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. 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. Learn with FIRE provides learners with the opportunity to take courses on a wide range of topics, including free speech and due process, designed by our expert staff. Tensions reached a high on Tuesday when the university fired Daniel Pollack-Pelzner, a Shakespeare scholar and tenured professor of English who had served on the board of trustees and had spoken out about the accusations of anti-Semitism and sexual misconduct. Offices on the Portland and McMinnville campuses will be closed from Dec. 23 - Jan. 2 so employees can enjoy a much-deserved rest this holiday season. Pioneer Hall on the Linfield University campus in McMinnville, Ore. Dr. Davis said those accusations and others were being rehashed by professors unhappy with his restructuring of the university after years of declining enrollment. (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. The local ADL representative did not respond to a call for comment on Friday. It could hardly be clearer. 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. Davis also argued that a. Linfield fires prof who raised sexual harassment, antisemitism allegations By Rob Manning (OPB) April 27, 2021 6:58 p.m. Pollack-Pelzner, an English literature professor who had tenure, was fired Tuesday after he and others publicly accused Linfield President Miles K. Davis of making multiple antisemitic comments,. Linfield President Miles Davis said in a responding letter that the professors tweets were part of a smear campaign against university administration. Allegations of anti-Semitism, sexual misconduct and racial discrimination have led to turmoil on the small Oregon campus. Resources for faculty and staff from our partners at Times Higher Education. Sign up to get important news and culture from around the Northwest, delivered to your inbox six days a week. 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. 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). Davis had previously denied making the comment, and an investigation into him had concluded based on his denial that the comment could not be substantiated. 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. Last year, Linfields faculty assembly voted it had no confidence in Baca, specifically in his ability to handle sexual harassment reporting, according to reporting from Linfields student newspaper The Linfield Review. OPBs critical reporting and inspiring programs are made possible by the power of member support. Mr. Jubb has pleaded not guilty and his case is scheduled for trial in November, his lawyer said. When he sent an email to the account from his personal email, he received an automatic response saying he no longer worked at the school. The justifications offered by Linfields leadership to the Chronicle are incoherent. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. "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. 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. All rights reserved (About Us). In fact, there is one felony charge against Jubb, along with seven counts of third-degree sexual abuse, which is a misdemeanor in Oregon. 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. Additionally, the ADL encouraged Linfield leadership to attend trainings on bias and antisemitism. In an interview on Friday, Mr. Baca acknowledged mentioning a power grab in a long and contentious discussion but said he had not known that Dr. Pollack-Pelzner was Jewish or that the comment could be construed as anti-Semitic. 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. 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. That was related to complaints of misconduct about former board member David Jubb, who was indicted last year on multiple counts of sexual abuse some of those counts relating to a female Linfield student who filed a federal lawsuit in 2019 against Jubb. Dr. Bull served in numerous capacities and was a leader in opening new career paths for women in the corporate and educational fields. Fr nhere Informationen zur Nutzung Ihrer Daten lesen Sie bitte unsere Datenschutzerklrung und Cookie-Richtlinie. We've also seen the firings of two faculty members at Collin College for criticizing their administration about their COVID-19 reopening plans, . Student Life Editors Note: This story has been updated to include information about investigations of sexual harassment at Linfield, based on summaries provided to OPB after the story originally published. 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. Dr. Pollack-Pelzner also said that Dr. Davis had made a comment in 2018 about measuring the size of Jewish noses when the professor had mentioned that he was teaching The Merchant of Venice, which features Shylock, a character often criticized as an anti-Semitic stereotype. We strive for an inclusive and welcoming campus for our students and employees.. But affording a faculty member some kind of process before imposing any disciplinary action Davis wants? If Davis believes that Linfield can prove that Pollack-Pelzner violated university policy, he should submit that question to an unbiased faculty committee, as due process requires. FIREs award-winning Newsdesk covers the free speech news you need to stay informed. Regarding the Listservs, Linfields vice president for finance and administration wrote to faculty and staff members over the weekend to say that based on the request of many faculty we are pausing access to global and college/school emails lists due to the use of these lists to send unsolicited messages. Even mass emails about the general education revision are paused, and Linfield requests that all broad correspondence be vetted and distributed by the vice presidents office. 