( JTA) In the latest developments in an ongoing controversy at Linfield University over the firing of a tenured Jewish professor who accused the school of antisemitism, a report from the. The governing council of a national academic association this week voted to censure Linfield University over the abrupt firing of tenured English professor Daniel Pollack-Pelzner, an advocate. 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. Davis said the university initiated internal and external investigations of each incident and found no support for the claims in Pollack-Pelzners posts. Last week Linfield professor and faculty trustee Daniel Pollack-Pelzner tweeted that he faced antisemitic comments after he reported that multiple members of the universitys Board of Trustees had been accused of sexual misconduct by students and faculty over the past year. David Baca, longtime chair of Linfield University's Board of Trustees, said this week that he's stepping down. I havent seen any indication that people in positions of power at Linfield want to hold themselves accountable., Other organizations have also come out in Pollack-Pelzners defense. 2023 jewish telegraphic agency all rights reserved. Baca has been on the board for13 years. At issue is Pollack-Pelzners unwelcome insistence that this same board take more seriously the documented mishandling of a case of trustee sexual misconduct, as well as additional similar allegations. So eight criminal charges total, not all of them felonies. Friedman.. Pioneer Hall on the Linfield University campus in McMinnville, Ore. The university faces growing calls for the resignation of that president, Miles K. Davis, and the chairman of its board of trustees amid accusations that they made offensive comments about Jews and that Dr. Davis and three other board members had engaged in various forms of misconduct with female professors and students. Pioneer Hall is seen through the signature oak trees at Linfield College in McMinnville, Ore., Tuesday, May 21, 2019. How to request transcripts Contact us For more information on how to get involved with Linfield, please don't hesitate to reach out. When asked whether the faculty-handbook procedures had been followed in Pollack-Pelzners firing, Davis said that the handbook had not been updated and that there are a number of things in that handbook that are not valid. The handbook says Fall 2020" on its title page, and the most recent update was in January of this year. Maxine Bernstein | The Oregonian/OregonLive, told the newspaper in May that the school failed to intervene as promised, Jubb is accused of sexually abusing student-trustee AnnaMarie Motis. Sign up to get important news and culture from around the Northwest, delivered to your inbox six days a week. The Zestimate for this Townhouse is $559,300, which has decreased by $54,929 in the last 30 days.The Rent Zestimate for this Townhouse is $3,499/mo, which has decreased by $247/mo in the last 30 days. And theres been a total lack of accountability on the part of the school to take responsibility for whats happened and to engage in an honest conversation.. On Thursday, Pollack-Pelzner told JTA that he learned he was fired only when he discovered he was locked out of his work email. Faculty members within Linfield's College of Arts and Sciences Monday passed a resolution signifying no confidence in the university president and board chair, calling for their resignations. It . Now people. 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. reporting from Linfields student newspaper The Linfield Review. Dismissal for cause must not be used to restrain faculty members in their exercise of academic freedom or other rights of [an] American citizen. Dismissal for cause must be preceded by, among other things, a statement of charges and a hearing. During the hearing process, the faculty member may not be suspended, much less fired, unless immediate harm to the faculty member or others is threatened by continuance.. The State College of Florida Bradenton requested a traveling art exhibition to remove pieces with the words diversity, inclusion, justice, and equality. The only major offered is Nursing. Linfield by-laws require a lengthy process including multiple hearings, which did not happen in Pollack-Pelzners case. [11] Linfield has fired Pollack-Pelzner both as a punishment for his publicly holding the University responsible and as a warning to every other member of the faculty, the letter says. Earlier this year, Linfields College of Arts and Sciences held a similar vote signifying no confidence and calling for the resignation of both Baca and Davis. Resources for faculty and staff from our partners at Times Higher Education. Linfield University locations: McMinnville Campus 900 SE Baker Street McMinnville, Oregon 97128 503-883-2200. Im trying to figure out what my options are. That includes the dismissal of Daniel Pollack-Pelzner, which occurred in the middle of a Zoom meeting at Linfield University without him being granted any hearing or due process. But then theres also, maybe, a reaction to who is bringing the change., Dr. Davis said he was particularly stung by the claims of anti-Semitism, calling it the thing that bothers me the most. Last year, he denied making the remark about Jewish noses, and an investigator hired by the university called it a he said, he said situation that could not be substantiated. Until then, the self-inflicted damage to Linfields reputation will continue to flow. (JTA) Criticism is mounting over the firing of a Jewish professor who accused his Oregon universitys leadership of making antisemitic comments, with the local branch of the Anti-Defamation League joining calls for the president of the school to resign. Zestimate Home Value: $439,900. And because of the incompetent despotism of some of its leaders, Linfield is now a national story. 