UGA Professor Accused of Prostitution to Retire in Spring

Max Reinhart, the University of Georgia professor who was while dressed as a transvestite at a Norcross-area motel, has come to an agreement with the school to retire, but not until next year.

said Friday that they will allow Reinhart, the A.G. Steer Professor of Goethe Studies, to leave the school at the end of the 2013 spring semester.

According to the Athens Banner-Herald, Reinhart won't teach any more classes, said UGA spokesman Tom Jackson, but will be assigned to duties outside the classroom. Reinhart is said to be a wonderful teacher and well-liked by students and colleagues.

Do you agree with UGA's decision? Tell us in the comments.

The professor agreed to leave the university May 10, says the article, and he's not to sue the university or the Board of Regents. UGA officials will take no action to revoke the respected professor's tenure.

Reinhart was arrested June 7 by Gwinnett County Police at Guest House Inn, located at 2050 Willow Trail. According to Gwinnett Police spokesman Cpl. Jake Smith, detectives located an ad in the transsexual escort services section of backpage.com with someone named "Sasha."

Detectives arranged to meet "Sasha" at the Norcross-area motel, where Reinhart had rented a room. An undercover detective and Reinhart allegedly came to an agreement of $60 for thirty minutes of "services." Reinhart was then taken into custody.

He was charged with prostitution and with keeping a place of prostitution--in this case, the motel room. He was kept in jail for several hours before posting bond and returning to Athens.

On the website for UGA Germanic and Slavic Studies, a page is devoted to Professor Reinhart. It says his current projects include:

"A monograph on Iqbal and Goethe and editorship of the English-language translation (by Michael Metzger) of Katharina Mommsen's 'Goethe und die arabische Welt.' With Peter Ochs, Professor in Judaic Studies at the University of Virginia, he is co-organizer of an international conference for October 2012 at the University of Georgia called 'Reparative Reasoning: Bridging the East/West Divide in the Philosophy and Poetry of Muhammad Iqbal.'"

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