Oxford Poet Resigns Amid Sex Scandal

The first female Oxford professor of poetry resigned from her post only nine days after accepting it, the Times of London reports. Poet Ruth Padel won the appointment earlier this month after her chief adversary, Derek Walcott, 79, withdrew his name from consideration as two sexual harassment allegations from the 1980s and 1990s surfaced. Padel denied mentioning the harassment claims to reporters, but apparently in April she tipped off journalists to the harassment claims in an email. Several weeks later, relevant pages from the book The Lecherous Professor, which detailed the claims, were anonymously sent to journalists. "I did not engage in a smear campaign against him," Padel wrote in her resignation letter. Literary figures Lord Bragg and A.C. Grayling had called on Padel to resign, labeling her behavior "disgraceful."