Penn State is holding closed hearings this week to determine the fate of Nona Gerard, a tenured professor of theater who is accused by administrators at the Altoona campus of creating a hostile environment for her colleagues and of failing to do her job. The university's case is summarized thus in the Penn State Collegian:

On Aug. 11, Gerard received an 11-page letter from William Cale, dean and chief executive of Penn State Altoona, charging her with "failure to perform" and "grave misconduct," Gerard said.

Cale's letter explained that "Gerard's destructive behavior has included public attempts to discredit the validity of the IA degree, repeated attempts to sabotage the College's efforts to establish a dance curriculum ... "

He also wrote that Gerard, " ... makes accusatory and derogatory remarks to and about the IA faculty... "

Cale said Penn State policy HR23 allows for Gerard's termination if "adequate cause" is found. HR23 states that a "lack of competence or failure to perform in relation to the functions required by the appointment, excessive absenteeism, moral turpitude, or grave misconduct."

As it happens, it turns out there were some distortions and misreportings in the newspapers, and that Gerard's case is even stronger than I had initially made it out to be. The papers made it look like Gerard publicly badmouthed her colleagues--but in fact she did not. In fact, it was an administrator who publicly aired Gerard's private email correspondence--and who is thus arguably the one responsible for creating the so-called hostile environment at PSA. The papers also make it look like Gerard refused to do essential parts of her job, like directing plays--but in fact she did not. She did say she would not direct productions any more after the Dean made the above-mentioned administrator into Gerard's personal supervisor--but Gerard did in fact continue to direct.

Nona Gerard has graciously granted me permission to publish a letter clarifying some of the media misrepresentations of her case. Read what she has to say, and then ask yourself again whether there is a witch hunt going on at Penn State. "The press doesn't have all the facts, so they didn't get it right in some instances," she writes.

-I sent a private email to my coordinator telling him that the choreographer in our dance program was "talentless and cold as a fish" in regard to the fact that I had used her to choreograph on two musicals for me, and just couldn't stand her work. I was explaining to him why I didn't want to be forced to work with her. ... I did not publish the email on a list serve or to anyone else. The coordinator then made it public. Our Dean was forcing me to work with this dance colleague and I was trying to explain why it wouldn't work.

-I did not respond to the Dean that I would no longer direct on campus because of him telling me to stop my disrespectful and unprofessional behavior toward my colleagues. My Dean put the same coordinator mentioned above "in programmatic control of my classes and my productions". That is when I said I would not direct. I told the Dean that if he put an English professor who had no theater background in control of my classes and my artistic productions, I wouldn't do productions anymore. I found the Dean's charge to be disgusting and non-academic. How dare he put another professor who wasn't even in the discipline in control of my classes. I have a BA, an MFA and 17 years of professional Actor's Equity Association experience. I've won awards and acclaim nationally for my work. It is completely academically unsound for the Dean to give that kind of control to a coordinator outside of my discipline.

-Finally, it is most important to know that even though I said I wouldn't direct, I did. I apologized for saying I wouldn't and I have always directed and fulfilled my job duties over and above...always carrying an overload of credits and maintaining annual reviews of above average and excellent in all areas.

Thanks to Maurice Black for the PSC link, and to Nona Gerard for clarifying crucial facts in her case.