Archaeologists Ban Member From Meeting for Arrest

The Society for American Archaeology on Friday banned a professor from attending its annual meeting, following his arrest for felony aggravated stalking. Robert Jeffrey Speakman, director of the University of Georgia’s Center for Applied Isotope Studies, was arrested earlier this month after violating a temporary protective order, according police records. The protective order did not pertain to a student of Speakman’s, but to another Georgia graduate, according to information obtained by Inside Higher Ed. Speakman has been suspended and banned indefinitely from Georgia. The society said that “based on current available information,” its governing board met and withdrew Speakman’s registration for its 2020 meeting. Earlier this year, by contrast, the society was criticized for allowing member David Yesner to attend its meeting, even though he’d been banned by the University of Alaska at Anchorage over credible misconduct claims. Speakman could not immediately be reached for comment.