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. "After 13 years on the Board and four years as chair, Dave decided it was in Linfield's best interest that he step down and allow new leaders to come to the forefront," Scott Nelson, university spokesman, told The Oregonian. Other faculty members have since stepped forward to report an even stranger comment. 4d. How Oregon researchers are testing 3D printing to reconstruct bone. According to the school spokesman, Baca purposefully sat next to Jubb at the bar in 2019 when he learned the student-trustee also had gone there with Jubb and other trustees. Based on that investigation, the NAACP criticized the ADL and Oregon Board of Rabbis for calling on Davis to resign. said Dr. Davis had contacted it last month with concerns about racial bias. In another incident, Dr. Friedman reported that Dr. Davis had come up from behind her after a panel discussion in 2018 and had rubbed his hands up and down her arms while whispering that he was looking forward to meeting her later, she said. The university said he had vigorously denied the allegations. Baca, a 1978 Linfield graduate and partner in the Davis Wright Tremaine law firm, recently was reelected to another three-year term on the board and remains its chair. The Oregon Board of Rabbis called on Dr. Davis and Mr. Baca to resign. Linfield President Miles Davis said in a responding letter that the professors tweets were part of a smear campaign against university administration. 13 among all public universities in the United States by Niche, a research company that produces an annual Liked by Kendra (Preugschat) Hill By submitting the above I agree to the privacy policy and terms of use of JTA.org. Kerry Carmody, the board's vice chair, was named . The university, which has about 1,900 students and 139 faculty members, maintains an affiliation with the American Baptist Churches U.S.A. Dr. Pollack-Pelzner lost his post a month after he had outlined multiple accusations of anti-Semitism and sexual misconduct by university leaders in a statement on Twitter. Further, the Oregon Board of Rabbis also called for the resignation of President Davis without talking with him or conducting an investigation of any kind.. The justifications offered by Linfields leadership to the Chronicle are incoherent. Davis invited the NAACP to investigate whether he was subject to racist treatment after he was accused both of antisemitism as well as sexual assault. 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.. That is our challenge and our charge.. As FIRE detailed yesterday, Linfield University's senior leadership abruptly terminated Daniel Pollack-Pelzner after he criticized the university's 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." Its retaliatory in the extreme.. Davis denied making this comment before he admitted making it. The most serious of the sexual misconduct allegations involved a trustee, David Jubb, who resigned in June 2019 and was charged in an indictment last May with one count of felony sexual abuse and seven counts of misdemeanor sexual abuse. Students as well as fellow academics are also protesting the decision by Linfield University, a Baptist-affiliated school with some 2,000 students, to fire Daniel Pollack-Pelzner. His recent Twitter posting is just the latest salvo in an effort that has caused harm to the university and our community.. He said that his firing sent the message that if you use your voice to speak up against sexual misconduct, then you will lose your voice.. Linfield University is affiliated with American Baptist Churches, USA. Its just devastating, Dr. Pollack-Pelzner said, adding that he had spoken publicly in his capacity as a faculty trustee who had received complaints from students and colleagues. In February 2019 after a faculty-trustee dinner, Jubb is accused of sexually abusing student-trustee AnnaMarie Motis as the two waited for a ride in the lobby of Michelbook Country Club and then at a McMinnville bar where trustees had gone for after-dinner drinks. So which is it? Pollack-Pelzner said he doesnt know what his next steps will be, and that he isnt sure how he could persuade the administration to follow the guidelines in the handbook. Jubb has pleaded not guilty to sex abuse charges. 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. At Linfield, the report says, deeply-held resistance to Black leadership and culture fueled the ferocity of resistance to organization change. The report also said that Davis had not had time to build a rapport with the faculty and staff at Linfield because he needed to make changes quickly. After 13 years on the Board and four years as chair, Dave decided it was in Linfields best interest that he step down and allow new leaders to come to the forefront, Scott Nelson, university spokesman, told The Oregonian. It contains 3 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms. Nelson said outside law firms, internal investigators and the universitys human resources office investigated and found no evidence to support the claims of antisemitic comments Pollack-Pelzner laid out in his posts. One faculty trustee also accused board members of anti-Semitism, and the arts and sciences faculty voted overwhelmingly that it has no confidence in President Miles Davis or David Baca, board chair. You are now subscribed to FIRE Updates. Linfield University canceled faculty Listservs over the weekend, sparking faculty cries of censorship. But, for Davis, the minutiae of process are important for others: So what did Pollack-Pelzner do to merit his dismissal? Linfield is inventing policies on the fly to justify its retaliation against a tenured faculty member. No competent university leader could credibly believe that tenured faculty are at-will employees. In a letter responding to the ADL, Davis invited the group to meet following the academic year but rebuffed the call to resign. Pollack-Pelzners tweets stated that he was censored by the board in meetings. 