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. But no such corollary exists for faculty and students should not be subject to such a bizarre policy. 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. They have recklessly exposed the university to a lawsuit. 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. 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. Zestimate Home Value: $439,900. 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. Pollack-Pelzner tweeted that after he passed on misconduct reports, he faced comments related to his religion from the head of the human resources department and the board chair, and he had also heard President Davis talk about measuring the size of Jewish noses. In addition, Pollack-Pelzner said that Davis told him people were overreacting to swastikas that had appeared on campus. Last month, the faculty of arts and sciences took a vote of no confidence in Dr. Davis and Mr. Baca and urged them to resign in a resolution that condemned intolerance, discrimination and retaliation. Its been such a blow and its so overwhelming, he said. Dies geschieht in Ihren Datenschutzeinstellungen. Check out our library of resources to get started on your First Amendment journey! The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill found itself at the center of a national controversy in May, when news broke that the UNC board of trustees diverted from the normal tenure process and declined to consider tenure for Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, despite a faculty recommendation that she be hired with tenure. (Linfield students, on the other hand, are subject to the noblesse oblige and whims of Davis: The student handbook has a get-out-of-policy-free card for Davis, granting him the prerogative of total authority to act without consultation with any other person or conduct board to suspend or expel any student that Davis feels is acting contrary and dangerous to the university. Other faculty members have since stepped forward to report an even stranger comment. She was 87. 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. Please enter your email address. Lost your password? 2023 jewish telegraphic agency all rights reserved. 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. No. 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.. As I understand it from the documents we reviewed, the allegations of antisemitic comments were investigated by the university, so that was litigated and resolved, he said. How to request transcripts Contact us For more information on how to get involved with Linfield, please don't hesitate to reach out. 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. $2.3B Qcells Solar Power Investment Holds Major Potential for Georgia - January 26, 2023. Last week Linfield professor and faculty trustee Daniel Pollack-Pelzner tweeted that he faced antisemitic comments after he reported that multiple members of the university's Board of Trustees. 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. The vote came after reports in The Oregonian/OregonLive about the 2019. of Jubb, who faces sexual abuse charges involving a student-trustee in 2019 and three students in 2017. 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. She singled out Baca for criticism, saying the schools general counsel told her that Baca gave his word that David Jubb would never have contact with students again or be allowed at events that served alcohol.. If Baca isnt going to step down, he should at least apologize for the tone of his statement, Miller wrote Friday in an email to Linfield faculty. You are now subscribed to FIRE Updates. OPBs critical reporting and inspiring programs are made possible by the power of member support. The controversies have played out for months in a federal lawsuit filed by a student, through public statements from faculty members and leaders, student protests, and votes of no confidence. Durch Klicken auf Alle akzeptieren erklren Sie sich damit einverstanden, dass Yahoo und unsere Partner Ihre personenbezogenen Daten verarbeiten und Technologien wie Cookies nutzen, um personalisierte Anzeigen und Inhalte zu zeigen, zur Messung von Anzeigen und Inhalten, um mehr ber die Zielgruppe zu erfahren sowie fr die Entwicklung von Produkten. Resources for faculty and staff from our partners at Times Higher Education. Linfield by-laws require a lengthy process including multiple hearings, which did not happen in Pollack-Pelzners case. 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.. It contains 3 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms. Linfield University locations: McMinnville Campus 900 SE Baker Street McMinnville, Oregon 97128 503-883-2200. 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. Some have called for the universitys president to resign. 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, including about Jewish noses as well as the Holocaust. 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. 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. FIRE defends the rights of students and faculty members no matter their views at public and private universities and colleges in the United States. 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. The local chapter of the ADL sent a letter Wednesday calling on Davis to resign to allow the community to heal. The Oregon Board of Rabbis had previously called on Davis to step down. As described in a federal lawsuit, Linfield board chair David Baca told trustees in June 2019 that veteran trustee David Jubb was resigning "due to health concerns,'' when he actually was facing sexual abuse allegations. He told the Chronicle that his comment had been informed by his time in the Middle East. Allegations of anti-Semitism, sexual misconduct and racial discrimination have led to turmoil on the small Oregon campus. Email at mbernstein@oregonian.com; 503-221-8212. (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 local branch of the NAACP found that the Oregon schools president was subjected to racism at the school. Philadelphia, PA 19106. But affording a faculty member some kind of process before imposing any disciplinary action Davis wants? former faculty member Daniel Pollack-Pelzner brought to light allegations. Dr. Vivian Ann (Johnson) Bull of Madison, New Jersey, a former college president and professor, and a recognized authority on the Middle East economic issues, died Aug. 12. Davis also noted that two of the trustees who were accused of sexual misconduct are African-American. 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. College faculty overwhelmingly passed a vote of no confidence in Baca on May 26, finding he failed to protect students after receiving a complaint in 2018 from a graduate who accused Jubb of sexually abusing her and two of her friends the prior year. Linfields trustees failed see that deeply held resistance to Black leadership and culture fueled the ferocity of resistance to organization change, the report said. No competent university leader could credibly believe that tenured faculty are at-will employees. [11] Based on that investigation, the NAACP criticized the ADL and Oregon Board of Rabbis for calling on Davis to resign. If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. 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. Click here! This is simply not how tenure works. Until then, it may be unwise in defending against accusations that the university mishandled allegations of sexual misconduct to summarily terminate a tenured faculty member because he got the number of felony sexual assault counts wrong. He has denied the students allegations, Baca wrote. 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. Linfields administration does not get to pick and choose between the policies it has and the policies it wishes it had. Pioneer Hall is the oldest building on the Linfield campus, constructed in 1881. A student walks out of the Riley Center on the campus of Linfield University in McMinnville, Ore., Tuesday, May 21, 2019. Daniel Pollack-Pelzner, a tenured. While we have strong disagreements with much of the media (and social media) speculation, we do not believe further argument in the press are an appropriate avenue for community healing.. 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