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**** UPDATE ****

Additionally, FITS News recently reported on allegations against Dr. David Snyder, associate professor in the history department and residence hall director of the International House at Maxcy College. Allegations against Snyder include grooming a student into a sexual relationship, and when cut off, Snyder sent 184 lewd emails to said student. Snyder abused his power as a professor and is still in a position of power over students and student employees in his current role. Snyder is an associate professor and does not have tenure.

In addition to the three lawsuits filed against SVAD professor David Voros alleging a history of sexual misconduct, harassment and abuse, allegations have come forth against theater professor and former department chair, Robert Richmond, and Michael Dollar, Associate Vice President and Chief Technology Officer in the Division of Information Technology, alleging sexual harassment and misconduct from these individuals as well as allegations against UofSC’s Office of Equal Opportunity Programs (EOP) for mishandling the cases. On Friday, March 12, 2021, The State released an article outlining the nature of these allegations and cases. We agree with the summarization that, “when taken together, the allegations depict a university that ignored complaints, humiliated victims and enabled unprofessional behavior.”

Allegations against Richmond include sending lewd texts to students, serving alcohol to students, and asking female students to perform lap dances for an audition. Despite the fact that some of these incidents were reported as early as 2012, no action was taken. In fact, Richmond was given tenure in 2013, giving him even more protection against accountability.

Allegations against Dollar include impregnating an employee, coercing that employee to undergo an abortion and continued harassment of that employee in the workplace afterwards. Dollar abused his power as the employee’s superior, and again, no action against the abuser was taken. Instead, the survivor faced more issues at work and was treated like she was the problem by university administration.

In your message to the Carolina community on March 14th you refused to specifically address these cases. Instead, you hid behind vague promises of bureaucratic reshuffling rather than the direct action needed to protect students and staff at UofSC. Voros and Richmond were relieved of their on-campus duties, but remain employed and could be back in the classroom as early as next semester. Moreover, Dollar remains employed in a position of power in the IT Department.

We have previously demanded an overhaul of the EOP system here at UofSC, emphasizing the protection of those who report and increased transparency in investigations undertaken. In your message to the community, you mentioned some reforms to the system students, faculty, and staff use to report cases of sexual misconduct. These included review boards, committees, new offices and positions in order to “help” victims. The duties and responsibilities of the review board described in the email are extremely vague and give no context to their actual powers over issues of sexual harassment. In reality, these are all bureaucratic roadblocks that will elongate the investigations into these cases and prevent students from even attempting to report newer cases.

The EOP has a history of mishandling abuse cases and further traumatizing the survivors. We demand transparency in the investigative process, an explanation of the outcomes, and mandatory recusal for conflicts of interest. We demandan external review of the EOP system, without conflicts of interest, with the results publicly available. We also demand that the Human Resources Department be endowed with the power to fire those who have legitimate allegations of misconduct, harassment, and abuse of power against them.

President Caslen, real change is long overdue. You must call for the resignation of David Voros, Laura Kissel, Peter Chametzky, Robert Richmond, Mike Dollar, and Carl Wells. If they refuse to resign, these harassers, abusers, and enablers must be fired and removed from campus. Additionally we demand an official response to every allegation of abuse, addressing each case by name. UofSC cannot continue brushing these cases under the rug. No other response from the university is acceptable.

Two new lawsuits have been filed against SVAD professor David Voros alleging a history of sexual misconduct, harassment, and abuse. These grievances include trying to affect the grades of students who accused him of misconduct, acts of intimidation against other staff members, and attempts at sexual coercion, to the point that one staff member had to request a leave of absence.

The two lawsuits, filed by SVAD employees Jaime Misenheimer and Pamela Bowers, allege that Voros created an unsafe work environment. Bowers, who divorced Voros in 2017 for having sexual relationships with students, faced gendered slurs, intimidation, and unwanted sexual advances before requesting a leave of absence in 2019. Bowers continually complained of the abuse to then-SVAD chair Peter Chametzky, who threatened her job, and then to current chair Laura Kissel, who blamed Voros’ conduct on Bowers herself. She also asked USCPD for help, who only told her to get a restraining order despite the history of abuse.

