Nearly half of Gaylord College female full-time faculty and staff signed a letter sent to college and university leadership detailing an alleged hostile work environment and culture of discrimination, nepotism, violation of policies and secrecy within the college, the OU Daily has learned.
These allegations, coupled with the college’s ongoing search for its next dean, contributed to the college’s decision to bring an external consultant and self-described “Dispute Doctor” to campus this month to interview faculty and staff members.
The OU Daily on Friday has learned through three sources that the dean search has concluded, an offer letter has been signed by a prospective hire and that person’s name should be announced by next week.
The letter, which the OU Daily obtained this spring from an anonymous source, was sent to Interim Dean David Craig, Provost André-Denis Wright and Associate Provost for Academic Integrity Chris Walker in early September. The letter was signed by 13 faculty and staff members, the source — who is not a university employee — told OU Daily. The group that signed the letter is made of approximately half of Gaylord College’s female faculty and staff, a Gaylord staff member told OU Daily, which roughly matches what the source who provided the letter independently verified.
The letter obtained by the OU Daily did not include the names or signatures of its authors. The OU Daily, through subsequent reporting as the naming of the college’s next dean nears, has confirmed the identities of at least five of the signees and is keeping their identities anonymous due to their concerns of possible retaliation. In the rest of this story, these sources will be referred to as Gaylord faculty members A, B and C and Gaylord staff members D and E.
“There is a culture of hostile workplace, discrimination, nepotism, violation of numerous policies, and secrecy at Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication that needs to be addressed,” the letter read. “These matters have been escalated to the leadership within the college, and numerous reports have been filed with the Title IX office and the EthicsPoint portal, but no meaningful action has been taken to rectify them. Reports have been either discounted or disregarded by leadership, but no resolution of complaints has occurred.”
The letter sent by the faculty and staff members gave recommendations to remedy, or “heal,” what they view to be the college’s toxic work environment. The letter read that tenure track timelines need to be standardized for faculty hired from other universities and a wage survey should be done with salaries corrected accordingly. The letter also proposed that faculty and staff need to undergo DEI, equal employment opportunity and student safety training, with faculty or staff in a supervisory role of student employees needing supervisor training.
Several signers of the letter have filed Title IX and equal opportunity reports regarding discrimination concerning racial or gender bias, pay inequity, harassment and more. Some have also filed reports alongside or on behalf of students who have allegedly faced discrimination, harassment and more.
“Numerous complaints have been filed with Title IX, not only by women faculty and staff but by students, that get routinely dismissed,” faculty member A said. “All of our complaints, in this group not everybody (has) filed a complaint, but those that did, oddly enough, even though they are filed even months apart, they were dismissed the same day.”
Faculty member A told OU Daily that the group asked for a meeting with Walker, which was then denied.
Shortly after that, three female Gaylord faculty members, who filed different Title IX and equal opportunity reports at different times some weeks and months apart, simultaneously received emails at 10:30 a.m. on Sept. 18 dismissing their reports. Emails of these denials, without specific or personal details, were provided to OU Daily.
Laura L. Dunn, Title IX campus expert and founder of L.L. Dunn Law Firm, told OU Daily that cases can be dismissed for several reasons. Dunn said there is a mandatory dismissal if the incident did not occur on campus or at a campus-organized event, such as university-sanctioned off-campus events or trips, if the incident occurred outside of the U.S. or if the incident doesn’t meet the definitions of harassment under Title IX.
Dunn said there are also permissive dismissals if a client or victim wants to withdraw the complaint. There are other forms of dismissal such as the prevention of gathering evidence to reach a determination.
“If they're all being dismissed at the same time, my guess is that it could be as simple as the legal department reviewed them all at the same time and issued decisions all at the same time,” Dunn said. “What would be more interesting to us is why they were dismissed, not the fact that they were dismissed on the same day.”
The university responded to questions from the OU Daily about Title IX and Institutional Equity Office protocols for dismissals and email notifications and whether the provost’s office met with or was contacted by members of Gaylord College faculty and staff regarding harassment and toxic workplace environment claims in an email on Monday:
“The University of Oklahoma takes all reports seriously and has established procedures to address them promptly and thoroughly. Regarding Title IX and Institutional Equity Office reports, we follow a process that can be found here (https://www.ou.edu/eoo) that prioritizes confidentiality and the rights of all involved parties. While we cannot comment on specific details of cases or individuals, we are committed to fostering a supportive University environment,” the email read.
