Daniel Pollack-Pelzner, Linfield University

Summary

Daniel Pollack-Pelzner was a professor and Shakespeare scholar at Linfield University. In a series of tweets on March 29, 2021, Pollack-Pelzner alleged a pattern of sexual harassment involving members of the school board of trustees and anti-Semitic comments by President Miles Davis. On April 27, 2021, the abruptly university fired Pollack-Pelzner for cause, including engaging “in conduct that is harmful to the university,” circulating “false statements” about Linfield and its board members, and refusing to “comply with university policies.” The dismissal without process contravened the university’s faculty handbook, which among other things mandates having a faculty committee review all allegations against a faculty member under threat of dismissal. The university’s president said that university bylaws superseded the faculty handbook.

The fallout from this incident was swift. By Thursday, April 29, a public letter in protest of the firing had been signed by more than 600 professors, calling for the American Association of University Professors to investigate. The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education sent a letter to Davis, calling on him to reinstate Pollack-Pelzner and “reaffirm the school’s promises of free expression.”