Concluding he didn’t violate any school policy, a state appeals court panel has backed the reinstatement of a Bloomsburg University professor who was fired for having sexual relationships with two female students.

The Commonwealth Court ruling upholds a June 2018 arbitrator’s decision that voided the termination of Assistant Professor John Barrett. University officials had appealed that award, which the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties union secured on Barrett’s behalf. The arbitrator ordered Barrett’s reinstatement with full benefits and back pay.

In the state court’s opinion, Judge P. Kevin Brobson noted the relationships between Barrett and the women were consensual, that neither woman was taking classes from Barrett at the time, and that the relationships were not barred by the university’s sexual harassment policy.

Barrett came under investigation by school officials when one of the women reported her then-terminated relationship with him in May 2017.

That woman had taken one of Barrett’s classes in the spring of 2015, began meeting him for coffee that fall and in October told Barrett she wanted a romantic relationship. Their sexual relationship ended eight months later, Brobson noted.

The woman filed her complaint with the university after learning Barrett was having sex with another student, the judge wrote. She claimed in that complaint that at times during her relationship with Barrett he had touched her genitals without her consent.

Barrett was fired in June 2017 for “lack of professional judgment” and violating the school’s sexual harassment policy.

The arbitrator overturned that termination, concluding the university’s policy does not prohibit romantic, consensual instructor-student relationships, provided the students are not taking classes from the professors at the time.

On appeal, university officials contended the arbitration award wound undermined the school’s sexual harassment policy.

In disagreeing, Brobson noted school officials based their argument on the one woman’s claim that during their relationship Barrett had fondled her without her consent. The judge also cited the woman’s testimony that she never told Barrett the fondling made her uncomfortable. And, Brobson added, Barrett denied the fondling accusation.

The judge seconded the arbitrator’s finding that the supposed fondling did not amount to sexual harassment because it occurred in the context of a consensual sexual relationship. Upholding the decision to reinstate Barrett with that understanding won’t cripple the university’s sexual harassment policy, Brobson found.

Still, he chided Barrett for the affairs. “We are in no way ignoring (Barrett’s) appalling lack of judgment,” Brobson wrote.