Michael Collins

USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee

WASHINGTON – A prominent biology professor in Tennessee says Sen. Bob Corker suggested Sunday he should leave the state after he accused the senator of refusing to condemn President-elect Donald Trump's lewd behavior toward women.

David Haskell, a professor at the University of the South in Sewanee, said he had a run-in with the senator Sunday afternoon while hiking with three friends on Stringer’s Ridge near Chattanooga. The party ran into the senator hiking alone on the same trail.

Haskell said he recognized Corker, a Chattanooga Republican, immediately and confronted him over Trump's lewd behavior toward women.

“I told him how deeply ashamed I was to be in a state where our senator does not denounce Trump for boasting of sexual assault,” Haskell recalled Monday. “Corker has been silent on this. I said I thought his silence was shameful and that I was very angry and disappointed to be represented by a senator who would not stand up to vile and odious speech.”

The back-and-forth exchange lasted about 10 minutes, said Haskell, who was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2013 for his book “The Forest Unseen: A Year’s Watch in Nature.”

Corker’s office confirmed that the confrontation took place, but offered a different version of events. Corker spokeswoman Micah Johnson said that Haskell aggressively approached the senator in "a profanity-laced tirade while pointing a finger in his face."

Johnson said the senator "calmly suggested" that the professor "did not have to live in Tennessee if he did not wish to do so."

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Haskell wrote about the confrontation on his blog.

“I asked him again, will you condemn Trump’s boasting of sexual assault, will you denounce him of that?” Haskell said. “He was silent. He did not respond to that. Instead, he said to me, ‘What have you ever done to contribute to this state?’ He said it’s people like me who don’t accept the result of the election that are dividing the country.”

But, “I never said I didn’t accept the results of the election,” Haskell said. “I do accept the results of the democratic process. I don’t have to like them.”

Johnson said that if the university's leadership witnessed the exchange, they would be disappointed in Haskell's behavior.

“While hiking alone yesterday afternoon on Stringer’s Ridge, Senator Corker was aggressively approached by Professor Haskell, who was hiking with three other individuals,” Johnson said.

“Professor Haskell began shouting at Senator Corker in a profanity-laced tirade while pointing a finger in his face and told the senator that he was embarrassed to live in a state where the citizens voted to overwhelmingly elect Donald Trump.

“Senator Corker calmly suggested to the professor that he did not have to live in Tennessee if he did not wish to do so. Senator Corker believes that if the leadership of Sewanee witnessed the exchange, they would be sorely disappointed in the behavior of someone tasked with leading students.”

Haskell denied that he approached Corker aggressively or used profanity and said he never claimed he was ashamed to live in Tennessee — only that he was ashamed that the senator did not stand up to Trump.

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The three members of Haskell’s party – Katherine Lehman, a former music professor at the University of the South; Cesar Leal, an assistant professor of music at the university; and Troy Johnson, a social worker in Chattanooga – backed up Haskell’s version of events and said they were offended by Corker’s response.

“It was so elitist, as if it was a powerful person talking down to someone who disagreed with him politically and he could say whatever he wanted,” Lehman said. “He just had a smirk on his face.”

Haskell said he was shaken up and had trouble sleeping Sunday night after his run-in with the senator.

“I expected better of Sen. Corker,” he said. “In the past, he hasn’t been a demagogue. He has been a reasonable person. Not anymore. He will not say a word against Trump. And I think that’s disgraceful.”

Corker has, in fact, criticized Trump’s comments about women. After a 2005 videotape emerged of Trump making lewd remarks about women, Corker released a statement calling Trump’s comments “obviously very inappropriate and offensive” and said Trump’s apology “was absolutely necessary.”

Corker, chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has been advising Trump on foreign policy and is reportedly one of the candidates Trump is considering for Secretary of State.

Earlier this year, Corker met with Trump and his family at Trump Tower in New York City and accompanied him on the campaign trail after his name was floated as a possible contender to become Trump’s vice president. Corker eventually took himself out of the running, saying he felt other people were better suited for that role.