UI legal scholar on paid leave over alleged mishandling of private phone call
Mar. 21—URBANA — The University of Illinois Ethics and Compliance Office is investigating a claim made against one of its prominent legal scholars — that she mishandled a call under the promise of privacy.
Robin Fretwell Wilson, director of the UI System's Institute of Government and Public Affairs who holds a tenured appointment in the College of Law on the Urbana campus, is currently on paid administrative leave, UI Associate Chancellor for Public Affairs Robin Kaler said Monday.
"We can't comment on specific personnel issues," Kaler said in a written statement to The News-Gazette. "We take very seriously any reports of behavior that might violate the university's policies or employment expectations related to professional conduct, ethics, research compliance or other matters."
The allegations came forward from a now widely viewed TikTok post on the account of @bonniedoes, an artist and disability-rights advocate with more than 200,000 followers. The woman behind the account said she has not divulged her full name — on social media or to the university — due to a previous unrelated case of harassment. She has no affiliation with the UI.
Attempts to reach Wilson were unsuccessful.
According to emails shared with The News-Gazette, members of Wilson's team affiliated with the UI's Epstein Health Law and Policy Program, a legal research program, reached out to the woman last month after she shared a story on her social-media platform detailing an unauthorized pelvic exam that was performed on her while she was unconscious during an operation at a teaching hospital outside of Illinois.
The practice, sometimes done solely for medical students' education and not for the benefit of the patient, is highly controversial and currently banned in 21 states, including Illinois. Since January 2019, Wilson and the Epstein Health Law and Policy Program have assisted with legislative efforts to require hospitals to obtain informed consent from patients before conducting invasive medical exams.
Wilson and her colleagues did not act as lawyers for the woman, or being consulted for legal advice. According to email correspondences, they wanted to understand how TikTok could be used to help speed up this legislative process.
The woman said she agreed to talk, with the understanding that Wilson and three other members of the research team would be the only ones listening in.
But while she was sharing the intimate details of what happened to her, she said later on her TikTok post, another voice chimed in with a question. The voice, she said, came from Wilson's hairdresser, who was listening to the conversation while the professor had the call on speakerphone.
"I was stunned and didn't know what to say," the woman told the News-Gazette on Monday. "I was not at all prepared to handle that. I wanted to just hang up immediately."
After the conversation ended, the woman emailed the team, calling Wilson's choice to put the call on speaker "extremely inappropriate and tone deaf."
"We were having a discussion about the trust between a patient and doctor being violated, while, yet again, my trust being broken by someone who tells me they are here to help," she wrote in an email.
One of Wilson's colleagues replied to the woman that she was "not aware" Wilson was going to be in a public place during the call.
Wilson later replied in an email, "I owe you an apology since my schedule slipped, but I should have set that out front. Happy to call you privately regarding this."
The woman has since spoken openly about her call with Wilson on her TikTok page, and brought forward her accusations to the UI System and the UI College of Law.
"Immediately upon learning of this matter, the University Ethics Officer communicated with the individual who posted their concerns regarding their interaction to obtain additional information," Kaler said Monday. "There have been several other communications directly with that individual since the initial one. We care deeply about any individual who has been affected by inappropriate behavior.
"We believe that survivors of sexual misconduct should always be treated with empathy and dignity and in a manner that fully respects their wishes for privacy and confidentiality."
Wilson is a well-known scholar in family law, bioethics and religious liberty. She was invited to the White House in December for the signing of the Respect for Marriage Act because of her role in helping to craft the legislation.
The woman said she does not plan to file suit against Wilson.
"I had a concern that she is not treating this issue with the respect and care it deserves, and not treating the victims with the respect and care they deserve," she said. "The people in that hair salon, under no circumstances did they need to hear that information."
