February 10, 2023
A SECOND OPEN LETTER TO SCHOLARS OF
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES
My name is David Dessler. I am an IR scholar who started his career as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Government at the College of William and Mary on August 16, 1984.
In June 2017, I resigned my position as a tenured Professor of Government. For the next four years, I wrote almost thirty emails about my story to scores of American IR scholars, documenting several unusual aspects of my story. I hoped through these emails to draw the attention and perhaps the scrutiny of outsiders in my field of study.
My efforts failed. The story of my departure from the College of William & Mary turned out to be a simple one: I was removed from my tenured position by individuals not employed by W&M who used force and the threat of force, and nothing else, to separate me from my job.
Looking back, I do not know what else I could have said or done, or what other news I could have reported, to get outsiders to investigate the situation at William & Mary, rather than to avert their gaze.
For example, I explained in my emails that:
It is possible for a community to face a problem that, because of its nature, requires outside help to be peacefully and constructively resolved.
The difficulty at W&M evident in the stories I wrote so many emails about is one such problem.
It is not too late for IR scholars to help at the College of William & Mary. In the Open Letter I wrote them two days ago, I explained how.
I thank everyone for their consideration of my two Open Letters.
Sincerely,
David Dessler
In June 2017, I resigned my position as a tenured Professor of Government. For the next four years, I wrote almost thirty emails about my story to scores of American IR scholars, documenting several unusual aspects of my story. I hoped through these emails to draw the attention and perhaps the scrutiny of outsiders in my field of study.
My efforts failed. The story of my departure from the College of William & Mary turned out to be a simple one: I was removed from my tenured position by individuals not employed by W&M who used force and the threat of force, and nothing else, to separate me from my job.
Looking back, I do not know what else I could have said or done, or what other news I could have reported, to get outsiders to investigate the situation at William & Mary, rather than to avert their gaze.
For example, I explained in my emails that:
- I was removed from my senior faculty position at W&M without the involvement or knowledge of any W&M faculty (there was no process that involved the faculty; no one at the university sought input from the faculty; and, after the fact, the faculty was not notified that I had been removed);
- no charges that might have justified my removal, suspension, or termination were ever stated by anyone at the College;
- no investigation of any charge against me was ever carried out at W&M;
- my attempts at discuss my situation with university officials generated no dialogue or interactive process;
- I had been removed as the teacher of three classes over the strong opposition of my students, without a charge being stated, without an investigation, without faculty involvement or input, and without the hearing required by academic freedom;
- the students enrolled in my classes were never told afterwards why I had been removed as their teacher and were also never informed that I had been banned from campus and banned from communicating with them;
- senior faculty and administrators dealing with my case had been threatened with the use of force;
- I was denied access to campus by a no-trespass order and was prohibited from communicating with people on campus by court orders enforced by the power of arrest;
- I was arrested seven times on eleven misdemeanor charges, all of which proved to be empty and were dismissed or null prossed;
- at least two other professors were arrested and removed from their positions at the university between 2016 and 2018;
- more than two dozen students were known to have been arrested in 2017 and 2018.
It is possible for a community to face a problem that, because of its nature, requires outside help to be peacefully and constructively resolved.
The difficulty at W&M evident in the stories I wrote so many emails about is one such problem.
It is not too late for IR scholars to help at the College of William & Mary. In the Open Letter I wrote them two days ago, I explained how.
I thank everyone for their consideration of my two Open Letters.
Sincerely,
David Dessler