UF has cleared professor Churchill Roberts of violating university policy by allowing two graduate students to return to Haiti to complete a video project.
According to a statement released Wednesday by members of UF’s human resources department, the investigation, which was intended to determine whether Roberts “authorized or facilitated” use of university funds for the trip, concluded Roberts did nothing wrong.
Roberts, who specializes in video journalism, is the thesis adviser for Jonathan Bougher and Roman Safuillin, graduate students in the College of Journalism and Communications. Bougher and Safuillin were working on a film project in Haiti for their master’s-degree project before the earthquake struck in January.
In the weeks following the earthquake, UF implemented a safety policy that banned any university funding from being used to sponsor trips to Haiti.
According to the report, Roberts knew his students were going to return to Haiti to finish their project, but said he did not feel it was his responsibility to prevent them from going provided they did not use UF funds.
The nearly 12-week investigation confirmed that Bougher and Safuillin funded their trip with private donations from people interested in their work.
