Vol. 107, Iss. 29 | Tuesday, February 13, 2018
The Flat Hat The Weekly Student Newspaper
of The College of William and Mary
FACULTY
PART II: DISCOVERING DAVID DESSLER
“UNCONSCIONABLE INCARCERATION
FOR PRESUMED MENTAL ILLNESS”
Former professor faced multiple arrests, jail time after being placed on medical leave fall 2015; lawsuit alleges discrimination, harassment by the College MEILAN SOLLY // FLAT HAT CHIEF STAFF WRITER AND SARAH SMITH // FLAT HAT NEWS EDITOR NOTE: This is the second segment in a series on former professor David Dessler. It describes events that occurred between Oct. 26, 2015, when Dessler was placed on medical leave, and December 2017, when he filed a discrimination lawsuit against the College. Future installments will provide an in-depth look at issues ranging from Dessler’s proposed student-faculty mental health initiative to the College administration’s handling of his case. Visit soundcloud.com/theflathat to hear the podcast version of this series.
In the roughly two years since former government professor David Dessler was placed on medical leave, he has been arrested five times, spent 77 days in jail and officially resigned from his tenured position at the College of William and Mary. This series of events, which began with Dessler’s 1984 hiring and culminated in a stream of cryptic emails sent to students, faculty and administrators (see part I: Discovering David Dessler), precipitated the unexpected end of a decorated professor’s teaching career and has raised questions regarding the College’s approach toward mental health issues. According to court documents, Dessler, who had previously been diagnosed with major depression, views his “continued arrest and harassment by the College” as retaliation for his proposed creation of a student-faculty mental health initiative in September 2015. Oct. 26, 2015, students in Dessler’s sections of Introduction to International Politics and Theories of the International System received an email from department chair John McGlennon, who reported that Dessler had been placed on medical leave and would be replaced by a new instructor. Although Dessler, in an Oct. 28 email, told students he had not been informed of this development, he agreed to take 120 days of paid leave (citing grief and fatigue following the recent death of his sister, as well as an ongoing divorce settlement) during a Nov. 2 phone conversation with Provost Michael Halleran. Feb. 28, 2016 — around the time his medical leave was scheduled to end — the William and Mary Police Department arrested Dessler for allegedly sending threatening emails to McGlennon. The messages came from an anonymous account and included passages such as “Let the terror begin!” and “You’ll stop laughing soon, I guarantee it.” Less than a month later, March 18, Dessler was arrested for a second time after sending an email to several College officials. According to court documents, this second arrest stemmed from Dessler’s alleged violation of the state’s cyber-stalking statute and resulted in strict limits being placed on his ability to communicate with College students, faculty and administrators. March 24, Chief Human Resources Officer John Poma contacted Dessler regarding the end of his medical leave. “We realize that these past few weeks and months have been difficult for you,” Poma wrote in the letter. “The university is taking the unusual step of extending your period of paid medical leave because of our sincere interest and hope that you have access to care to enable your return to work at W&M.” Over the next three months, Dessler remained on leave. He was arrested twice more, first for missing a bond hearing (May 11) and next for responding to former students seeking career advice, thereby violating his ban on contact with individuals connected to the College (June 22). At the end of July, Dessler contacted Poma to discuss the approaching end of his second leave. Citing Poma’s March 24 letter, he said he had sought medical care and intended to resume full-time teaching during the fall 2016 semester. In response, Poma stated that Dessler would not be able to return from leave until the College received “documentation from a qualified medical provider that you are able to resume your duties and perform the essential functions of your job and/or that you do not pose a direct threat of harm to yourself or others.” If Dessler could not provide a Family and Medical Leave return-to-work certification, his period of paid leave would end Aug. 9. Despite continued communication between Poma and Dessler, including a July 27 letter in which Dessler said he would “work to come up with yet another proposal to start a dialogue” and an Aug. 8 email in which Poma outlined Dessler’s options (do nothing, apply for long-term disability, retire, resign or seek to return to work), Dessler’s leave ended Aug. 9 without concrete plans to move forward. He retained tenure, but his employee status was listed as “inactive,” and his pay, insurance benefits and College email access ended within two weeks. In an Aug. 10 email to Poma, Dessler characterized the change in his employment status as “termination.”
