Rumors have circulated on Reddit that a former tenure-track professor from Nicholls State University, whose alleged harassment of female students for his ‘clown fetish’ recently sparked national headlines, is employed at Emporia State University for the 2023-2024 school year.
Joseph Tokosh, a former assistant professor of geography at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, Louisiana, resigned in March after The Nicholls Worth, the university’s student newspaper, detailed his alleged harrassment of some of his female students. While one of his classes did entail a culturally-inspired face painting assignment, students reported that Tokosh offered “bonus points, significant changes in their grades” — or even money — in exchange for letting him paint their faces. The Nicholls Worth also reported that a student even filed a complaint with the university against Tokosh for sexually harassing her on social media.
On Aug. 31, his misconduct made national headlines when USA Today reported on the matter, also implicating him in incidents at Kent State University in Ohio where he taught classes while pursuing his doctorate. Two reports to campus police were filed against Tokosh by two female Kent students detailing similar interactions with Tokosh and face painting.
A now deleted post on a Reddit account linked to Tokosh, Joeography, once admitted to having a fetish for face painting his students.
“I have a facepaint fetish and convince the cute girls in my classes to let me paint their faces,” the post said. “I’m not very good but there is something about applying the thick white clown makeup on them that I like. I started getting more and more adventurous painting ones entire body white!”
The rumors of Tokosh’s employment were first brought to The Bulletin’s attention after a professor in Tennessee caught wind of the claims on Reddit.
“I was notified by an ESU alum who now works in academia in Tennessee,” said Ryann Brooks, journalist for The Emporia Gazette and adviser for The Bulletin. “A colleague of theirs had read the story about Tokosh and then found the Reddit thread that mentioned him possibly working at ESU.”
The Reddit thread in question stated that Tokosh was “apparently starting in a new position at Emporia State University in Kansas,” referencing an earlier post on Tokosh’s account mentioning ESU. However, The Bulletin found little context to the original post on the Joeography account where Tokosh simply mentioned “Emporia State,” because all posts and comments were deleted.
If hired, Tokosh would teach Geography in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences. The university directory shows no evidence of Tokosh’s employment.
“I have no idea who that is,” said Amy Sage Webb-Baza, Interim Dean for the School of Humanities and Social Sciences. “We have not hired anyone by that name.”
