A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Varlo Davenport had been accused of sexual harassment rather than assault.
A change.org petition is circulating online suggesting that termination of tenured professors such as Dr. Glenn Webb, former department head of Dixie State University’s department of music, and Dr. Ken Peterson, former choral director at DSU, is a punishment that should be reserved only for the most egregious violations of university policy:
“On March 2nd, 2018 Dr. Glenn Webb and Dr. Ken Peterson were terminated from their positions at Dixie State University. Dr. Webb has been the sole Chairman of the Music Department at DSU for a decade, and Dr. Ken Peterson has been director of vocal activities for 16 years. Both are widely loved and known in their community and were fired for minor policy violations. We believe that termination should be saved for the most severe actions, and their punishment does not fit their “crimes.”
The petition was created by “Full Disclosure DSU” and also includes links to GoFundMe.com links for those who wish to support terminated beloved DSU professors whose positions appear to have been taken away by the embattled university administration without due process:
The firings follow not only the embattled university’s contentious firing of Varlo Davenport, who was accused of assault but found not guilty in a Washington County court, but numerous lawsuits including a Title IX suit filed by Victoria Willard.
As the petition suggests, the violations that the two music professors are accused of committing are comparatively minor, and some have implied that the accusations are merely excuses to fire the professors for remarks made in private via email that were not supportive of DSU President Biff Williams and the DSU administration.
The public largely appears to remain puzzled as to how or why a public university has as of yet gotten away with this sort of unethical behavior unscathed.
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Correction re Varlo Davenport: he was not accused of sexual assault but of simple assault, alleged to have occurred in the context of acting exercise, in a classroom setting with multiple witnesses present. In the course of the trial it became clear–based on statements under oath by the alleged victim’s step-father–that the charges were pursued not by the alleged victim or her family but by DSU. The reason for the charges was to try to make it look like Biff Williams firing of Davenport was justified, since a faculty review board hearing had cleared Varlo of wrongdoing and recommended his reinstatement. There was basically zero compelling evidence presented at the trial of anything approaching “assault” and the jury returned a not guilty verdict in about 30 minutes. The incident itself almost certainly was recorded on video, and that video would have been essential evidence as to whether an assault had occurred. At the trial, then DSU security chief Don Reid stated that there never had been a security camera in that particular classroom. Past photos of the room show that there was. Varlo’s lawsuit against DSU alleges that evidence shows Biff Williams himself ordered the removal of the camera. If that’s true, did DSU–Biff Williams himself and the chief of campus security– hide and/or destroy evidence in a criminal case? Wouldn’t that be a great example of your public servants at work! One wonders if that could be a violation of DSU policy (they’re serious about policy violations over there, you know. Like, they fire people over policy violations). Anyway, just wanted to set the record straight on the charge.
If we are setting the record straight, then the first question should be asked is why Biff Williams wanted to fire Davenport in the first place, and it was not to promote another faculty member. Presidents are well aware of the difficulty in firing a faculty member and do it only as a last resort.
The family was pursuing a suit against the University if the University did not act. If a videotape existed showing that Varlo had done no wrong, would not the University have used it to back the family off? Cameras are put up at the request of faculty and then removed again if another faculty wants a camera in another location. Camera’s are expensive and are moved around a lot. The fact that a camera was there at one time, but not there at the time of the assault is not at all an indication of conspiracy on the part of Biff Williams.
The faculty review committee does not clear faculty of wrongdoing. They simply review the information to determine if termination is warranted. The vote in the committee was not unanimous, in fact far from it. Evidence was presented that Varlo did grab the students hair. If so, then this is assault by today’s standards. Varlo had crossed a line he cannot cross in today’s world. The jury was composed of all men. It will be interesting to see what happens at the federal level. If they dismiss Varlo’s case, it will be because they did consider it to be assault. The only question is will any of you accept that. I doubt it because conspiracies are more fun than the truth. If Varlo does win the case, then he will be a rich man and the General Counsel of the University will probably be fired. Since Don Reid has already retired, he cannot be fired. These are the men that every College President relies on upon these situations for good information.
Persons put into the office of a President are not thin skinned and have many duties other than creating problems for themselves by firing faculty member. In fact, many presidents will not fire a faculty member, even though faulty richly deserve it, simply because they do not want to deal with the fallout. Biff Williams may be too young to have learned this lesson and so followed the recommendations of Department Chairs, Deans, Academic Vice-Presidents, General Counsel, Utah Attorney Generals, Board of Trustees, Board of Regents and Commissioner of Higher Education recommendations. What was he thinking of!