Intimidation and Uninvited Touching?
Wed, Aug29, 2007 - Category: School of
Law
What constitutes "intimidation" and "touching" of a
level or type to warrant suspension-without-pay and
termination proceedings against a tenured professor
at a law school?
You decide. AveWatch shows what is said to be a key basis for Ave Maria School of Law Dean Bernard Dobranski's actions against co-founder and tenured professor Stephen Safranek. Click here or "More.." below. Will you come to the same conclusion?
UPDATE, 8/29/2007 -
+ WhoseAMSOL has an insightful analysis of the timing and policies involved
+ Fumare has commentary
UPDATE, 8/30/2007 -
+ be sure to read Part II: "Fabricating An Air of Sexual Harassment"
+ comment from AW visitor: "Next month Dean Dobranski, as the president of the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars, will be chairing the annual meeting of that organization around the theme "The Idea of the Catholic University for the Twenty-First Century". One may as well have asked John Geoghan to lead a discussion of the pastoral counseling of youth."
+ hat-tip to Brian Leiter's Law School Reports for link
+ hat-tip to Mirror of Justice for link "Just when I thought things couldn't get worse"
You decide. AveWatch shows what is said to be a key basis for Ave Maria School of Law Dean Bernard Dobranski's actions against co-founder and tenured professor Stephen Safranek. Click here or "More.." below. Will you come to the same conclusion?
UPDATE, 8/29/2007 -
+ WhoseAMSOL has an insightful analysis of the timing and policies involved
+ Fumare has commentary
UPDATE, 8/30/2007 -
+ be sure to read Part II: "Fabricating An Air of Sexual Harassment"
+ comment from AW visitor: "Next month Dean Dobranski, as the president of the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars, will be chairing the annual meeting of that organization around the theme "The Idea of the Catholic University for the Twenty-First Century". One may as well have asked John Geoghan to lead a discussion of the pastoral counseling of youth."
+ hat-tip to Brian Leiter's Law School Reports for link
+ hat-tip to Mirror of Justice for link "Just when I thought things couldn't get worse"
The following complaint was made by an AMSL staff member. This is not a joke.
COMPLAINT: (PDF copy of the original)
September 14, 2006
At 7:47 a.m. on Thursday, September 14, 2006, after pulling into the parking lot at Ave Maria School of Law, I got out of the drivers side of my vehicle [redacted] and walked to the rear to open the back latch to get a crock pot out of the car for a farewell potluck today. I was on my cell phone at the time having a conversation and noticed that Professor Safranek pulled up directly across from my vehicle and parked. Thinking nothing about it, I continued with my conversation and noticed that Professor Safranek got out of his vehicle, went to the back of his car and walked completely around the island which separated our vehicles. He approached me, patted me on the arm and smiled saying "Good morning [redacted]". I, in turn, said "Good morning" back. It appeared to me, as he acted somewhat surprised and through the tone of his voice that he was surprised or caught off guard that I was on the phone while I was shuffling through my trunk. I do feel, and this is my personal opinion, that this was an effort to intimidate me from Tuesday, September 12th's email I sent to him regarding a package delivered via currier service for him from a law firm. In my attempt to hand deliver this package, he was not present in the building and I had left the package with another administrative assistant. In that email to Professor Safranek, I carbon copied Dean Dobranski, [redacted] in the event that something should happen to that package.
Was this perceived "effort to intimidate" sufficient to fire a tenured professor? How would you describe this "pat" on the arm with the accompanying smile and "Good morning"?
Would you say the following? (emphasis added) -
- "I have concluded my investigation of the complaint received as to your [Safranek's] having touched the person of one of the Law School staff employees. As you know, she found this touching uninvited and intimidating"
- "You [Safranek] did not deny in our meeting having touched her body"
- "You [Safranek] were advised that the employee found your touching of her body (something you had crossed the parking lot to do) to be uninvited and intimidating."
- "You [Safranek] went out of your way to
approach the staff member, came within inches of
her body, and then touched her in a manner she
credibly complained was uninvited and
intimidating."
Here is the text of a memo sent to AMSL's Board of Governors concerning this "effort to intimidate" and the Dean's subsequent treatment of Safranek:
MEMO: (PDF copy of the original)
I write about one important issue concerning Dean Dobranski's effort to terminate the tenure of Professor Stephen Safranek. I will not discuss for the moment the Dean's effort to suspend Professor Safranek without pay during this process. I wanted you to have a short summary of the "touching" "incident" and the supporting document so that there is no dispute about what has been said by Dean Dobranski or anyone else.
