David Potter, a former associate dean in The College of Arts and Sciences, retired from Syracuse University Thursday, forgoing six months of pay after refusing to sign an agreement containing a confidentiality clause.

The agreement would have reduced Potter’s role on campus and begun to phase him out of the university. To Potter, it contained ‘provisions so deeply offensive and unacceptable that I could never agree to sign such a document,’ he said in an e-mail obtained by The Daily Orange sent by Potter to Chancellor Nancy Cantor, Vice Chancellor and Provost Eric Spina and other senior administrators.

The agreement was proposed by new Arts and Sciences Dean George Langford, but Potter said Sunday he believes it may have come from officials higher up in the university administration. Potter said he thought the proposed agreement was linked to his involvement in a Judicial Affairs case last fall stemming from the alleged sexual assault of a female student by three members of the Syracuse men’s basketball team and another student.

‘All of these things point in the direction someone other than Dean Langford was concerned,’ Potter said. ‘I do think there is a real possibility this may in fact be a response to my involvement when I stepped forward and represented the young woman when the university counsel was insisting the matter was concluded without an appropriate hearing.’

Eric Spina, vice chancellor and provost, said this was not the case. ‘From my perspective this has been the dean’s decisions here,’ he said, referring to Langford.

University spokesman Kevin Morrow said he could not comment because it is university policy not to comment on personnel issues.

In March, Potter petitioned to reopen the assault case on behalf of the female student because an informal agreement of conclusion was made by the university, basketball players and their lawyers. The agreement was never signed by the female student. Potter’s petition reopened the case and it subsequently went to a Judicial Affairs panel in August, where the players were cleared of Code of Conduct assault charges. Although they were cleared of the charges, the three players were all placed on probation until spring 2011.

An Onondaga County grand jury also rejected to press criminal charges against the players in August.

While associate dean of student services, Potter had spoken frequently with both the female student who made the sexual assault allegations and her mother. The student was enrolled in the College of Arts and Sciences.

‘When the young woman revealed to me,’ Potter said, ‘that she had been seeking a hearing and had been in frequent contact with both Department of Public Safety and the director of Judicial Affairs, and that both offices told her they could no longer be in contact with her about the case, I knew something very serious had occurred, which appeared to deny her rights as a student.

‘I knew immediately, I might get fired over it,’ Potter said of petitioning to reopen the case. ‘But I knew I had to do it.’

Potter’s early retirement follows the abrupt departure of four high-ranking Department of Student Affairs officials this summer, three of whom sources close to the situation confirm were also involved in handling the sexual assault case.

On June 3, the university announced Barry Wells, senior vice president and dean of student affairs, would be stepping down to serve as a consultant. Three other officials were terminated for unknown reasons that day: Anastasia Urtz, associate vice president and dean of students; Juanita Perez Williams, associate dean of students; and Jeannette Steffes, associate vice president for student affairs. Sources confirm Urtz, Williams and Wells were involved in the case. The university has yet to release a statement about the firings.

In June, Potter stepped down from associate dean after more than 10 years in the College of Arts and Sciences and 19 years with the university, because he said he felt it was the right time to take a smaller role. At that time, he was appointed to a part-time position for the 2008-09 academic year by Cathryn Newton, the outgoing dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, who also stepped down.

But Potter’s year at the university was cut short.

‘Despite my letter of appointment from Dean Newton for this year, Dean Langford informed in September, at only our second meeting, of his intentions to phase out my employment at the university within six months for budgetary reasons,’ Potter said in his e-mail to Cantor and other administrators. ‘He also insisted that I work from home.’

Langford said he asked Potter to take on a special project researching the kinds of student services other universities offer. He said he was surprised when he found out Potter had instead decided to retire because he thought Potter ‘was excited about the project.’

After discussing the proposed agreement in a ‘preliminary way’ with Langford and Neil Strodel, associate vice president of human resources, Potter received, via e-mail, the proposed agreement which appointed him to a ‘special project’ and would allow him to keep his current salary, which was half of his salary as associate dean.

The agreement, which has been obtained by The Daily Orange, was titled ‘Re: Elimination of Position and Transition from Employment.’

Included in the agreement was a confidentiality clause stating: ‘As you can appreciate, the terms of this arrangement must be kept confidential – these arrangements are between you and the university …You also agree that you will not make or publish any written or oral statement or remark, including but not limited to, the repetition or distribution of derogatory rumors, allegations, negative reports or comments which are disparaging, deleterious or damaging to the integrity, reputation or goodwill of the university, its employees, its administration or any of its affiliates.’

Potter described the agreement as a ‘carrot and stick arrangement’ because retaining his salary was linked to signing the agreement. ‘These are not the easiest of times for people newly retiring,’ he said. ‘But there is no way at all that I would sign such a thing.’

‘The language in the agreement is standard language commonly used by human resources for an appointment like this,’ Langford said.

Potter never signed the document.

But Thursday, Dean Langford sent out a memo to his cabinet announcing Potter’s acceptance of the special project and that he would be working from home. Potter said he was surprised by the memo, which he called ‘inaccurate.’ That day, Potter signed his official retirement papers. He sent the e-mail to Cantor and others announcing his retirement on Friday.

‘It is a decision not without costs, not the least of which is the salary I would have received for the next six months had I signed the agreement and worked from home,’ he said in the e-mail.

Both Langford and Morrow, the university spokesman, praised Potter for his many years at the university.

‘David has long been a very valued member of the university community,’ Morrow said. ‘He has been just a wonderful individual working with students in Arts and Sciences through the years. There are many students who have benefited from his guidance, and that is something that they and the institution are very appreciative of.’

mghicken@syr.edu

Published on October 19, 2008 at 12:00 pm