A former department head filed a lawsuit against the Oregon State Board of Higher Education, the University and nine University administrators on June 23, alleging the University retaliated against her for whistleblowing activities.
Former Planning, Public Policy and Management Department head Jean Stockard seeks at least $1 million unless she is reinstated as head.
Stockard, who resigned as head of the PPPM Department on Feb. 9, alleges the University forced her to resign in retaliation against after she advocated for three visiting scholars from South Korea. The scholars were enrolled in the experimental Institute for Policy Research and Innovation visiting scholars program from December 2004 to December 2005. Stockard alleged the visiting scholars “had not received the services or training for which they had paid and had not been given a proper accounting of the uses to which their fees had been put,” according to the lawsuit document.
The University declined to comment on the pending litigation, but referred to a Feb. 9 press release saying, “The university has not, nor would it, take any actions to retaliate against Professor Stockard for expressing her concerns.”
In December 2005, five scholars were recruited for a new IPRI research program that was meant to be tailored to the needs of the scholars. Three of those scholars came from South Korea and were sponsored by the South Korean government and a Korean corporate sponsor.
The visiting scholars said they required itemized documentation of their expenses to report back to their sponsors, but they said they faced resistance from the IPRI Director Michael Hibbard. The students filed complaints with Hibbard and Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies Richard Linton about the lack of documentation, according to a Jan. 3 tort document filed by Stockard’s attorney, Craig Crispin.
In April the visiting scholars received draft invoices on University and IPRI letterhead, listing charges for two of the scholars at $20,000 and one for $10,000. The itemized list included $5,000 charges for “General Supports,” which included library study rooms, housing services, ID cards, mailboxes, e-mail accounts and a field trip, among other things.
Stockard said she became aware of the matter around April 2005, and raised her concerns to University administrators. The University put IPRI on temporary probation while it investigated the visiting scholar program, and the University “curtailed the program to allow the university to implement changes to bring IPRI’s activities in line with university policies and practices,” according to the University’s statement.
Stockard also filed a complaint with the Oregon University System Internal Audit Division (IAD), which found that “there was a lack of program documentation between the scholars and the institute, as was alleged.
“However, we determined that UO management adequately resolved the matter,” according to an Oct. 28 audit memo from IAD. The division also reported that the University had returned the money to the scholars, but the audit “did note inconsistent treatment of IPRI research scholars.”
Stockard went on sabbatical during fall 2005, and PPPM associate professor Ed Weeks, who was acting as department head, informed Stockard that a decision had been reached to remove her as head after Michael Hibbard and his wife, PPPM Professor Judith Hibbard, threatened to leave the University if Stockard was not removed as head, according to Stockard’s tort document.
Shortly after she was contacted by Interim department head Ed Weeks, a Dec. 27 letter sent by Architecture and Allied Arts Department Dean Frances Bronet notified Stockard that she would be removed from head unless she voluntarily stepped down.
“My understanding is that the department is eager to move forward from the problems that arose around IPRI,” Bronet wrote in the letter to Stockard. “Faculty members have expressed concern, based on their observations of your behavior over the last few months, about your leadership in
doing that.”
In the next paragraph, Bronet wrote, “I want to assure you that this has nothing to do with your reporting of concerns in IPRI,” and that “Concerns about you continuing as department head do not arise from that disagreement but because faculty members have expressed concerns.”
Stockard announced her resignation just more than one month after receiving the Dec. 27 letter.
The lawsuit document alleges PPPM professors and University administrators continued to retaliate against Stockard before she resigned by excluding her from meetings, relinquishing her job duties and threatening to hold a no-confidence vote.
She also alleges continued harassment after her resignation has forced her into early retirement.
“(The) plaintiff suffered severe emotional distress, mental pain and anguish, embarrassment, loss of dignity and self-esteem, humiliation and loss of enjoyment of life,” according to the
lawsuit document.
Stockard is suing the Oregon State Board of Higher Education, the University, University President Dave Frohnmayer, Architecture & Allied Arts Dean Frances Bronet, PPPM Head Richard Margerum, associate PPPM professor Edward Weeks, former Vice Provost for Academic Affairs Lorraine Davis, former Vice President and Provost John Moseley, Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies Richard Linton, Institute for Policy Research and Innovation Director Michael Hibbard and his wife, PPPM professor Judith Hibbard, for violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments, deprivation of a liberty interest, intentional interference with economic relations, intentional infliction of emotional distress and defamation.
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