8011 Linfield Way, Atlanta, GA is a townhome home that contains 2,413 sq ft and was built in 2020. In doing so, it said, he was insubordinate and interfered with the universitys administration of its responsibilities.. 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. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. Please enter your email address. With Linfield . Miles K. Davis, president of Linfield University, a long-ingrained American response to look away, The fallout across industries has been swift. Throughout a controversy that has resulted in two separate no-confidence votes, Davis and the board that supports him have behaved like petty tyrants, altering the colleges governance structure, suspending mass faculty emails, and insisting that all broad correspondence be vetted by the vice president of finance and administration. 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. Linfields trustees failed see that deeply held resistance to Black leadership and culture fueled the ferocity of resistance to organization change, the report said. Some professors may be uncomfortable with the changes he has made as the universitys first Black president, he said. Linfield University has agreed to pay just over $1 million to settle a whistleblower suit filed by tenured English professor Daniel Pollack-Pelzner, who accused the university of firing him. Regardless, I asked for and received his resignation from the Board.. 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. There is a jury trial scheduled for that case in November. Linfields faculty handbook requires a lengthy process, including two formal hearings, before a professor with tenure can be fired procedures that have not been followed in this case. That concession is damning for Davis and Linfields claim that Pollack-Pelzners allegation is defamatory. The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, which aims to defend student and faculty freedom of speech on campus, sent a letter to Davis on Thursday night demanding that he reverse Pollack-Pelzners termination, condemning what it called reckless conduct., The Shakespeare Association of America also backed Pollack-Pelzner, who teaches about Shakespeare, writing,Whistleblowers should not be punished and anti-semitism and other forms of racism should be condemned., A 2018 photo of the Linfield University campus in McMinnville, Ore. (George Rose/Getty Images). 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. 8025 Linfield Way #1, Atlanta GA, is a Townhouse home that contains 2509 sq ft and was built in 2020.It contains 3 bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms. We believe we have taken the necessary and appropriate steps and are committed to do the work to engage in a process of healing, he wrote. Baca came under scrutiny most recently earlier this year when former faculty member Daniel Pollack-Pelzner brought to light allegations of harassment and anti-Semitism among Linfield leadership. Davis, meanwhile, appears astounded at the very notion of due process: As for whether there should have been a period during which Pollack-Pelzner would have had a chance to respond to the charges against him, Davis replied with an analogy. 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. He acknowledged the university still has work to do, particularly surrounding implicit bias and microaggressions. Fr nhere Informationen zur Nutzung Ihrer Daten lesen Sie bitte unsere Datenschutzerklrung und Cookie-Richtlinie. 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. It is exciting to be part of Linfield during this time of evolution and progress, and I look forward to working with faculty, staff, administration and the Linfield community as we design and begin our new strategic planning process, Carmody said in a statement. Linfield University is affiliated with American Baptist Churches, USA. But Pollack-Pelzner told JTA that theres a real issue of institutional racism at Linfield and said that allegations against white members of the board had never been investigated, while allegations against Black members had been. David Baca, the embattled chair of Linfield Universitys board of trustees, said he offered to resign after a faculty vote of no confidence in late May over his handling of sexual abuse allegations against another trustee, but other trustees convinced him to stay on. The firing, previously reported by The Oregonian, has added to the extraordinary turmoil at Linfield, which was founded in 1858 as a Baptist college and offers liberal arts, business and nursing programs. Linfield served as Dean of Women from 1921 to 1928, and sat on the Board of Directors from 1922 to her death in 1940. If this were to be credited, Davis Linfields president for the last three years either did not know that Linfield had guidelines for terminating tenured faculty members, believes that the university has replaced those policies, or believes that the current policies were implemented without his administrations approval. Says Fall 2020 '' on its title page, and the most recent update was in of! 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