“In real life, the monsters win.” ~ J.R.R. Martin
Last week, The Spectrum & Daily News Editorial Board printed an editorial about the developing crisis at Dixie State University. It closed with this:
“At this point, Dixie State is indeed a thriving university, with just a few tender bruises that need healing. It is nowhere near dying nor declining. But there is work to be done. It will require diplomacy, it will require compassion, it will require intelligence and it will perhaps require Herculean effort, but we remain confident in President Williams’ ability to rise to the task.”
While I appreciate the sentiment given in this benefit-of-the-doubt approach, I cannot be more in disagreement that the bruises are few and merely tender. They are multiple and they are brutal. True, the school is not dying or declining, it is maintaining its previous status quo of being anything but a serious institution of higher learning. It is plagued with nepotism, underhandedness, and a mob rule mentality that singles out individuals who do not fit its mold and disposes of them like trash while maintaining an air of divine arrogance, hoping that no one can actually see what they are really doing. Williams has not risen to the task, he has shrunk from it.
Furthermore, the university has shown no diplomacy, compassion, or intelligence in the matter of Varlo Davenport or others and the Herculean effort it appears, will be the reckoning of its unethical, un-American, and quite possibly, illegal ways.
A Brief Recap of The Timeline
On December 5, 2014 Varlo Davenport was dismissed without notice or cause from his job at DSU.
He was told he could appeal the decision and was left reeling in the fact that all of his due process rights in the matter had already been abdicated. He appealed.
On January 29, 2015 he was given a hearing where it is reported that fabricated evidence was attempted to be introduced by Mark Houser. According to the reports, Deputy Attorney General Mike Carter would not allow it. (Incidentally, it should be noted that in the Fall of 2014, Houser was up for tenure review, and a nine of his department colleagues, including Davenport, voted unanimously to terminate him. He is the department chair now.)
It included an alleged six years of complaints by students against Varlo Davenport gathered by Dean of Students Del Beatty.
It is important to note two things at this point. In Davenports final report, these alleged complaints are referenced but are nowhere to be found. And if in fact they do exist, they are well out of any statute of limitations as they were never brought to Davenports attention, at all. He was supposedly terminated for assault, not six years of fallacious complaints incidentally.
The results of the hearing were that Davenport was exonerated and the recommendation was that he be reinstated.
Campus police allegedly investigated the matter for an assault charge and did not charge Davenport.
In a sweeping move, President Williams overrode the decision and had campus police serve Davenport his termination at home. (Police serving letters of termination where no crime is involved? Can you say intimidation?)
What has ensued in the aftermath is an unprecedented outpouring of support and a petition to Williams to reconsider his decision.
Under the weight of tremendous contradictory circumstances, the President has refused to do so and he is maintaining now, along with Public Relations Director Steve Johnson and a few others, that there is yet another pending charge that cannot be revealed right now, that will somehow make this decision make sense.
On March 6, 2015, the Washington County Attorneys Office was given the matter to review for what has been reported by Davenport to be a new charge, child abuse.
DSU allegedly was reluctant to give the County Attorneys names of witnesses to the event under FERPA laws, so Davenport, and at least one of the witnesses, contacted them and offered to give their testimony.
Instead, DSU Campus Police Chief Don Reid began conducting interviews with witnesses this past Wednesday, March 18.
Your read that right.
After being fired, then given a hearing to appeal the decision that never had a hearing on to begin with, being acquitted and told no criminal charge was made, DSU is now in point of fact seeking to change or add a different charge in the same manner and the campus police are, three months after the fact, just beginning to interview witnesses about the alleged assault.
On a side note, the head of the human resources department, Will Craver, who was, per policies and procedures, supposed to be involved in this process and was not, has decided to retire this summer.
What They Are Trying To Peddle
DSU is maintaining that Davenport has rights to privacy under FERPA but are actively and aggressively violating that very act by going to select members of the press and creating a narrative that there is another set of facts out there that will clear them of any wrong doing.
Student Body President and Board of Trustees member Gregory Layton sent out a tweet telling people that once these facts come out, everyone will understand.
I wrote him to inquire more about this and he replied that he had sworn an oath not to reveal certain things he was privy to with the Board of Trustees and in so doing implicated them in this conspiracy as well.
It should not be long before the County Attorney determines whether or not to pursue the child abuse charge but that is a moot point because in a meeting with students this past Monday, Williams stated that even if Davenport is cleared of any wrong doing, “He is done.” And incidentally, DSU is advertising a job for a theater professor with ten years of experience. Which begs the question, is this after the fact investigation just a show to somehow convince people that the school has not done something wholesomely unethical?
I may be going out on a limb here, but I would assert at this point, it may be President Williams and some of the people involved in this modern day witch hunt who should be done.
My Take
This story is still developing and it is becoming more concrete that this is not an isolated incident. More will be reported and opined about in the coming week as interviews are completed and facts are checked.
But at present, I will tell you this:
It appears that DSU has an environment where machinations are in place allowing for professors to exploit students for their personal agendas. Where these professors and students work with department heads and deans to conspire to exact with impunity, personal hostile agendas against people they do not like and there is no limit to the capricious and arbitrary accusations they will fabricate to do so. But it is much worse than even that. This behavior is enforced by a state sanctioned police force and condoned by the highest levels of the institution including the Vice President, the President, the Dean of Students, the Board of Trustees and even the Deputy Attorney General.
If this is the case, DSU is not in fact an institution of higher learning at all. It is a club that uses tax dollars and loose and arbitrary interpretations of state and federal laws to serve unyielding and unethical, and perhaps even illegal agendas.
And likened to a criminal organization, it even goes as far as to create an atmosphere of intimidation, striking fear of retaliation upon students or faculty who speak out against this atrocious behavior.
This is a serious problem.
More to follow.
See you out there.
Dallas Hyland is a freelance writer, award-winning photographer, and documentary filmmaker with three films currently under his belt. The opinion editor of The Independent, Hyland’s investigative journalism and opinion columns have ranged in topics from local political and environmental issues, to drug trafficking in Utah, as well as the international front, covering issues such as human trafficking in Colombia. On his rare off-days, he can be found with his family and friends exploring the pristine outdoors. Listen to him live as a regular guest co-host on the Perspectives talk show on Fox News 1450 AM 93.1 FM in southern Utah.
