English department fired manager

Two English department officials confirmed the existence of further spending irregularities in their department on Monday and said that the department's manager for nearly 20 years was dismissed in October for the inappropriate use of department funds.

On Thursday, the University confirmed that former department chair and current Butler College Master Lee Mitchell was suspended as a member of the faculty for inappropriate use of University funds.

Multiple attempts to reach the former department manager, Beth Harrison, by telephone and email, failed Monday. Mitchell, reached Monday night, declined to comment. Vice President and Secretary Robert Durkee '69 confirmed the news about Mitchell on Thursday but declined to discuss the Harrison situation in an interview Monday night.

On Monday, a senior English faculty member said, on the condition of anonymity, that Harrison "was terminated" for the inappropriate use of funds in a departmental account.

Mitchell, who submitted a letter resigning his position as master of Butler College last week, was suspended for the inappropriate use of funds in a different account — one earmarked for his personal research.

The senior faculty member said that though Mitchell's suspension reopened discussion in the English department about the Harrison case, Dean of the Faculty David Dobkin told English faculty members there was no connection between the two cases.

"The question is being asked, but the dean of the faculty's [answer] is, not as far as he knows," the faculty member said.

A different English department official said Dobkin had placed a "gag order" on the department.

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"[Harrison] left the University and part of the arrangement was that no one would discuss it," the senior faculty member said.

'Personnel matters'

Though Dobkin was unreachable Monday, Durkee said that faculty and staff "shouldn't be discussing personnel matters" because it violates University policy.

The senior faculty member added that since Mitchell's suspension, English faculty members have debated whether the punishment imposed on the professor was commensurate with the nature of his purported wrongdoings.

The senior faculty member said there exists a wide range of opinions, with some professors arguing that "nothing" should have been done and others arguing for legal "prosecution."

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But another senior English department faculty member contacted for this article wasn't aware of any such opinions.

Unknowns

Last week, one senior University official said the "ballpark" figure of the financial irregularities in Mitchell's account was approximately $20,000 spent over a period of eight or nine years. It remains unknown how much money is involved in the Harrison case and what the funds in both Mitchell's and Harrison's cases were used for.

According to Durkee, the "irregularities" were first discovered "in a series of audits that were conducted earlier this year." Results of the internal audit were presented to Dobkin and the Board of Trustees, who addressed the matter at their April 3 meeting.

In an interview last week, Durkee cautioned that there is no connection between Mitchell's suspension and his role as master of Butler College: "The issues that were investigated had nothing to do with Butler," he said.

While on his one-year suspension, Mitchell will receive no financial compensation from the University, and he will not have access to the privileges of membership in the University's faculty.