Fallout from a pair of sexual misconduct scandals reverberated at two Bay Area campuses Wednesday: San Jose State officials scrambled to explain the handling of complaints against a professor found to have propositioned a student for a date during class, while dozens of UC Berkeley students protested the return to campus of the former law school dean who was disciplined after a 2015 investigation concluded he sexually harassed his executive assistant.

The rising tensions illustrated how universities across the country are grappling with the pressure to come down harder on esteemed faculty members who say they are being unfairly targeted as part of a relentless thirst for justice.

“In the face of public hysteria, I am the predator who never was,” Sujit Choudhry, who remains on the Berkeley law school’s faculty, wrote in a lengthy Op-Ed published Tuesday in the student-run Daily Californian.

Choudhry took a one-year, 10 percent pay cut and was ordered to write a letter of apology after an investigation found he subjected his executive assistant, Tyann Sorrell, to unwanted hugs, kisses and caresses.

He stepped down from his post in March after a lawsuit by Sorrell brought the case to light — and stayed away from the law school for the rest of the academic year, “consistent with President (Janet) Napolitano’s instruction,” according to Napolitano’s press secretary, Steve Montiel.

Interim law school dean Melissa Murray — who Montiel said will “identify and supervise his nonteaching duties” — said she did not know the former dean was returning to work until he arrived last week. He will not be teaching this academic year, Montiel said.

Choudhry did not return quietly. The law professor defended himself in the Daily Californian, asserted his right to work and begged those on campus to suspend judgment. He also noted that he was the subject of a second university investigation of his conduct, which he called an unprecedented “do-over” probe.

Students outraged by his piece and his presence on campus staged a demonstration Wednesday in Sproul Plaza and inside the law school, where their demands for his removal echoed loudly in the halls. The protest was not led by law students, but some who observed the rally at Boalt Hall also had concerns about the former dean’s return.

“I don’t think he should be here,” said Djenab Conde, a first-year law student. “I think as a tenured professor, you’re held to an even higher standard of conduct.”

Choudhry referred questions to his lawyer, Bill Taylor, who said it was only natural that his client would return to work. “No one has suggested that he’s dangerous, so I’m kind of mystified at the notion that he shouldn’t go to work,” Taylor said.

A series of sexual harassment scandals at UC Berkeley in the past academic year — in which prominent academics and administrators received light consequences for sexual harassment — brought national attention to a longstanding problem. The scandals caused an uproar on campus and may have led to the resignations of the provost and the chancellor.

At San Jose State, revelations of the university’s handling of a sexual harassment case against a professor — first reported Tuesday by this news organization — prompted the new president to review how the campus handles such complaints.

President Mary Papazian sent a message to campus, calling the report “troubling” and promising to take “appropriate systematic actions based on what we learn.”

San Jose State professor Lewis Aptekar remained chairman of the university’s counselor education department for five months after he was found to have sexually harassed a student, this newspaper revealed.

Late last year, a campus investigation concluded that Aptekar sexually harassed a graduate student in class, using class discussions on relationships to “probe for more information than (could) possibly be related to an academic program” — and using that information to “push for more personal relationships.”

A 2014 complaint against Aptekar, filed on behalf of two other students by an associate dean, David Bruck, did not appear to be taken into account in the subsequent case. Documents show it was not even acknowledged by some top campus officials. Interviewed by campus investigators about Aptekar last year, the College of Education’s dean, Elaine Chin, asserted that no one had previously complained, formally or informally, about the professor.

On Wednesday, Chin sent a message to the College of Education saying the news report “raised numerous troubling issues.”

“I ask you to join me in learning everything we can about mandatory reporting, sexual harassment, Title IX …” she wrote, “as well as how to eliminate sexual misconduct and other discriminatory behavior on our campus.”