Linfield University Fires Professor Who Spoke Out About Misconduct Cases
Allegations of anti-Semitism, sexual misconduct and racial discrimination have led to turmoil on the small Oregon campus. Some have called for the university’s president to resign.
Pioneer Hall on the Linfield University campus in McMinnville, Ore.Credit.Will Matsuda for The New York Times
May 1, 2021
Across the country, colleges and universities have been wrestling with allegations of sexual misconduct, racial discrimination and anti-Semitism. But rarely have the three collided at the highest levels of leadership, as they have at Linfield University, a small, historically Baptist college in Oregon’s wine country, which celebrated the appointment of its first Black president in 2018.
Linfield fires professor who alleged antisemitism and mishandling of sexual misconduct allegations
Only online subscribers may access this article.
For all other subscription offers, click here.
Already a subscriber, please log in.
Related Articles
Hibb
Another outrageous display of heavy-handed actions that have ignored the truth and have opted to try and rid themselves of a problem while actually ignoring the real problem of Davis/Baca. I am personally disgusted with Linfield and will no longer support it, encouraging others to do the same. The antisemitism of Davis is a slap in all our faces!
01:05 am - Wed, April 28 2021
Hibb
(JTA) Linfield University has fired a Jewish professor who accused the school’s president of making antisemitic remarks.
Daniel Pollack-Pelzner, a tenured professor who taught English literature at the small Oregon university, has accused Linfield President Miles K. Davis of making multiple antisemitic remarks in recent years. The antisemitism, he said, was partly a backlash to Pollack-Pelzner demanding that the school do more to address allegations of sexual assault against multiple university trustees, including Davis.
Pollack-Pelzner and a Linfield University spokesperson both confirmed to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that he had been fired but did not comment further. An email from Linfield Provost Susan Agre-Kippenhan to the school community, sent late Tuesday afternoon, said that a member of the faculty had been terminated for “serious breaches of the individual’s duty to the institution.”
A group backed by the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel protested the unloading of a container ship.
However, the university responded by accusing the professor of lying, insisting that he had “deliberately circulated false statements about the university, its employees and its board.”
Central to Pollack-Plezner’s concerns about the university were the antisemitic remarks allegedly made to him by Linfield’s president, Miles K. Davis. In their interactions, Davis was said to have made comments about measuring the size of Jewish people’s noses, claimed that “some people” were overly sensitive to the appearance of swastikas on campus, and accused Pollack-Plezner of harboring a “secret agenda” to grab power.
April 27, 2021
Linfield fires professor who alleged antisemitism and mishandling of sexual misconduct allegations
Linfield University has fired Dr. Daniel Pollack-Pelzner, a tenured English professor and faculty member of the Board of Trustees who recently alleged he had experienced antisemitism from the president and board chair in the process of reporting sexual misconduct allegations against trustees to the board.
Linfield University told the News-Register the termination, made Tuesday afternoon, was for cause, claiming he has “engaged in conduct that is harmful to the university”; intentionally violated instructions to preserve the attorney-client privilege with respect to information that was entrusted to him in a position of trust and confidence; deliberately circulated false statements about the university, its employees and its board; refused to comply with university policies and, “in doing so, has been insubordinate and interfered with the university’s administra