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. Faculty supported the motion 88 to 18. That lawsuit is still pending. The outside investigator found the faculty members report to be substantiated by a preponderance of the evidence, but said that it did not rise to the level of violating Linfields harassment or Title IX policy. 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. A group of Stanford faculty are publicly objecting to a campus harm reporting system they say chills campus speech. Set aside that President Daviss false denial of his comment on Jewish noses is the only blatantly false statement one can pin down in this case. Linfield University, a liberal arts college in Oregon, claims repeatedly in its faculty handbook to honor academic freedom. That concession is damning for Davis and Linfields claim that Pollack-Pelzners allegation is defamatory. 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. Linfield University canceled faculty Listservs over the weekend, sparking faculty cries of censorship. Email at mbernstein@oregonian.com; 503-221-8212. That is exactly what FIRE is telling Davis and the institution he currently leads. In a letter responding to the ADL, Davis invited the group to meet following the academic year but rebuffed the call to resign. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. Both students and faculty members have repeatedly called on Baca to step down over Linfields handling of sexual misconduct reports by students against David Jubb, a former trustee who is facing a criminal trial. In doing so, it said, he was insubordinate and interfered with the universitys administration of its responsibilities.. Across the country, colleges and universities have been wrestling with allegations of sexual misconduct, racial discrimination and anti-Semitism. The Chronicle conducted interviews with Linfields dissembling leadership as they frantically grasp for any credible explanation for why they terminated a tenured faculty member with no process a severance so quick that the professor learned of his termination because he got an auto-response from his own email address explaining that Daniel Pollack-Pelzner is no longer an employee of Linfield University.. He said Pollack-Pelzners firing was a personnel issue that Im not a party to and I have no opinion one way or the other about it., Pollack-Pelzners firing has led to an outcry among professors worldwide. 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. Linfields administration does not get to pick and choose between the policies it has and the policies it wishes it had. No competent university leader could credibly believe that tenured faculty are at-will employees. Affording process before any action? Lorraine Hansberrys second play had a white Jewish protagonist. It is a small institution with an enrollment of 340 undergraduate students. Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. 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, Mr. Baca wrote. The report finds that Linfield's administration violated the 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure and the institution's own regulations, which incorporate AAUP . Perhaps Davis shifted to the remark about the trustee because he conceded to the Chronicle that he had, in fact, made the remark about Jewish noses that Pollack-Pelzner had alleged: A campus investigation last August into the nose comment, along with other matters, called it a he said, he said situation and stated that Davis had denied saying it. Davis stated that none of the allegations in Pollack-Pelzners tweets are recent and that they were all initially raised nearly a year ago. 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. Jubb has pleaded not guilty to sex abuse charges. Multiple organizations, including the Oregon Board of Rabbis, called for both Baca and university president Miles Davis to resign. 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. Colleen Flaherty April 19, 2021 (Daniel Pollack-Pelzner/Twitter) Kerry Carmody, the boards vice chair, was named interim chair, effective Oct.1. 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.. 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. Davis denied making this comment before he admitted making it. Its hard to see the universitys interest in protecting the reputation of a former trustee, much less one who resigned (for health reasons, the university said) after allegedly sexually assaulting a student. 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. Friedman.. On Thursday, he recalled discussing the physical characteristics of Jews and Arabs and making the point that this portrayal of Shylock with the hook nose is just ludicrous.. Agre-Kippenhans theory that Linfield can do an end-run around faculty members due process protections by simply firing them as employees is almost clever. The Pacific Northwest chapter of the Anti-Defamation League wrote a letter to Linfield Universitys Board of Trustees on Thursday expressing disappointment and concern over claims of antisemitism chronicled in a professors social media posts. 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