An attorney for a recently fired University of Michigan administrator says her client's employment was terminated after she was wrongfully blamed for antisemitic remarks she never uttered, but which the school said “represented extremely poor judgement.”
Rachel Dawson was formerly the director of the University of Michigan’s Office of Academic Multicultural Initiatives, which spearheads student support services, like its Men of Color Leading & Investing in Community program, and other efforts to assist the school in its “commitment to nurturing an intellectually and culturally diverse campus.”
The New York Times first reported Dawson’s termination. The Times report said Dawson was accused of saying, in a conversation at a conference this spring, that the university was “controlled by wealthy Jews.” The times says it obtained documents via a request for records under the Freedom of Information Act. The records included part of a complaint about Dawson filed by the Anti-Defamation League of Michigan.
Citing those documents, the Times reports Dawson is also accused of saying that Jewish students are “wealthy and privileged,” and didn’t need to be included in her office's diversity programming, and that “Jewish People have no genetic DNA that would connect them to the land of Israel.”
Dawson’s lawyer, Amanda Ghannam, denies Dawson ever said those words.
Ghannam said Dawson was approached at a conference by two women who said the University of Michigan was beset by an atmosphere of antisemitism, and that Dawson defended her employer against those claims. Ghannam said she believes the two women were angry at Dawson for disagreeing with them and “fabricated” the quotes which led to Dawsons dismissal.
“When [Dawson] didn’t agree with everything that these women were alleging, they became visibly angry with her,” Ghannam said. “She perceived that they became a little bit hostile. And they proceeded to go after her employment.”
A University of Michigan spokesperson, Kay Jarvis, confirmed Dawson’s firing in a statement.
“Ms. Dawson was fired by the Provost because her behavior as a university representative at a conference and during an on-campus protest was inconsistent with her job responsibilities, including leading a multicultural office charged with supporting all students, and represented extremely poor judgement,” Jarvis wrote.
Ghannam called U of M’s process of firing Dawson “unusual,” saying Dawson was confronted with an investigation and not allowed to explain the context of the conversation at the conference. The university did not respond to Michigan Public’s request for further comment on the process of Dawson’s termination, and to explain what behavior Dawson is accused of engaging in at the on-campus protest.
Ghannam said even if Dawson had made those remarks, she was “off the clock” when the meeting occurred and her speech should be protected by the First Amendment. Ghannam said Dawson plans to sue the school on First Amendment grounds. Ghannam suggested a public institution like U of M is not legally allowed to “selectively discipline and terminate employees based on conversations they have off the clock.”
To the question of whether Dawson was “off the clock,” Ghannam said Dawson wasn’t at the conference presenting on behalf of the University.
“She was just having a random side conversation with two strangers who approached her,” Ghannam said.
Editor's note: The University of Michigan holds Michigan Public's broadcast license.