‘Negative workplace practices’
The letter detailed that Gaylord’s “negative workplace culture” allegedly created pay discrepancies and allowed tenure to be handled differently based on gender.
The letter read that there is an alleged ignorance and indifference to diversity, equity and inclusion issues from some faculty and staff in the college and the workplace culture has allowed for questionable hires and has permitted some faculty and staff to “subvert” handbook policies regarding the treatment of colleagues and students.
“Key faculty and staff leadership members are either actively contributing to, or allowing others to act in, a discriminatory or hostile manner,” the letter read. “There are also faculty members outside of the leadership team who participate in discriminatory and/or unethical practices and workplace hostility. All individuals contributing to these negative workplace practices need to be trained and disciplined accordingly.”
Gaylord College has 35 full-time faculty members and 16 full-time staff members in the spring 2024 semester, Craig told OU Daily in an email.
Of the 35 faculty members found on Gaylord’s website, about 17 of them are women. Gaylord’s website shows 19 full-time staff members and, of those listed, about 12 are women.
Craig told OU Daily on April 12 that as soon as he received the letter, he alerted proper channels. He said the letter also played into his decision to bring in the external consultant to review the college’s environment.
“The letter came to me and I took (it) very seriously, the allegations and concerns that were expressed there,” Craig, who has been at OU since 1996 and previously served as director of graduate studies and as associate dean, said. “Knowing what we want Gaylord to be. As really fundamentally, we want it to be a place of belonging for everybody, a good place to be as faculty and staff, obviously students as well.”
Craig took over as interim dean over the summer, just before the fall semester started. The letter came to his desk roughly two months after he took the job.
Craig announced on Feb. 29 in an email to faculty and staff that he was bringing in an external consultant, president of Kelly Consulting LLC and self-described “Dispute Doctor” Moira Kelly, to assess its workplace climate and conflict ahead of a new dean.
In the email, which was obtained by OU Daily, Craig wrote that Kelly will survey the college’s workplace, including power imbalances, conflict, morale, climate perceptions and relationships.
Craig, who specializes in journalism ethics, coverage of ethics in journalism and values for ethical decision making, told OU Daily in March that the review is in preparation for the college’s accreditation, the arrival of a new dean and to make the college a better place.
“This idea of strengthening the Gaylord family, that's something we really value a lot in the college,” Craig said while declining to be more specific about what prompted the need to commission a consultant. “I wanted to do this because it gives us a chance to make sure everybody, if everybody in the college chooses to participate, that our full-time faculty and staff, they'd have a chance to air their perspectives. Because I want to make sure that everybody does feel like they're heard.”
According to OU Human Resources, six online trainings are required for all employees on OU’s Norman Campus: Title IX, safety and hazard communication, fire safety, standards of conduct, conflict of interest and cybersecurity.
Preventing harassment and discrimination, or Title IX, training is required within the first 30 days of employment and annually after that. Standards of conduct training is required once for full-time employees and conflict of interest training is required every four years with a disclosure form required annually.
“At OU, required training is a fundamental aspect of clarifying employee expectations and responsibilities. It plays a vital role in minimizing legal, financial, and physical risks that may arise during your employment. ... We understand that these are essential for every employee, regardless of their position,” the OU Human Resources website reads.
Six additional trainings are required for Norman campus employees in certain roles: HIPAA privacy and security, environmental health and safety, Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, Red Flag compliance and awareness, campus security authority and minors on campus trainings.
Faculty member A told OU Daily the university has vague and confusing policies when it comes to faculty and staff conduct, especially in how university versus individual college leadership handles reports and cases of this nature. That faculty member explained that interim deans might not be able to do much in terms of enacting change and college-level processes on investigations into equal opportunity, and Title IX complaints can become contingent on university-level processes
“Because the university rules governing the discipline of faculty are so broad and undefined, it makes it difficult for deans to act, especially if you’re an interim dean,” faculty member B wrote in a text to the OU Daily.
‘Going back 20 years’
Faculty member A said the experiences of a hostile workplace and allegations go as far back as 20 years ago and as recently as in March.
“Some of these behaviors are going back 20 years and some of the behaviors are happening to brand new faculty that had just started last year,” said faculty member A. “And that's what was kind of disconcerting. Sometimes it's the same bad actors doing the same things to women in different departments.”
