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USF Dean Caught Taking Bike Will Step Down

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Professor Abdul Rao, seen in this surveillance image, says he will step down effective Friday.

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TBO.com

Published: February 17, 2009

Updated: 02/17/2009 09:30 pm

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Abdul Rao

TAMPA - The University of South Florida associate vice president who was caught on videotape stealing a student's bicycle last week says he will resign his post Friday.

Abdul Rao will officially resign on Friday, according to an agreement he has given to Stephen Klasko, the dean of the college's School of Medicine. Klasko announced Rao's decision at a faculty council meeting today.

Rao said he is drafting his resignation letter tonight and that the university will receive it by Wednesday. He declined further comment.

Rao has said a "failure in judgment" led him to take the mountain bicycle outside the Byrd Alzheimer's Center on Feb. 10. He admitted to taking the bike, which is valued at $100, but said he had planned to return it. He said he offered it to a handyman doing work for him and didn't think it belonged to a student.

The security video has been widely seen on the Internet site YouTube.

The incident was under investigation by the USF police and a group of senior USF administrations. The Hillsborough County State Attorney's office is looking into whether to file charges against Rao.

USF spokesman Michael Hoad said the university did not ask Rao to resign.

Rao, who oversees research grants at USF and makes nearly $400,000 per year, has been on paid leave until the investigations were complete.

He and another man were seen on security cameras on the loading dock of the Johnnie B. Byrd Sr. Alzheimer's Center and Research Institute.

The tape shows a woman riding up and parking her bicycle against a railing at 2 p.m. About 8:50 p.m., a minivan pulls up and Rao and a man get out. They look through some bikes near the railing, pick one and leave with it in the minivan.

The man, Vernon Waiters, 45, has an extensive criminal record, including several drug charges.
Hoad said the man's criminal record would have been part of the internal USF investigations. Rao had told USF officials he was unaware of the man's history, Hoad said.

Reaction to the stories about Rao has been fierce, with dozens of people calling for Rao to be fired.

Hoad said Rao already had his detractors because of his personality. "He could be blunt." But, Hoad said, USF officials had never questioned his job performance or competence.

Rao was educated at Oxford and was hired by USF in 2005 after serving as vice provost for research at Middle Tennessee State University. Klasko had helped bring Rao to USF; the two worked together at Drexell University in Philadelphia several years earlier.

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