Over a month before her dismissal hearing that started Monday, a tenured journalism professor at University of Idaho on paid leave has filed two tort claims outlining alleged damages from the university and Moscow Police Department (MPD).
University of Idaho | Courtesy
UI professor Denise Bennett lists more than a million dollars in alleged damages in each claim. Tort claims can lead to lawsuits, as they did in suits filed for two former UI students who allege UI mishandled their sexual assault reports, which are scheduled for hearings.
Bennett, in a mid-July claim, alleges UI engaged in disability and sex discrimination in its handling of and public messaging surrounding her ongoing paid leave for what officials have called “unprofessional behavior,” according to the tort claim. She also alleges an MPD officer acted improperly.
UI spokesperson Jodi Walker and Moscow City Attorney Mia Bautista both declined to comment for this story. Bennett’s attorney, Melissa Luna, could not be reached for comment.
University of Idaho | Courtesy
Within five working days of completing hearings, the committee that conducts dismissal hearings must send its recommendations to UI President Scott Green, who will decide what to do, according to university policy.
In an emergency text and email alert, called a Vandal Alert, sent out Jan. 30 to what Bennett alleges in the claim was nearly 13,000 UI affiliates. UI said Bennett was barred from campus and told recipients of the alert to contact the police if they saw her on campus and referenced information from a police report from last November from an encounter that resulted in no charges. UI said in the alert, citing the report, Bennett recently admitted to police that she had used meth and had access to firearms. Police and university officials have since said Bennett was not a threat when the alert was sent out.
Bennett was placed on paid leave in January one day after a verbal confrontation with a UI employee and two days after sending an email with expletives to university administrators and others.
Bennett alleges in the MPD claim a police officer working with UI on the matter knew she was in her attorney’s office when the initial emergency alert — called a Vandal Alert — went out. UI has said it was “uncertain” about Bennett’s location in a follow-up alert. Bennett alleges in the claim the officer knew she “was not on campus and no threat to university” affiliates when the alert was sent out.
On her claims of disability discrimination in the UI claim, Bennett alleges notes from the committee that determined if a Vandal Alert was appropriate, show UI considered or perceived her to be “a person with multiple disabilities.” She also alleges in the suit other male UI employees have not been reprimanded as severely for voicing concern about administration or even using expletives.
Walker, UI spokesperson, has said the university did not know about
the November police report until a responding officer notified UI after recognizing Bennett in a live stream the day before the first alert went out. Bennett also said in the MPD claim that a responding officer told her their conversation was confidential.
Kyle Pfannenstiel can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter: @pfannyyy
Editor’s Note: As many Argonaut employees are students in the University of Idaho Journalism and Mass Media Department, no Argonaut employee who has previously worked with Denise Bennett, as part of their curriculum, has or will report on this developing story. It is our mission as a staff to report university and community news with fairness and transparency.