University of Idaho’s new president, C. Scott Green, has a decision to make, according to a professor who has been on paid leave for around seven months.
That professor is Denise Bennett, a tenured journalism professor who, in a document provided to The Argonaut, said a committee that held a dismissal hearing last week has recommended she be dismissed, a decision ultimately left to Green.
There is no set time period he must decide within, according to UI policy.
Bennett was placed on paid leave Jan. 24 after two incidents with UI employees that, she alleges in a legal complaint, administrators have characterized as “unprofessional conduct.” The day before being placed on leave, Bennett had a verbal confrontation with a UI employee. Two days prior to her leave, Bennett sent an email with expletives to university administrators and others.
On Jan. 30, an emergency text and email alert, called a Vandal Alert, was sent out to students, faculty and staff. “Denise Bennett has been barred from Moscow Campus. Recent admittance to police of meth use and access to firearms. If seen on campus, call 911,” read the alert.
The committee’s recommendation is the latest development following a summer with relatively few public developments regarding the UI professor. who headlined several spring articles in the Moscow-area. Most recently, Bennett filed legal complaints in mid-July against UI and the City of Moscow, alleging millions in damages for conduct by Moscow Police Department and the university. Those complaints, called tort claims, sometimes lead to lawsuits, as two did by former UI students who allege the university mishandled their sexual assault reports. Their suits are headed to hearings next month.
The student-led group, Students for Denise, sent an email to Green and other administrators Wednesday afternoon protesting the decision.
“This unfolding quarrel is beyond just a convoluted, sticky mess of a ‘private personnel matter,’” the email reads. “The outcome of this clash has the potential to set a dangerous precedent to dismiss tenured faculty without good-faith effort toward conflict management.”
UI spokesperson Jodi Walker declined to comment for this article, saying the university does not comment on personnel issues. Bennett’s attorney, Melissa Luna, could not be reached for comment for this story. Moscow City Attorney Mia Bautista previously declined to comment for a story about Bennett’s tort claims, as did Walker.
Kyle Pfannenstiel can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @pfannyy
Justin
"That professor is Denise Bennett, a tenured journalism professor who, in a document provided to The Argonaut, said a committee that held a dismissal hearing last week has recommended she be dismissed, a decision ultimately left to Green. " This sentence needs to be dismissed.