This is an essay I prepared in the Fall of 2017. It is an account of my experiences with the Title IX process and the charges brought against my colleague, Professor Wayne Messer. I served as his adviser for this case and was present for all of the proceedings and contributed to the written appeals he submitted to the president. I care deeply about our shared goals concerning diversity and inclusion as well as providing a liberal arts education of high quality. I believe everyone is entitled to work in an environment that is free of hostility and intimidation; especially when the hostility reflects stereotypes and biases based on race, gender, or sexual orientation. However, what I observed in this case was a slip-shod investigation and administrative practices so biased as to result in decisions that were not only unfair, but ones I believed would increase hostility within the department and across the campus. Late in the fall of 2017, I sent this essay to about a dozen senior faculty members and administrators. While several expressed agreement with my concerns and were disappointed by the lack of due process, the president, the dean, the vice president for diversity, and college counsel remained mute, refusing to acknowledge my concern or address any of the issues about academic freedom and due process raised in the essay. I did not share this essay with students.
