Statement regarding my seven arrests
by David Dessler - February 10, 2023
The reason I left the College of William & Mary was that I was being forcibly kept off campus. I was not terminated by the College. I remained a tenured Professor of Government in good standing until the Provost, Michael Halleran, accepted my voluntary resignation on June 23, 2017.
I presently have no agenda at the College. I am requesting nothing. I harbor no ill will toward anyone there. I am grateful for the significant support I received during this episode. I can confirm that during the apparent dispute, the College took no illegal actions toward me; no one there violated any provisions of the Faculty Handbook; and there was no misconduct or negligence on anyone's part. My seven arrests, carried out between February 2016 and February 2019, were in no meaningful sense university arrests. They were not desired by anyone working at the College.
Almost no one employed by or attending the College knew that I had been forcibly removed from campus and prohibited not only from returning but from communicating with anyone there. Not a single faculty member knew about my forcible removal. Not one student knew. The faculty were alerted by three emeritus College faculty members following a ten-month period during which I had been forcibly separated from the College. The process of removing me was carried out without anyone at the university stating a charge, conducting an investigation, following a formal procedure or process, engaging in a dialogue or interactive process, holding a hearing, offering me a chance to defend myself, or seeking input and discussion from the William & Mary faculty. I know of no one working at the College who ever supported or endorsed my removal.
I am on good terms with the faculty and others in the William & Mary community. As far as I know, they are on good terms with me. None of the chaos caused by the employment episode concerning me can reasonably be blamed on my friends and former colleagues at William & Mary.
I will never know who was behind my seven arrests. I only know that the motive for the arrests and the decisions to make them lay off campus.
The seven arrests are meaningless to me because of my relationship with the College. I do not care about them. I do not want them investigated. The underlying charge in every arrest was Harassment by Computer. Anyone who doubts my innocence need only read the emails for which I was arrested and review the statute I allegedly violated. All eleven of the charges that led to those arrests were null prossed or dismissed long ago. Six local judges contributed to this unanimous verdict. I consider their views to have settled the matter. I have moved on. I am focused on my academic research and my future, not my past.
The reason I left the College of William & Mary was that I was being forcibly kept off campus. I was not terminated by the College. I remained a tenured Professor of Government in good standing until the Provost, Michael Halleran, accepted my voluntary resignation on June 23, 2017.
I presently have no agenda at the College. I am requesting nothing. I harbor no ill will toward anyone there. I am grateful for the significant support I received during this episode. I can confirm that during the apparent dispute, the College took no illegal actions toward me; no one there violated any provisions of the Faculty Handbook; and there was no misconduct or negligence on anyone's part. My seven arrests, carried out between February 2016 and February 2019, were in no meaningful sense university arrests. They were not desired by anyone working at the College.
Almost no one employed by or attending the College knew that I had been forcibly removed from campus and prohibited not only from returning but from communicating with anyone there. Not a single faculty member knew about my forcible removal. Not one student knew. The faculty were alerted by three emeritus College faculty members following a ten-month period during which I had been forcibly separated from the College. The process of removing me was carried out without anyone at the university stating a charge, conducting an investigation, following a formal procedure or process, engaging in a dialogue or interactive process, holding a hearing, offering me a chance to defend myself, or seeking input and discussion from the William & Mary faculty. I know of no one working at the College who ever supported or endorsed my removal.
I am on good terms with the faculty and others in the William & Mary community. As far as I know, they are on good terms with me. None of the chaos caused by the employment episode concerning me can reasonably be blamed on my friends and former colleagues at William & Mary.
I will never know who was behind my seven arrests. I only know that the motive for the arrests and the decisions to make them lay off campus.
The seven arrests are meaningless to me because of my relationship with the College. I do not care about them. I do not want them investigated. The underlying charge in every arrest was Harassment by Computer. Anyone who doubts my innocence need only read the emails for which I was arrested and review the statute I allegedly violated. All eleven of the charges that led to those arrests were null prossed or dismissed long ago. Six local judges contributed to this unanimous verdict. I consider their views to have settled the matter. I have moved on. I am focused on my academic research and my future, not my past.