Columbia professor charged with assault, harassment

A week after Columbia associate professor Lionel McIntyre punched School of the Arts production manager Camille Davis at a local bar, it remains unclear how restaurant managers and the University are responding.

According to police reports, McIntyre—a 59-year-old associate professor in the urban planning program at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation—assaulted Davis on Friday, Nov. 6 at Toast on 125th Street. The police were not called, and Davis did not report the assault until Monday Nov. 9 at Harlem’s 26th Precinct.

McIntyre was arrested on charges of assault and harassment. According to a spokesperson for the New York district attorney’s office, he has since been released without bail. The case is still pending, and his court date is scheduled for Jan. 11, 2010.

The DA spokesperson confirmed that McIntyre was charged with third-degree assault and second-degree harassment, adding, “According to an eyewitness, the victim was punched with the defendant’s closed hand, causing bruising and redness and swelling in the right eye.” The DA report says that based on testimonies, Davis experienced “substantial pain.”

According to Lex Dunbar, a bar manager at the 125th Street Toast, the bar is currently following up on the incident. He declined to comment on any specifics, but said, “We’re dealing with it professionally, legally, and psychologically.” Dunbar and other employees all declined to comment further, and the owner and general manager of the Toast chain—which has another location on 104th Street—did not respond to comment.

Daniel Morgan, a regular at the bar who said he knew both the offender and victim, said that he was not pleased with this response. “This is a typical cover up,” he said. “They just want the whole thing to go away. It’s too big.”

Robert Hornsby, director of media relations for Columbia University, declined to comment on the investigation or the status of McIntyre’s job. McIntyre could not be reached for comment. Camille Davis declined to comment.