Obscene Calls Traced to Ex-University Head’s Office

The sudden resignation and disappearance of American University President Richard Berendzen came after police traced a series of obscene phone calls to his private office phone, reports said today.

Berendzen, who quit April 10 after 10 years on the job, was asked to step down because of allegations surrounding “personal actions,” said Edward Carr, chairman of the university’s board of trustees.

Robert Horan Jr., a prosecutor in Fairfax County, Va., said Tuesday that police are “looking into certain complaints” against Berendzen.

WUSA-TV reported that obscene telephone calls allegedly began after a woman placed an ad in the Washington Post saying she would take children into her home for day-care. Police then launched an investigation and put a tap on the woman’s telephone. A series of calls were then allegedly traced to Berendzen’s office.

“On April 6, 1990, I first became aware of allegations of improper behavior by Dr. Berendzen,” Carr said in his statement. “I want to emphasize that these allegations concerned personal actions of Dr. Berendzen and were in no way related to his role as president of the university.”

Carr had said on April 10 that he was unaware of reasons behind what was then presented to the public as Berendzen’s unforced resignation.

“Despite the private nature of Berendzen’s problems, it was concluded that his resignation would be in the best interest of the university so that the university did not become involved in their resolution,” Carr’s statement said.

Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore said today that Berendzen is a patient there. The hospital runs a well-known sexual disorders clinic but a spokesman refused to say whether Berendzen was being treated in that unit.

Berendzen, 51, said in a statement April 10 that he was stepping down because of exhaustion.

He is an astronomer who received his undergraduate degree in 1961 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He received a masters degree from Harvard University in 1967 and a Ph.D. in 1969. He taught at Harvard and Boston University until 1974, when he became dean of American University’s College of Arts and Sciences.