker would report the conversation, and she didn’t file a complaint herself because she feared retribution.

“It was very uncomfortable with the way academia is set up,” Knowling said. “He is the program coordinator, so he’s not my boss, but he does make my schedule and sort of outlines every single thing I do, and I shared an office with him. It’s pretty unrealistic to think that wouldn’t be super uncomfortable.”

In September 2015, Knowling and Gaddis agreed to meet with a Pellissippi official to resolve the complaint. Gaddis acknowledged Knowling’s “concerns and committed to not repeat the behaviors,” an investigative report reads.

“Both parties stated they were satisfied with this outcome.”

Pellissippi, Gaddis respond

Knight’s complaint came more than two years later, but her allegations dated back to 2013 and 2014 — before Knowling’s complaint.

Although Pellissippi officials found Gaddis had sexually harassed Knight, they decided his actions “were not a continuation of previously warned against behavior,” Carole Gary, Pellissippi’s human resources director, wrote in an email.

“We feel that appropriate action was to issue a warning and require Dr. Gaddis to alter his work habits and undergo training,” Gary continued. “It is our belief that Dr. Gaddis corrected any inappropriate interactions in 2015.”

Gaddis remains the coordinator of Pellissippi's Culinary Arts program but is no longer the coordinator for the Hospitality program. That decision was not disciplinary, as it was made in September 2017, before Knight's complaint was filed, Gary said.

A written reprimand issued to Gaddis in April details Pellissippi’s response:

Gaddis is not to touch students or faculty members unless it is required by the curriculum.

Gaddis is not to give students rides in his car. He can give students rides in a college vehicle for college events if there is more than one student in the vehicle.

Gaddis is not to have closed-door meetings with students.

Gaddis is to complete sexual harassment training twice a year.

Gaddis is to restrict his visits to the UT Culinary Institute, based on terms decided by his boss. (Gaddis is currently banned from UT’s campus.)

Pellissippi officials will conduct sexual harassment and misconduct training for all culinary and hospitality students each semester.

When reached by email, Gaddis did not acknowledge interview requests and instead sent the following statement about Knight’s allegations:

“In late 2017 several accusations were made against me concerning conduct that was alleged to have occurred between 2012 and 2014. I vigorously denied the allegations throughout the investigation process. In the end, I reluctantly chose to accept a written reprimand in lieu of continuing in my legal defense and incurring substantial legal costs.

“I am committed to following the steps outlined in the written reprimand and will strive to do my part to make the Culinary Program open and welcoming to all students and faculty, and free from any manner of discriminatory conduct.”

Gaddis did not respond to follow-up emails asking about the other women who accused him of sexual harassment.

‘The domino effect’

Knight left Knoxville in 2014 and moved back home to Franklin, Tennessee. She’s now raising her toddler son and working toward becoming a certified life coach.

Last year, Knight watched as the #MeToo movement empowered women across the country to share their stories of being sexually harassed and abused by powerful men.

She thought about Gaddis.

And she decided to speak out, she said, "to go all the way until this man is in no way around students that he could potentially harm physically or mentally."

“The emotional ride that you go on, through shaming yourself and feeling guilty and suppressing it and rationalizing it and the issues that spur from that, the domino effect, is really extensive," Knight said.

"Nobody deserves to go through that. And if I can help it, then nobody will.”

Update: After this story was published, Pellissippi President L. Anthony Wise sent the following email to students, faculty and staff:

"By now, I am sure many of you have seen the article posted online today by the News Sentinel. I want to reassure you that we take allegations of sexual harassment such as this seriously. As you know, we support a safe campus environment and have procedures in place for anyone to report any violations. We encourage individuals who believe their rights have been violated to speak up and make their concerns formally known."

Reach Travis Dorman at travis.dorman@knoxnews.com or on Twitter @travdorman.