The independent newspaper of Washington University in St. Louis since 1878 THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2024
VOLUME 146, NO. 3
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An update on faculty suspensions after April 27 pro-Palestine protest
ALAN ZHOU | STUDENT LIFE WUPD and local law enforcement disperse a crowd of protesters in front of Kemper Art Museum on April 27. ALIZA LUBITZ NEWS EDITOR
Six WashU faculty members —- four of whom were also arrested — were notified that they would be suspended with pay two days after their participation in the April 27 pro-Palestine protest on campus. All of the suspensions were lifted in late June, and most of the professors continue to teach at WashU. Several of the faculty members met with Student Life and detailed their suspension processes, provided updates on their employment status, and expressed their disappointment with how they were treated by the University. Provost Beverly Wendland sent her letters of suspension to the six faculty members on April 29. Among the recipients was Scott Ross, a lecturer in sociocultural anthropology. He shared a copy of his suspension letter with Student Life. “We have been informed you were part of a group that participated in setting up an
encampment on the Danforth Campus,” Wendland wrote in her letter to Ross. Wendland said that Ross failed to disperse when instructed to do so by the Washington University Police Department (WUPD) and was subsequently arrested for trespassing. She informed him that he is being put on paid administrative leave pending the University’s investigation into his conduct. The letter also stated the terms of Ross’ suspension. Wendland wrote that he was “relieved of all job duties” and prohibited from “[engaging] in further work activities.” She also wrote that he should refrain from contacting students or colleagues and that his access to university systems had been revoked. Like Ross, Michael Allen — who served as a senior lecturer at the Sam Fox School until July and is now a visiting assistant professor of history at West Virginia University — was arrested at the protest and received a suspension letter from Wendland.
Allen noted a difference between the University’s handling of Economics Professor Phillip Dybvig’s accusations of sexual harassment in 2022 and the handling of the pro-Palestine protest suspensions. “In [Dybvig’s] case, the University’s defense to the students who were really upset and filing grievances was, ‘oh, we have to give him due process. He can’t just be suspended,’” Allen said. “And now in this case, it’s like, ‘oh, we can just suspend you immediately,’ two days after the protest with no due process, without an investigation, without evidence, without a hearing.” When the initial accusations of his sexual misconduct became public, Dybvig was on an approved, year-long leave and returned to campus the following summer. There is no publicly available information indicating that Dybvig received any major disciplinary action before or after the investigation into his conduct, though the full details of the University’s internal proceedings remain undisclosed.
Allen said that Dybvig’s case demonstrates that the University is inconsistent with its use of disciplinary measures. “A lot of students are still very upset about [Dybvig’s] case, and they’re watching what’s happening here,” he said. “They’re seeing the hypocrisy of the University acting on what you could argue is a much, much more minor basis, even if professors didn’t disperse when the police said to leave a protest, that pales in comparison to sexually assaulting students.” When asked to comment on the suspensions generally and on several of the suspended faculty’s allegations, Wendland wrote in an email to Student Life that the administration did not veer away from their standard policies and protocols. “While, of course, each individual case is different, it would not be out of the ordinary for an employee to be suspended during an investigation,” she wrote. “We always try to complete investigations in as timely a manner as possible. Our priority is always to
be fair and thorough, and sometimes that takes time.” It is unclear if the provost’s response is in reference to the handling of Dybvig’s case compared to the suspended faculty members’, other allegations made by the faculty members, or the protest suspensions generally. When asked to comment further on allegations made by suspended faculty, Wendland declined to provide additional details. She also referenced the University’s policy of keeping information about individual suspension cases and personnel matters private. Both Ross and Allen said Wendland had alleged in her suspension letters that they helped set up the encampment, which they denied doing. They noted that Wendland altered the reasoning for their suspensions in a letter she wrote to them in late June, when they were notified that the investigations into their actions had been completed.
SEE FACULTY, PAGE 2
WashU football loses CCIW associate membership MATT EISNER JUNIOR SPORTS EDITOR
The College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) has revoked the Washington University football team’s associate membership, a CCIW spokesman confirmed to Student Life Friday, Sep. 6. WashU will remain an associate member of the conference until the 2025 season concludes. The news was first reported by d3sports.com. “The CCIW Council of Presidents have been closely watching the conference membership shifts throughout D-III. It is in the best interest of our core members to be in a position to act quickly if the opportunity presents itself to add a core member that sponsors football,” CCIW Executive Director Maureen Harty shared in a written statement. “We made the decision to give WashU notice now, so they can begin to pursue other options. WashU and Coach [Aaron] Keen have been a great partner and we look forward to their next two seasons in the CCIW.” WashU Athletic Director Anthony Azama declined to comment. Per the CCIW’s constitution, five of the conference’s nine core members can vote to oust an associate member from the conference. It is unclear which CCIW core members
SAM POWERS | STUDENT LIFE Senior center Brendan Mayo snaps the football in a 2023 season home game. voted to remove WashU. While most WashU teams compete in the University Athletic Association (UAA), the UAA stopped sponsoring football in 2013 after many football members sought other football conference affiliations. WashU then joined the CCIW,
considered to be one of the premier conferences in D-III football. In five CCIW seasons to date, the Bears have gone 33-12 in conference play. Bears football has not won a CCIW title, but has finished third or fourth in the conference every season of their membership. In addition,
the Bears have twice qualified for the Culver’s Isthmus Bowl, the bowl game for the best team in the conference that doesn’t qualify for the NCAA Division III playoffs. Head football coach Aaron Keen emphasized that his focus is on the season ahead.
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“There’s a lot of things that are probably at play, and there are certain things that we can’t control that our administration is going to take care of,” Keen said. “I don’t have a comment on what’s next, but the main thing that I can do is worry about our weekly opponents.” It is unclear which conference the Bears will join next. Though the UAA doesn’t currently sponsor football, five of its teams have football programs. However, five schools is not enough for the UAA to receive an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. On Mon., Sep. 9, UAA core member Carnegie Mellon University announced that their football program will join the Centennial Conference beginning in the 2025 season, making it less likely that the UAA will sponsor football again. WashU football once competed in the Southern Athletic Association (SAA), but adding WashU now would expand the SAA to an uneven nine member teams. Other conferences with teams in the region include the American Rivers Conference, based in Iowa, the American Southwest Conference in Texas, and the Heartland Conference in Indiana and Ohio. Riley Herron contributed reporting to this article.