“The university dismissed a tenured professor with an excellent 32year record without anything close to adequate cause or due process,” he added. “…I would therefore respectfully request that the required corrective action be taken immediately.” Sept. 8, three emeritus faculty members — former Provost P. Geoffrey Feiss, Chancellor Professor of English Emeritus Terry Meyers and Chancellor Professor of Sociology Kate Slevin — addressed the provost and Faculty Assembly in a letter arguing that Dessler had been terminated without a hearing, in direct violation of the Faculty Handbook and his due process rights. In an interview with The Flat Hat, Feiss said he felt the College administration was not following procedures outlined in the handbook, so he took action in hopes of preserving fundamental faculty rights. “This was essentially throwing out the Faculty Handbook and the principles and procedures that had been worked on for a long period of time as a contract between the faculty and the administration,” Feiss said. In response, Halleran denied the emeritus faculty members’ claims (citing Dessler’s retained tenure) and stated that Dessler was not eligible for a hearing. Jan. 13, 2017, Dessler was arrested by WMPD for the fifth time after sending emails to McGlennon and various College officials, including University Counsel Deborah Love. One email described the university counsel of an unidentified college being “strung up and strangled by the neck and she is choking and grasping for breath.” The email continued, “‘the Mentally Ill Winner who Put These Losers to Death’ will be watching the pain, knowing that both victims, whoever they are, are swinging back and forth, wishing they could do something, anything, but they are now dead, forever, and humiliated.” Unlike the previous four charges, which had all been dropped, the January 2017 charge went to trial in May. Ultimately, the judge deferred the case until May 2019. June 18, Dessler officially resigned from his tenured position,
BACKGROUND AND STUDENT PERSPECTIVES
See DESSLER page 3
“TREATMENT WORKS
AND THERE IS
ALWAYS HOPE HOPE.” -SAVINGPROFESSORDESSSLER.COM
GRAPHIC BY MEILAN SOLLY / THE FLAT HAT
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Advocates for Life, VOX install displays Demonstrations illustrate different views on abortion debate on Sunken Garden MADELINE MONROE FLAT HAT ASSOC. NEWS EDITOR
Sunday, Feb. 11 students from Advocates for Life and Students for Life reinstalled their antiabortion display, which had previously been vandalized Jan. 21. at 7 p.m. on the College of William and Mary’s Sunken Garden. Daniel Sheaffer ’19 has since been charged with one misdemeanor count of destruction of property. A concurrent counterdemonstration was planned and installed by the College’s chapter of VOX: Planned Parenthood Generation Action at 9 p.m., also on the Sunken Garden. President of Advocates for Life Katherine Beck J.D. ’19 said that the reinstallation of the display served two purposes in that her organization would continue to spread its message and serve as a platform for free speech. “When we learned that the display was torn down at 12:40 a.m. and nobody saw what we were trying to communicate, remembering the lives lost since Roe versus Wade, first and foremost we wanted to still get our message across,” Beck said. “Secondly, for free speech, we also are seen as a symbol of free speech of that. We won’t be silenced advocating for the voiceless and that we really will come back if somebody tried to tear it down and that we’ll come back and continue to be respectful but continue to stand for our beliefs.” The reinstalled display used eight signs, one of which read, “We will not be silenced being a voice for the voiceless,” and another which stated, “A woman deserves autonomy over her own body from the day she exists.” According to Beck and other members of her organization, while the original Jan. 21 display had 3,000 popsicle sticks, the new display used 5,000 white flags, each flag representing the 12,000 lives lost to abortion since Roe v. Wade in 1973. “We also wanted to come back with something that would show that to make more of a statement and to show that we really are here to advocate for the unborn and we really do want to start a conversation,” Beck said. “We thought that the flags would really symbolize and make that statement. … The white [of the flags] represents the innocence of the unborn children.” Beck noted that after the vandalism incident, she had more undergraduates, law school students and members of the community offer their support and indicate their desire to help Beck’s organization. She viewed the incident as “a blessing in disguise.” “It’s been really encouraging both just having support that, even people that disagree, want to enter into a dialogue and that the [vandal] doesn’t speak for everybody and also it’s been encouraging just to be able to have so many other students come and support us,” Beck said. “It really has opened a conversation.” Vice President of Advocates for Life Matthew Revis J.D. ’19 said he believes that the reinstallation of the display provided another chance to convey the group’s message and to do so in a different light. “I think this is a great opportunity for people that either support or oppose our message to understand that the pro-life movement isn’t just about men in D.C. or men in government trying to promote their own views, but is the idea of enabling life from its early stages to its final breaths and protecting in a way that we all are the beneficiaries of mothers that chose to have a child,” Revis said. “If we can enable other mothers of future generations to do the same and support them not just in pregnancy, but in birth and in childhood … that’s an important thing we can all grow from and become better as a country, as a community, and as individuals as well.” Patrick Britti ’21, a member of Students for Life, an undergraduate student organization, noted that though the original display was vandalized, his organization was keen on maintaining “a rational discourse about it without letting emotions override any ability to See DEMONSTRATIONS page 4
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Kiana Espinoza ’19 says that unpaid internships provide meaningful work experience and offer valuable opportunities for undergraduates. page 5
Cool Beans
Find out which of the College’s coffee shops is most loved by students based on location, price, drink variety and taste. page 7