OPINION: In the Varlo Davenport case, is there a head to the snake?

Written by Dallas Hyland

Last week, The Independent reported on the announcement from Dixie State University that Vice President William J. Christensen will be stepping down from his position and returning to teaching in the business department.

Thank you for your service, Mr. Christensen, and congratulations on having quite possibly the shortest tenure as vice president in the history of the institution.

The press release from the college and Christensen’s subsequent statement on the decision hardly masked his ill content with it, but more curious was the absence of any implication that it had anything to do with the recent fluster-cuck the now legally embattled college is in over—among other things—the illegal and unethical firing of Varlo Davenport.

On April 16, under the thinly veiled protection of anonymity, the Faculty Senate documented a lack of faith in Christensen’s ability to adhere to policy and to not harass and intimidate members of faculty and staff. No wonder they did not want their names in the minutes.

One member of the Faculty Senate said that they kept the names anonymous that day because non-tenured members were subject to at-will laws and feared retaliation.

In case they are reading this, it is confounding to the rest of us that given what just transpired with Davenport, tenured professors do not realize they are all at the whimsical will of the college’s nefarious interpretation of not only policy but also law.

And to recap the announcement, the college has all but acquiesced that Christensen’s lack of integrity is what forced his resignation, but he will make a fine professor at the campus’ astute business school.

Permit me to share a few things to further enlighten you to the lengths to which some powerful people in this community are willing to go to vindicate DSU and President Williams in this debacle.

As you may know, the Washington County Attorney’s Office declined to bring a charge against Davenport for the alleged assault, maintaining that they would be unable to establish specific intent. However, in spite of the absence of specific intent, the City of Saint George, under the loose explanation that there may be a lesser version of the charge possible, is taking on the task.

They are so firm in this conviction that seated city council member Michele Randall, who is neighbors with the Davenports, made a phone call to Andrea Davenport which she maintains was as a friend. According to Davenport, Randall said that she had approached city prosecutor Shawn Guzman to ascertain why the case had been taken on and been told that the city has a good case. Randall denies she said this.

Randall supposedly went on to advise Davenport not to use attorney Aaron J. Prisbrey for Varlo’s defense, saying she thought a public defender or perhaps local attorney Douglas Terry would be a better choice.

Davenport said Randall told her Prisbrey has it in for the city, which presumably is a loose reference to his current lawsuit over the code enforcement court.

Randall denies this but qualifies that she did tell Davenport that Prisbrey was not a criminal attorney and they needed one.

Lastly, Davenport maintains that Randall told her to tell her husband to take a plea and everything would just go away. (One may wonder, go away for who exactly?)

Randall denies saying this as well.

So why all the he said/she said?

Because Randall, while maintaining she was not acting in the capacity of a city council person, in fact was. She does not get to take that hat off. And in so doing, she not only violated a principal of ethics in legal proceedings up to and including ex parte communication, she also tipped the city’s hand in revealing that they know damn well and good they do not have anything.

Add to this seated city council member Gil Almquist also recently visiting the Davenports supposedly in his capacity as their stake president. 

The Davenports were as surprised by his uncharacteristic visit as they were Randall’s call as to date, neither of the two council members have ever visited them.

It is likely the two council members, who represent the city charging Davenport in an assault case, will maintain their queries were of a benevolent nature. 

I call bullshit. They should have known the conflict of interest in this and if they were really concerned, sent someone from their ward who was at least arms length from the legal proceedings. This just looks like two council members flexing some authority while guising it as genuine concern. It comes off as intimidation and frankly, it could and should compromise the city’s case against Davenport. If I were Varlo Davenport’s attorney right now, I would be making a few phone calls.

But this is not even the scary part.

The scary part is, if any of my interpretation of this is on par, then what we are witnessing in real time is not only a cover up by the college but capitulation to do so by high ranking officials of the city.

Ask yourself this: If the city cannot get their conviction—which, if Randall is trying to talk the Davenports into taking a plea, is a possibility they might be aware of—then the college’s case against Davenport crumbles, right?

But more importantly, ask this: If that is true, then instead of the head of this snake being the school or the city, could it actually be some influential members of this community who say, sit on boards or host legally questionable whistle blower sites?

It should not be left unknown here that the Mayor of Saint George, Jon Pike, sits on DSU’s board of trustees. The same board which maintained the ominous “other” information that would vindicate the school. Also on this board sits David Clark who spearheads the schools off campus tattle tail site that operates as a third party disciplinary tool outside of the policies, procedures, and human resources department mandates that should be abided. They are in most schools in the country you know. I’d wager that this website is what was used to bring the unethical and non-procedural case against Davenport to begin with. It needs to be investigated thoroughly. 

Look folks, if I am wrong on this, I will buy the first round. But this whole thing smacks of collusion and cover up and the lengths people are going to so that they can be vindicated in systematically dismantling a mans life for no good reason is beyond comprehension. There needs to be a reckoning here.

And as far as old Willy Christensen goes, he should be taking a business ethics course, not teaching one. Maybe he and Biff should be classmates. 

More to come.

See you out there.

Dallas Hyland is a freelance writer, award-winning photographer, and documentary filmmaker. As a senior writer, opinion editor and photo editor of The Southern Utah Independent, Hyland’s investigative journalism, opinion columns, and photo essays 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. You can listen to him live as a regular guest co-host on the Kate Dalley talk show on Fox News 1450 AM 93.1 FM in southern Utah.