You should be aware that Dean Bernard Dobranski has issued Professor Safranek a series of letters in which he "reprimands" or "censures" Steve for various incidents the Dean claims are subject to punishment. Throughout this time, the Dean's conduct has followed the same pattern - he indicates some conduct for which he demands an explanation. After Steve responds, without further clarification or discussion, the Dean finds against him and issues the "punishment". It is important to note that the Dean often acts as complainant, and always acts as both fact-finder and judge.
On October 6, 2006, the Dean issued a letter to Professor Safranek. (I believe that you have a copy of that letter in the package the Dean sent to you on July 20, 2007.) The Dean stated, "I have concluded my investigation of the complaint received as to your having touched the person of one of the Law School staff employees. As you know, she found this touching uninvited and intimidating" (emphasis added). He noted, "You did not deny in our meeting having touched her body" (emphasis added). In a letter of June 25, 2007, he wrote "You were advised that the employee found your touching of her body (something you had crossed the parking lot to do) to be uninvited and intimidating." (emphasis added). Recently in an e-mail the Dean stated, "You went out of your way to approach the staff member, came within inches of her body, and then touched her in a manner she credibly complained was uninvited and intimidating." (emphasis added).
The words - "touching" and "touching of her body" and "intimidating" are usually used whenever a form of sexual assault has taken place. Newscast and newspapers use it. It is a non-graphic way of describing a sexual assault. AMSL uses the word "intimidating" in the Faculty Handbook's section on Sexual Harassment. Professor Safranek told me that when he met Dean Dobranski regarding this "incident" the Dean refused to tell him what "touching" was alleged. He also refused to tell Professor Safranek whether or not a written complaint had been made. Thus, since October 6, 2006, Professor Safranek has had to operate under the belief that [redacted] would be willing to testify under oath that he "touched" her body in an inappropriate place in a sexual way. You and I know the harmful consequences that these allegations could have to one's job, career, personal, and professional reputation and one's family life. (You'll note that in the Dean's letter of July 20, 2007 that he now made a belated effort to state his view that what the Dean characterized as Professor Safranek's effort to harass was "not in a sexual sense.")
I have attached the actual "written statement" of [redacted]. (This was recently made available to Steve after he requested a copy of his personnel file.) She states, "He (Safranek) approached me, patted me on the arm and smiled saying, 'Good morning [redacted].' I, in turn, said 'Good morning' back."
The actual statement of [redacted] is and was available to him. Yet, he chose to characterize Professor Safranek's action as "touching of her body" instead of "patted me on the arm." Thus, the specificity - where - "on the arm" - was replaced with on the "body" which could include the breasts or buttocks. The term "patted" which conveys friendship was replaced with the sinister or sexual "touching." Dean Dobranski chose to leave open the implication - repeated two more times in writing - that Professor Safranek had inappropriately "touched the body" of a woman.
I also find the reason given for why [redacted] thought Professor Safranek's conduct to be intimidating to be odd to say the least. (Her statement doesn't actually say that she was intimidated. Rather, her focus is on what she felt he was trying to do.) She states that she felt that Professor Safranek's action was an attempt to intimidate her because of something she had done to him. She relates it to a package that was addressed to Professor Safranek that came by courier service to AMSL. She accepted the package and delivered it to [redacted] and then sent Professor Safranek an e-mail confirming that she had delivered the package. I have no idea why the [redacted] thought that her actions would cause Safranek to want to "intimidate" her. It sounds rather bizarre to me.
There is a lot more that could be said about the substance and procedure of Dean Dobranski's approach. I would be happy to discuss other aspects of the Dean's conduct with you. But, this odious incident captures the process and substance of how Dean Dobranski has been operating, and I thought it important to provide you with the relevant background.
Meanwhile, co-founder and tenured Professor Safranek stays at home with his 7 children, and pay suspended.
Will the rest of academia now finally see the environment of oppression that Tom Monaghan and his administrators put faculty through? This is Tom Monaghan's sick vision of a school "from the heart of the Church". The AMSL Board of Governors are a disgrace, both individually and collectively, for not taking immediate action to reinstate Safranek and sanction or fire Dobranski for his despicable behavior. Shameful.
For additional background on this story, see AveWatch's "Dean Runs Amok" series.