FIU investigating longtime law professor for inappropriate sexual conduct'

Miami Herald

30-04-2025

A 20-year FIU College of Law professor who works with the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office has been banned from campus since January while the school investigates 'credible concerns of ongoing inappropriate sexual misconduct.'
That's from a Jan. 21, 2025, letter hand-delivered to professor H. Scott Fingerhut, 62, from Interim Director and Title IX Coordinator Jacqueline Moise Gibbs informing Fingerhut he was on administrative leave 'effective immediately.'
The letter said FIU's Office of Civil Rights Compliance and Accessibility has 'received multiple reports with credible concerns of ongoing inappropriate sexual misconduct, including but not limited to showing students animal genitalia, statements of a sexual nature and other statements that could be construed as intimidating or retaliatory.'
During an initial review by the civil rights agency, the letter said, 'complainants expressed emotional distress, anxiety and fear of retaliation.'
Based on that initial review and analysis, the letter said, the agency determined that there was a basis for placing Fingerhut on administrative leave as 'an immediate threat to the health, safety or welfare of the University or University Community arising from allegations of violations of FIU 105,' the school's sexual harassment and sexual misconduct regulation.
The leave bans Fingerhut, assistant director of Florida International University's Trial Advocacy Program, from both FIU campuses, all FIU-owned buildings and FIU-sponsored events. Other professors taught his classes this semester at FIU. His name didn't appear on the preliminary list of classes for the fall semester.
FIU wouldn't elaborate on the accusations against Fingerhut, stating in an email by FIU spokeswoman Madeline Baro, 'It is the university's practice not to comment on personnel matters.'
Fingerhut emailed the Miami Herald that he was 'eager, without question or hesitation' to answer why he wasn't teaching classes this semester, but university policy prevented him 'from doing so, for the moment.'
Fingerhut: 'Institutional fear' and 'the softening of America'
Fingerhut, however, did express his feelings in the draft of a possible answer to Miami Herald questions, which he sent a colleague in the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office via an email. The Herald obtained that email through a public records request.
Along with 'being a school teacher is one of the great blessings of my life,' he wrote, 'I believe in fact, fairness and the arc of justice. And, what is going on right now is as personally painful and profoundly disappointing as you might imagine.'
Fingerhut said he was grateful for the 'faith and confidence of those around me, especially my superiors,' and closed with:
'Let what's happening to me, now publicly, for some reason, serve as a warning of what can happen to any of us who get caught in a system where the inmates run the asylum — where institutional fear has fallen prey to today's cancel and consumer cultures, and the softening of America dares to ruin anyone, even at the highest educational level.'
Former rookie prosecutor returns as training supervisor
Fingerhut has been a Florida Bar member since 1989 and began his legal career at the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office as an assistant state attorney. He left the office in 1992, then, while becoming a criminal defense attorney widely held in high esteem, began teaching at the University of Miami's School of Law. His 10 years there have been followed by 20 at FIU.
His current position in the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office, which he has held since August, amounts to a teaching position, too. As Special Counsel to the State Attorney, he's asked to supervise the training of prosecutors in evidence gathering, ethics and trial advocacy.
'Since coming on board, Scott's work with our office has been limited to partnering with my senior staff and trainers on various training topics,' a statement from Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez-Rundle said in part.
Fingerhut's tasks are similar to those that were going to be performed by Steve Gosney, who was hired last year in the wake of questionable prosecutor conduct. Gosney took the job last summer, but was out two months later in the hubbub over a fictional book he authored that contained sexual violence.
MORE: Lawyer and Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office ending relationship over book fuss
The Miami-Dade State Attorney's office hired Fingerhut the month Gosney left.
Fingerhut has chaired numerous professional committees and currently heads the Florida Bar's Leadership Academy Committee and Code & Rules of Evidence Committee. He has piled up honors, including from the Dade County Bar for pro bono work.
The statement from Fernandez-Rundle said Fingerhut informed her office of his administrative leave from FIU on Jan. 21, the day of the letter.
Fingerhut remains in his position at the State Attorney's Office.
'As an office that is committed to due process and fair impartial investigations, we are hopeful that FIU 's inquiry will proceed expeditiously and that it will ensure that all involved parties are given the opportunity to address all the issues in an open and fair manner,' Fernandez-Rundle's statement said. 'Once that process has concluded, we will review the findings.'