Dr. Davis said that an investigation had reached the same conclusion about the accusations against Mr. Nixon, who could not be reached. Joe Wilferth, dean of arts and sciences, also wrote to faculty members to say, In my experience over the last seven months, what has been written and shared in these various outlets, even on university e-mail lists, only serves to exacerbate what is arguably an already-hostile work environment., The boards executive committee recently endorsed a deans proposal that the campus engage in mediation to facilitate a culture of understanding and mutual respect that leads to university-wide cooperation and collaboration including the articulation of standards related to professional responsibilities and an institutional code of conduct., Reshmi Dutt-Ballerstadt, professor of English, underscored the university's desire to adopt a code of conduct and she sees it as an "egregious violation of academic freedom.Daniel Pollack-Pelzner, another professor of English who has criticized the university publicly, wrote on Twitter, So, in response to allegations of misconduct, @LinfieldUniv has shut down student comments on Instagram, censored critical posts on Facebook, and suspended campus email lists. The handbook needs to be revised or it was never approved? Dr. Pollack-Pelzner said he had taken the letter as a personal attack, adding that he had been ordered not to talk about sexual misconduct outside of executive session and had then been banned from attending the sessions and finally fired after speaking out on Twitter. Linfield University is a private institution that was founded in 1858. You will receive a link to create a new password via email. Linfield laid this, and other allegations, out in a statement last year from the Executive Committee of the universitys board of trustees. All rights reserved (About Us). The small private university has weathered controversy recently, with the high-profile departure of a faculty member who drew attention to accusations of sexual harassment by school leaders. In his first detailed statement on the complaints, Baca wrote that he regretted, that we did not strictly enforce an order that Mr. Jubb refrain from fraternizing with students during the evening when the second incident allegedly took place., He said he realized too late that a mistake had been made in allowing Mr. Jubb to attend the bar gathering after the faculty/trustee dinner. It has a total undergraduate enrollment of 1,283 (fall 2021), its setting is rural, and the campus size is 189 acres. Davis also noted that two of the trustees who were accused of sexual misconduct are African-American. Its retaliatory in the extreme.. In its letter Thursday, Anti-Defamation League Pacific Northwest Regional Director Miri Cypers wrote that the ADL is not representing Pollack-Pelzner as his attorney nor is it in a position to verify his allegations, but that it is troubled by his descriptions of the incidents. $2.3B Qcells Solar Power Investment Holds Major Potential for Georgia - January 26, 2023. statement last year from the Executive Committee of the universitys board of trustees. Where small class sizes translate to big opportunities. Most important, you should know that Professor Pollack-Pelzner has been engaged in a smear campaign toward me and the administration at Linfield University, Davis wrote. Academic freedom and freedom of inquiry are values to which Linfield University subscribes., But Linfields despotic administration has effectively renounced this statement in favor of a pithier one: Snitches get stitches.. MSE News. Dies geschieht in Ihren Datenschutzeinstellungen. When he sent an email to himself as a test, he received, as the Chronicle of Higher Education reports, an auto-reply, Daniel Pollack-Pelzner is no longer an employee of Linfield University. A Linfield University spokesperson explains that Pollack-Pelzner was let go for circulating unspecified false statements, for an equally unspecified failure to comply with university policies, and generally being insubordinate.. And because of the incompetent despotism of some of its leaders, Linfield is now a national story. We find that President Davis has been subject to numerous instances of unfair treatment since his arrival in July 2018, and this unfair treatment of personal attacks were due to being a Black man, the report says. In his recent statement, Baca said his email to trustees announcing Jubbs resignation was supposed to be a private note., For those who expected me to publicly denounce Mr. Jubb, I would remind them that there had not been an investigation and there were no findings. We strive for an inclusive and welcoming campus for our students and employees.. Regardless, I asked for and received his resignation from the Board.. Reginald Richardson, the president of the local NAACP chapter, told JTA that he trusted the independent investigation of the antisemitism claims, and that Pollack-Pelzners firing was outside the scope of the NAACP report. Rabbi Eve Posen, president of the Oregon Board of Rabbis, told JTA that the Oregon Board of Rabbis is interested and would be more than happy to work with the NAACP, but did not elaborate. FIREs 2022 College Free Speech Rankings are based on the voices of more than 44,000 currently enrolled students at 208 colleges and are designed to help parents and prospective students choose the right school. 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Higher Ed Leaders Propose Gun Violence Solutions, NYC Comptroller Urges Yeshiva U to Recognize LGBTQ Group, Ore. Lawmaker Seeks Sexual Misconduct Survey for All Colleges, New Report on the Resilience of Puerto Rican Universities. The justifications offered by Linfields leadership to the Chronicle are incoherent. Davis told the Chronicle of Higher Education that the schools faculty handbook had not been updated and said a number of things in that handbook that are not valid. He added that Our legal representation feels very comfortable with the basis for his termination.. It becomes an echo chamber that I have to spend my time defending, as opposed to looking at the scope of my lifes work, he said. His recent Twitter posting is just the latest salvo in an effort that has caused harm to the university and our community.. The Oregon Board of Rabbis called on Dr. Davis and Mr. Baca to resign. Obviously, a university need not convene a unanimous jury before stopping ongoing physical violence. Linfields administration