Faculty member A said the other half of the female faculty and staff did not sign the letter for fear of retaliation or that not all allegations in the letter aligned with their experiences, but told the group they support the letter along with several other “allies” within the college. The individuals who signed the letter, faculty member A said, represent all majors and departments in the college and not one specific area. The individuals also are from an array of positions, including instructors, tenured faculty, staff and more.
Faculty member A said the group that wrote and signed the letter did not make it public when it was sent in September to allow college and university leadership time to explore possible issues within the college and also not interfere with the college’s impending dean search.
That search reached a new phase on March 26, when the last of five candidates finished on-campus interviews. An anonymous source told OU Daily that three finalists were sent to the provost and OU President Joseph Harroz Jr. Three anonymous sources, one of which is on the Gaylord College Board of Visitors, confirmed to OU Daily that an offer letter has been extended and signed with an announcement on a prospective hire to come next week.
Harroz told OU Daily at the March Board of Regents meeting that he planned for a new dean to be in the role by the start of the next fiscal year. According to the March regents agenda, Craig will go on sabbatical during the fall semester.
Former Gaylord College Dean Ed Kelley, who retired in July 2023 after serving in the role since 2016 after serving as interim for a year prior, told OU Daily in May that Gaylord College is a family, but a dysfunctional one.
“We all know that families can be dysfunctional. First, admit there are times that we're probably dysfunctional here at Gaylord as well,” Kelley said in May. “I do think that it's really important for everyone at OU, not just here at Gaylord, but everyone at OU, to students, to help them get through here. I think we do a pretty good job of that.”
Gaylord College’s dysfunction publicly reared its head in February 2020 when former professor Peter Gade used a racial slur in his journalism capstone class. Gade stepped down from teaching the class a few days later but stayed on as the director of graduate studies until he eventually retired in July 2022. In 2022, Imran Hasnat, a Gaylord College assistant professor, was charged and later convicted of making lewd proposals to a child under 16.
Gaylord faculty member B said female faculty and staff members began speaking with one another about their concerns and grievances with specific “bad actors” and behaviors in the college, noticing that many had similar stories and experiences.
“I started hearing whispers of some of the things that had been happening to me during my quest for tenure (were now also) happening to some of our younger tenure track faculty, and I was not alone in the bad behaviors that had been happening,” faculty member B said. “And then finding out that there were people, obviously, who had been here longer than I who had gone through very similar things and had basically been told, ‘Well, this is just the way it is — suck it up.’
“At that point, we kind of started sharing stories and realizing that this was much more widespread than we had been led to believe.”
The faculty and staff members who spoke to the OU Daily said when they went to college leadership separately about issues, they were led to believe their experiences were not the norm.
After the letter was sent and initial meetings between the signees and college leadership were held, the signees were told further meetings with administrators would be conducted separately and not as a group, according to staff member D.
The group said the complaints centered around appointment for tenure, pay inequity, harassment, nepotism and gaslighting, leaving female faculty and staff within the college to feel targeted.
Faculty member B said she experienced misogyny and ageism while undergoing the process for tenure. She said a male faculty member on the committee that decides tenure would call her “kiddo” or tell her that she could not teach graduate level classes or classes focused on sports due to her gender and age. She did not specify if this person was still employed by the university.
Faculty member B said while up for tenure, she was told to teach new classes every semester with new curricula, no direction and no teaching assistants, while her male counterparts who were also up for tenure kept teaching the same classes and were offered assistance and help from other professors.
“I've faced sexism by basically having various males in the department say that they didn't think that I was capable of teaching sports classes because I was a female, even though I worked in sports for a number of years,” faculty member B said. “I faced various levels of workplace hostility and toxicity from people who feel like it's acceptable to treat you like their minion and talk down to you and cuss at you.”
Faculty member B said she recently found out that two male faculty members who were hired at the same time as her to teach the same level of classes were making at least $10,000 more than her.
Faculty members A and C also said they made at least $10,000-$14,000 less than male hires made at the same time as them or even after they were hired.
One of those faculty members said Craig rectified her pay inequity situation after she brought it to his attention.
OU Daily, in October, requested the salaries of Gaylord College faculty and staff members from OU’s open records office. As of Friday, the OU Daily has not received the records. The group that met with the OU Daily did not share their salaries or other faculty and staff members’ salaries.
