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SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES

Former Whitman dean arrested on prostitution charges lands teaching job in Norway

Jes Sheldon | Staff Photographer

Kenneth Kavajecz has been teaching at the University of Stravanger since January, according to his LinkedIn.

By Jordan Muller, Sam OgozalekThe Daily Orange

Kenneth Kavajecz, the former Martin J. Whitman School of Management dean who was arrested on prostitution charges in fall 2016, is teaching again. Just not at Syracuse University.

Kavajecz, who pleaded guilty to attempted patronizing of a prostitute in November, is now a visiting professor of finance at the University of Stavanger in Norway, according to his LinkedIn. He’s held the position since January, per his LinkedIn. On the university’s website, Kavajecz is listed as an external consultant in its business school.

Neither Kavajecz nor a University of Stavanger spokesperson responded to requests for comment Tuesday. The University of Stavanger, in the southern portion of Norway, was established in 2005. It has 12,000 students and 1,600 faculty, according to its website.

Kavajecz was removed from his position at SU in September 2016 after authorities said he agreed to pay $80 to an undercover police officer who was posing as a prostitute in a hotel near the Syracuse Hancock International Airport. His arrest was part of a larger prostitution sting led by the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office and New York State Police.

Louis Mannara, a Cicero-based defense attorney who represented Kavajecz in the case, requested more than 10 adjournments after the former dean pleaded not guilty to the charge of patronizing a prostitute. Kavajecz eventually pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of attempted patronizing of a prostitute and received a one-year conditional discharge.



Kavajecz’s arrest shocked Whitman students. Under his leadership, Whitman climbed Bloomberg’s best business school rankings from No. 72 in 2013 to No. 23 in 2016.

His headshot and biography were still posted on Whitman’s faculty directory Tuesday morning. But as of about 4 p.m. Tuesday, Kavajecz’s information had been removed. The former dean’s salary was $496,448, according to SU’s 990 form for the 2014-15 Fiscal Year. Kavajecz was not listed on the university’s 990 form for the 2015-16 Fiscal Year.

The Whitman dean position was filled last May. Gene Anderson, a former University of Miami School of Business Administration professor, was appointed to Kavajecz’s former role.





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