Misenheimer also alleged instances of sexual coercion and intimidation. Voros allegedly asked her to lower the grade of a student he described as “crazy” after a study abroad trip. Similarly to Bowers, Misenheimer received little help from SVAD administration, who were known to tell female reporters to “think of the guy.” Current SVAD Chair Laura Kissel even suggested that she “place crystals on her desk to feel safe” from Voros, which was possibly in reference to Misenheimer being a member of the Choctaw Nation.

These two aforementioned lawsuits demonstrate a disturbing history of behavior. Another glaring example of Voros' alleged abuse is seen in the 2018 lawsuit by then-student Allison Dunavant. During an unsanctioned study abroad trip, Dunavant alleges instances of sexual coercion, food deprivation, and unhealthy living conditions.

The trip was misconstrued by Voros as a school sanctioned study abroad, and according to the 2018 lawsuit, the students were subjected to abhorrent living conditions involving having “to scrub feral cat pee off the floor and furniture”. Voros’ house was also the only source of food for the students, forcing them to interact with him. After Dunavant walked in on Voros and another student having sex, Voros would “say things that indicated if she was ‘more like’ the other female student who was having sex with him, things would be much easier for her on the trip.” When she refused his unwanted sexual advances, he deprived her of food and threatened to call the police and have her kicked out of the program.

After getting back to campus, she filed a formal complaint against Voros, but it was dismissed. Her appeal was rejected by then-USC president Harris Pastides, who was friends with Voros. Even after the complaint was rejected, Voros pressured other faculty to give her bad grades and to not sign off on her thesis, despite the fact that it was popular and successful.

The system for reporting retraumatised survivors and protected the predator. It has to change. The University of South Carolina has failed in its duty to protect students from harm and needs to take immediate action against the offenders and to fix what is ultimately a system that enables.

As members of the Gamecock community, we are all expected to follow the guidelines of the Carolinian Creed. Clearly, David Voros failed to uphold the creed in every regard. He failed to practice personal and academic integrity by trying to retaliate against his accusers by manipulating grades and using other forms of intimidation. He failed to respect the dignity of all persons by treating his victims as less than human beings deserving of dignity and respect. He failed to respect the rights of others by subjecting them to harassment. He failed to discourage bigotry by himself engaging in gross misogyny against his own coworkers and students. Through all of these actions and others, he ultimately failed to demonstrate concern for others.

Our demands are as follows:

• Immediately remove David Voros from his position at the School of Visual Arts and Design for his history of harassment against students and faculty

• Immediately remove Peter Chametzky as a faculty member of the School of Visual Arts and Design for ignoring the abuse and harassment conducted by David Voros

• Immediately remove Laura Kissel as Director of the School of Visual Arts and Design for enabling Voros’ abuse of students and faculty

• A complete overhaul of EOP reporting

• Protect graduate students from harmful and abusive professors and administrators

• Transparency in the investigative process of misconduct by offending parties

• Immediately remove Carl R. Wells, Deputy Director of the Office of Equal Opportunity Programs, for dismissing claims of sexual harassment

• Mandatory recusal for all persons with a conflict of interest in a given investigation, i.e. Harris Pastides’ personal relationship with David Voros

• End the EOP reporting practice of notifying alleged assailants that a complaint was made to empower victims to report

• Transparency in ongoing lawsuits and allegations, including flagging professors in Self Service Carolina to empower students to avoid classes taught by abusers

This petition is not just aimed at David Voros, but all those who have enabled him and other abusers on our campus. That includes former SVAD Chair Peter Chametzky, current SVAD Chair Laura Kissel, and any other administrators who knew about the abuse and turned a blind eye.

The Coalition to Fire David Voros is a group of students and faculty at UofSC who are working to build a university that protects students and faculty instead of abusers. The Feminist Revolutionary Coalition, Carolina Socialists, College Democrats, Planned Parenthood Generation Action, Students for Justice in Palestine, United Campus Workers, and the NAACP organizations at UofSC make up the Coalition. For more information about the allegations, the petition, and demands, visit https://linktr.ee/Firedavidvoros.

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