By Melissa Proulx, Staff Writer

As of this Spring 2015 semester, Edward Larkin has returned to teaching after his arrest in 2009 for indecent exposure, eventually resulting in him to be suspended from the University of New Hampshire for three years.

“I am grateful for the opportunity to return to teaching and thankful to the many people on and off campus who helped make that possible,” Larkin said. “I look forward to working with my students who have so far expressed a keen interest in the material that we are studying.”

Larkin was found guilty of indecent exposure in the summer of 2009 after he exposed himself to a mother and her then 17-year-old daughter outside of a Market Basket in Milford. According to a report by The New Hampshire Union Leader, he was only charged with a misdemeanor and had to pay a $600 fine. He was also required to undergo a psychiatric evaluation and attend 10 hours of counseling.

He did not have to register as a sex offender as a result of the incident.

Michael McCall, the prosecutor in the case, responded to a request for more information about the case, but was not available to comment until a later date.

Larkin had been a member of the faculty since 1986, according to Erika Mantz, the director of UNH Media Relations. Though the university had originally attempted to fire him after the incident, an arbitrator was able to prove that the crime as not severe enough for termination.

“In sum, I find that while [Larkin’s] conduct on July 19, 2009, constituted moral delinquency, it was not moral delinquency of a grave order,” according to a quote by arbitrator Michael Ryan in a 2011 article in the Union Leader about the suspension. “The university did not have just cause to terminate him.”

Instead, it was decided that Larkin would be suspended without pay for three years. After this time period was up, he would then be allowed to come back as long as another crime did not occur and without any discrimination because of the arrest.

Larkin is currently teaching one section of Introduction to German Literature (GERM 601) and Special Studies in German Language and Literature (GERM 798).

“Professor Larkin is teaching two undergraduate courses this semester,” Mantz confirmed in an email. “The three-year probationary period that prohibited him from teaching ended in January.”

Mantz also confirmed that there is nothing in UNH’s Academic Policy that states Larkin is required to tell his students of his previous arrest.

Follow Melissa Proulx at @_mcproulx