by Sara Russo

Over two years after the initial arrest of Yale geology professor and former master of Saybrook residential college Antonio Lasaga on federal child pornography charges and a year after the geologist pleaded guilty to two of those charges, Yale University President Richard Levin has finally acted to fire the professor.

In February of 2000, Lasaga pleaded guilty to receiving hundreds of thousands of computer files containing child pornography including images of children engaging in sexual acts with other children and adults as well as animals. Some images pictured minors under twelve and featured sadistic and masochistic acts.

The professor was also charged with possessing two video tapes showing a young boy engaged in sexual acts in a Yale geology classroom and in Lasaga's former on-campus residence, the Saybrook master's house. The child was eleven years old at the time the video in the geology classroom was made, and was thirteen when filmed in Lasaga's home. Lasaga was charged with two counts of first-degree sexual assault, based on the acts portrayed in the videotapes. The child shown in the videos met Lasaga through a New Haven Public Schools mentoring program.

Lasaga's arrest in November of 1998 was not the first time he had been charged with sexually abusing a child. In 1981 while an assistant professor at Pennsylvania State University, Lasaga was arrested for the molestation of two young boys, though the charges against him were dropped after he passed a lie detector test. After making the move to Yale in 1982, Lasaga was twice accused of touching young boys at a pool in the Hamden, Connecticut YMCA, in 1986, and again in 1991. Lasaga was never criminally charged, although the YMCA kept records of the incidents.

Yale University officials have made every effort to shroud their proceedings in secrecy. When Lasaga stepped down as Master of Saybrook residential college in November of 1998, the University refused to substantiate rumors that an investigation was ongoing. "I know you're curious," Yale College Dean Richard Brodhead told students from Saybrook. "I can tell you that the only answer I can give you for this is that Antonio Lasaga has resigned for personal reasons, and I can only ask to count on your maturity."

The two-year delay in revoking Lasaga's tenure was also marked by reticence on the part of the University. The final decision to fire Lasaga was reached by Yale President Richard Levin only after months of closed hearings by the University Tribunal, which finally recommended in January that Lasaga be dismissed. Following the tribunal's decision, Levin waited another month before firing Lasaga, due to complications he has refused to discuss.

Lasaga has since appealed the decision to revoke his tenure and is in the process of challenging one of his two guilty pleas. He remains under house arrest at his home in Cheshire, Connecticut. Sentencing in the case, recommended at 11-14 years under the initial plea agreement, has been forestalled until Lasaga's challenge to his guilty plea can be entertained.

Though many at Yale are thankful that their school finally took action to revoke Lasaga's tenure, others criticize the University for not acting sooner. "Yale should be able to stand up to professors when they commit crimes," commented Yale sophomore David Barnes. "They should have just up front, in the open, fired him."