does not get to pick and choose between the policies it has and the policies it wishes it had. Its overwhelming, its destabilizing its an attack on the values of higher education that I have worked so hard with colleagues to uphold, he said. A lawyer hired by the university substantiated Dr. Friedmans claim that Dr. Davis had put his hands on her arms but found that the conduct had not violated Linfields anti-harassment and sexual harassment policy. That is our challenge and our charge.. It has even pitted the N.A.A.C.P., which has cited racial bias in the accusations against Dr. Davis, against the Anti-Defamation League, which has joined in calls for Dr. Daviss resignation. That failure led to sexual abuse allegations against trustee David Jubb stemming from a 2019 encounter between Jubb and a student-trustee at a bar after a faculty-trustee dinner. Tenure and contracts are not Calvinball. Lorraine Hansberrys second play had a white Jewish protagonist. Davis denied making this comment before he admitted making it. Welcome to Linfield University Discover a community where acceptance is an unbreakable promise and being uncommon is the norm. 2023 jewish telegraphic agency all rights reserved. Klicken Sie auf Einstellungen verwalten um weitere Informationen zu erhalten und Ihre Einstellungen zu verwalten. With Linfield . Dave decided it was in Linfields best interest that he step down and allow new leaders to come to the forefront, Linfield spokesperson Scott Nelson said in a statement. The employee handbook every page of which is stamped Revised December 2020 (by Finance & Administration) expressly refers to the faculty handbook and specifically cites the faculty handbooks appendix laying out the procedural mechanisms for disciplinary action involving tenured faculty. While I did not witness any untoward behavior as alleged, I regret that Mr. Jubb was allowed to be in the same setting with a student, Baca wrote. According to The Oregonian, the university has hosed down sidewalk-chalk messages supporting Pelzner, threatening the students who wrote them with fines, and has torn down flyers criticizing his termination. Do these folks really think theyre going to win a social media war against Generation Z?, Trey PetersonWood, a recent Linfield graduate, said Monday that the more Linfield attempts to censor and silence advocates for accountability, the more damage they are causing to this great institution that has the potential to be a leader in the age of what oppressors call cancel culture, but in reality, its the age of accountability.. Several professors have of late used mass emails or publicly criticized the university for what they describe as Linfields poor handling of several sexual misconduct complaints involving members of the Board of Trustees. Colleen Flaherty April 19, 2021 (Daniel Pollack-Pelzner/Twitter) This coded language plays off racist and toxic stereotypes with a long history in this country.. The indictment came after a student trustee filed a federal lawsuit in which she accused Mr. Jubb, 72, of assaulting her after a faculty-trustee dinner. Pollack-Pelzners tweets stated that he was censored by the board in meetings. OPBs critical reporting and inspiring programs are made possible by the power of member support. Dr. Pollack-Pelzner, Dr. Linder, Dr. Tompkins, Dr. Friedman and two other professors who had received requests to speak to the group responded in an email that investigating employees who have reported harassment and retaliation, no matter how well-intentioned the investigation is itself an act of retaliation., As the controversy has dragged on, Mr. Baca, the board chairman, has tried to reassure students and others on campus who have protested the handling of the sexual misconduct accusations, writing in a letter to the Linfield community last July, I believe that you are safe, that there is justice and that the trustees are protecting you.. By submitting the above I agree to the privacy policy and terms of use of JTA.org. Linfield University canceled faculty Listservs over the weekend, sparking faculty cries of censorship. A Linfield graduate, who agreed to be identified by her initials A.K., told the newspaper in May that the school failed to intervene as promised after she reported in 2018 that Jubb allegedly groped her and two other students after drinking too much at a bar following a senior achievement dinner on campus in 2017. In an effort to squelch criticism, the colleges administrators caught the attention of major defenders of academic freedom, as well as the Anti-Defamation League. Affording process before any action? Promising to be open about budget cuts, he quoted a former professor of his who used to make the analogy, You dont send the Jews to the shower with soap, Dr. Linder said. Lorraine Hansberrys second play had a white Jewish protagonist. The metadata of the PDF file reveals that it was generated by an executive assistant to Susan Agre-Kippenhan, the senior Linfield administrator who announced Pollack-Pelzners termination. As FIRE detailed yesterday, Linfield Universitys senior leadership abruptly terminated Daniel Pollack-Pelzner after he criticized the universitys handling of sexual assault and harassment allegations against board members, and alleged that Linfield president Miles K. Davis had made a remark about Jewish noses. Davis has, until now, denied that claim. Linfield President Miles Davis said in a responding letter that the professors tweets were part of a smear campaign against university administration. David Baca, longtime chair of Linfield University's Board of Trustees, said this week that he's stepping down. Linfield stands against xenophobia, racism, antisemitism and sexual misconduct in all forms.. Linfield University announced Tuesday that the chair of its Board of Trustees, David Baca, has stepped down from the leadership post after four years, including a tumultuous last several months at the private college in McMinnville. According to the Chronicle: In an interview, Agre-Kippenhan said that Pollack-Pelzner had been fired from the university under his status as an employee, not as a tenured professor, and that the faculty handbook needed to be revised because many of the provisions in it were not entirely useful.. On Friday, the local branch of the N.A.A.C.P. She was 87. But affording a faculty member some kind of process before imposing any disciplinary action Davis wants? 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