A Wichita legislator’s complaints that Kansas University professor Dennis Dailey showed pornographic videos, rationalized pedophilia and harassed female students in his human sexuality class are unfounded, according to a university investigation released Monday.

¢The provost’s reportGiven the nature of the allegations, some of the content in the report is explicit in nature and is not intended for minors.

But state Sen. Susan Wagle, R-Wichita, said the university’s findings were predictable and she wanted an “independent” investigation, perhaps by Kansas Atty. Gen. Phill Kline.

University officials released a 22-page investigation report.

“After what I think was a very thorough and objective investigation, the allegations could not be corroborated,” said KU Chancellor Robert Hemenway.

The allegations, Hemenway said, boiled down to one student’s objections to class content and Dailey’s teaching style. The student shared those objections with Wagle, who later filed a lengthy complaint with the Kansas Board of Regents.

Wagle blasted the university’s findings.

“I’m not surprised,” she wrote in an e-mail to the Journal-World. “I fully expected KU to whitewash the allegations. After all, they have been defending Professor Dailey since I first raised concerns without an investigation, and they continue to do so. They have not changed their position. They are protecting one of their own.”

Wagle said her complaint should be investigated by a third party.

“That’s the only way the public will find out the truth,” she wrote. “I have a vested interest. The University of Kansas has a vested interest. The public needs an unbiased, legitimate outside investigation from a credible source. I would encourage the university to seek an attorney general’s opinion.”

That’s unlikely, said KU Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor David Shulenburger, who led the investigation.

¢ 6News video: Dailey cleared after investigation¢ Waglelies.com¢ Recent stories, video, letters

“I think the matter is closed,” he said.

Wagle’s recommendation came as a surprise to Kline’s office.

“We haven’t been contacted at this point, so it is premature for us to comment,” said Kline spokesman Whitney Watson.

No pornography found

For the investigation, Shulenburger watched all but one of the class videos — a real-life depiction of childbirth, which was out on loan. None, he said, was found to be pornographic.

The screening lasted about three hours. Most of the videos, he said, appeared to have been filmed in the 1960s or 1970s.

Shulenburger also met with Dailey student Jessica Zahn, who served as a legislative intern for Wagle, for 90 minutes. Zahn’s comments to Wagle about the class inspired Wagle’s complaint.

Shulenburger said while Zahn appeared sincere in her concerns about the class, her objections did not jibe with other students’ recollections of events spelled out in Wagle’s complaint.

And though Zahn said she thought other students might come forward with similar concerns once she voiced her own, none did, Shulenburger said.

Shulenburger said in the past five years that Zahn was the only student among 3,355 in Dailey’s classes to file a complaint.

Wagle also declined to provide Shulenburger with names of former Dailey students who allegedly complained to her.

One of those alleged students — her face concealed in shadows and identified only as “Jennifer” — appeared May 7 on Fox News’ “The O’Reilly Factor.” She accused Dailey of promoting incest and pedophilia in a class called “Interfamilial Sexual Abuse.”

Hearing the allegation, Dailey said he doubted the unnamed woman’s credibility. Shulenburger agreed: “No evidence has come to my attention that supports such a charge.”

Exploitation vs. illustration

Shulenburger also dismissed concerns that Dailey had engaged in child pornography when he showed slides with pictures of children’s genitalia.

“There is nothing shown in class that would fit Sen. Wagle’s allegation of child pornography,” he wrote, noting, “There is a vast difference between material that is exploitive of children and material that is used in a classroom setting to illustrate sexual maturation over time.”

Dailey welcomed the university’s findings.

“I’m glad the report is completed,” he said. “I’m pleased with its thoroughness and balance, and I’m heartened by its positive conclusion — an exoneration of the charges made by Mrs. Wagle.”

He declined further comment, but in a letter included in Shulenburger’s report, Dailey said the investigation “has been a particularly hurtful, troublesome and threatening experience.”

Jen Hein, an Omaha senior who led student support for Dailey, read Shulenburger’s report on the Internet.

“It’s about damn time,” she said. “And if you ask me, I’d say senator Wagle and her intern owe professor Dailey, the class and the university an apology for the intrusiveness and the viciousness of these allegations — they’re unsubstantiated and they’re lies.”

More controversy

Though the investigation is complete, the controversy has yet to run its course.

Robert Zimmerman, a spokesman for “The O’Reilly Factor,” said the show was gearing up for a fifth installment on the allegations.

“He’s looking at how the investigation was conducted,” Zimmerman said, referring to the show’s protagonist, Bill O’Reilly. “We’ll probably do a segment on it this week, most likely Wednesday.”

Already, Wagle’s complaint has left its mark on the university, said Rick Spano, a social welfare professor.

“I’m afraid this has created a very tense atmosphere for learning,” Spano said. “To know that one person can make accusations like this and then to have those allegations get this far, is very chilling and very disturbing.

“Students’ abilities to learn and to be challenged are being compromised.”