Photo Illustration by Erin O’Flynn/The Daily Beast/Gottscho-Schleisner Collection, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division;Library of Congress
Earlier this month, Shakespeare scholar Daniel Pollack-Pelzner received a substantial settlement in a whistleblower suit against his former employer, Linfield University. Given the Oregon private school’s notorious record on faculty speech, this is certainly a result worth celebrating—but not without remaining vigilant for ongoing threats to outspoken faculty across college campuses.
Pollack-Pelzner’s colleagues elected him faculty trustee in 2019—a post that entailed “speak[ing] to issues of concern to the faculty and…seek[ing] and promot[ing] opportunities for faculty-trustee interaction and cooperation.” The then-tenured English professor ably undertook this role by challenging the Board of Trustees’ mishandling of sexual misconduct allegations, as well as bringing reports of antisemitism to light.
Namely, Pollack-Pelzner spoke out against President Miles Davis and Board of Trustees Chair David Baca’s inaction on accusations of sexual harassment by faculty members and former students against Linfield trustees. When Pollack-Pelzner referenced such allegations in a tri-annual report to the board, the chair reportedly redacted pages of the document. Tensions grew as Pollack-Pelzner was barred from attending future executive sessions.