Gaylord Hall Dean's Suite on Feb. 3.
‘Nothing ever went anywhere’
The group that met with the OU Daily said the majority of the letter signers have filed other Title IX and equal opportunity reports for years regarding racial and gender-based discrimination, pay inequity, harassment, hostility and more.
In May 2020, the U.S. Department of Education under then-President Donald Trump made new policies for how universities handle Title IX, sexual harassment and discrimination reports, requiring the accused to disclose the name of their accuser and the ability to cross-examine survivors.
Staff member E said many students, faculty and staff decide not to report instances of harassment or discrimination due to these rules and for fear of retaliation professionally, socially or academically.
“(They say that) we're just a bunch of women who sit around gossiping, and it's like, we're sharing stories about what's happened to us,” staff member E said. “I'm pretty sure that's not the same as gossip.”
Gaylord staff member E said she’s noticed these issues trickling down to students. She said several students have disclosed to them instances of sexual harassment, both verbal and physical.
Even when students, faculty or staff members report through Title IX, the Institutional Equity Office or EthicsPoint, many times complaints or investigations are closed without resolving the issue, staff member E said. Many “bad actors” continue working within the college after having complaints of this nature filed against them, staff member E said.
“I have referred students for things that have happened by former staff and some faculty who are still employed, that include sexual harassment, verbal and physical, like someone being touched inappropriately at Gaylord,” staff member E said. “Nothing ever went anywhere.”
The letter specifically mentioned safety concerns regarding students. The letter asked that Gaylord College create policies and procedures to “ensure student safety” and communicate those to faculty, staff and students.
Staff member E said along with sexual harassment, they’ve learned of faculty and staff providing alcohol and drugs to underage students, putting students in unsafe situations regarding project experiences, such as traveling for student organizations or study-abroad trips.
Members of the group that signed the letter told the OU Daily they’ve been told to keep quiet about issues within the college for fear of damaging its reputation. The group said they’ve since felt ostracized, gaslit and made to think their complaints are the cause of problems rather than the result of issues by certain faculty and staff.
“The people, the bad actors, know that nothing is going to happen to them, so they continue their actions. And we, the ones who are reporting it or complaining about it, we're the ones who end up being ostracized or criticized or even yelled at by leadership for bringing them to light,” faculty member B said. “We're expected to help sweep these things under the rug and keep it quiet.”
Craig told OU Daily April 12 that the letter was part of the reason he brought Kelly in.
OU Daily requested a copy of the university’s contract in March with Kelly but has yet to have it fulfilled.
Kelly Consulting LLC is a client-consulting organization concentrated on training on dispute resolution, labor relations and effectiveness. Kelly, according to her resume, has experience as a mediator resolving hundreds of disputes concerning discrimination, civil court subjects and general workplace issues. Her resume read that she has worked with private and public-sector organizations.
Kelly told OU Daily April 11 that she is creating two reports: one with a summary of what faculty and staff told her and a second that makes recommendations. The first report will be sent to Craig and to all faculty and staff she spoke with over the past week. The second report will be sent to only Craig. Kelly said after she is done with the reports, she no longer is involved in the implementation of her recommendations or the disclosure of the reports.
“Most people use this as a way of finding out what employees really think about things that are going on,” Kelly said. “So they can make choices about what to do next and how to do it. … It's about how they view their own jobs. That's the emphasis there.”
Kelly said none of the reports will have any names or identifiers to disclose who she spoke with while on campus.
“I will not use any names,” Kelly said. “And part of that is because the questions that I ask have nothing to do with naming other people, (they have) to do with that person's view of their employment world, their job world. Using names, in how I do this process, would be very detrimental because people would be singled out. Things can be misunderstood. Things can be inferred that were not supposed to be inferred.”
Kelly said she plans to have both reports done by May 1. Craig told OU Daily April 12 that the reports will be given to the provost’s office and to the new dean.
As OU possibly welcomes another record-breaking freshman class, and the elimination of University College means those freshman will directly enter their respective majors, Gaylord College’s possible new dean will be the one tasked with making changes to the college’s work environment and preparing the college as it welcomes students back to campus in August.
The five dean candidates included three men and two women and no people of color. An announcement for a dean selection is expected to come next week.
This story was edited by Peggy Dodd, Ismael Lele and Anusha Fathepure.
