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About 75 doctors and researchers, and at least one department chair, gathered in unseasonable cold at Oregon Health & Science University to protest the ouster of School of Medicine dean David Jacoby last week, rallying despite what one of the organizers called “a culture of retribution.”
OHSU president Danny Jacobs asked Jacoby to resign last week over his handling of Dr. Daniel Marks, a former faculty member accused of using his smartphone to take surreptitious photos of women in one of his classes.
Dr. Jeffrey Jensen, vice chair of research, obstetrics and gynecology in the School of Medicine, said he organized today’s protest to “move OHSU forward rather than allowing us to continue to spiral downward.”
“It’s a culture of retribution,” Jensen said in an interview before his speech. “One after another, we have seen leaders dismissed for activities that are poorly understood and described.”
Jacobs purged Jacoby as dean (he’ll stay on as a professor) just six weeks after announcing that executive vice president John Hunter would depart in June, or sooner if OHSU finds a replacement for his position.
An OHSU spokeswoman declined to comment on the protest, pointing WW to a letter previously written by Jacobs.
“I believe in our missions of healing, teaching and discovery,” Jensen told the crowd. “I see individuals like John Hunter and David Jacoby as exemplary of our mission. The fact that we see individuals like this threatened, retaliated against and dismissed is not suggestive to me of an environment that allows growth and development and encourages the best among faculty.”
Jensen said he was the “last person that really wants to be here and doing this” because he had always tried to avoid “any type of administrative responsibilities.” In addition, he said he had received emails saying that he shouldn’t speak out because he was “emblematic” of the problems at OHSU. “I’m an old white guy. I have positions of privilege. I’m a senior faculty, so I am enabled to speak out. The reason I do so is because many of you feel in more vulnerable positions and don’t feel comfortable speaking out.”
Joining Jensen at the bullhorn was Dr. Amanda Bruegl, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology and member of the Oneida Nation of Native Americans. Bruegl said she did a warrior smudging ceremony for Jensen before the rally “because he was brave and bold enough to use his privilege to help protect myself and others here who feel like their voices or their jobs might be compromised by saying anything.”
Jacoby was a mentor to her, Bruegl said, helping her become one of just two Native American gynecological oncologists in the world, and the only one doing research. “I am so, so sad that he’s no longer the dean of the School of Medicine,” she said.
Among Jacobs’ complaints against Jacoby was that he didn’t act quickly enough when a student came to him to report that Marks was taking pictures of women in class. Jacoby addressed those charges in a seven-page letter to OHSU staff that also irked Jacobs.
The highest-ranking faculty member at the rally may have been Dr. Sancy Leachman, chair of the dermatology department.
“I’ve seen what’s come out in David Jacoby’s statement, and as an individual I am compelled that this forced resignation was not because of mismanagement,” Leachman said. “It’s our system that made it impossible for David to do the right thing in an expeditious way. And who created those systems that had broken down so that he couldn’t do it expeditiously? That’s my question. Who in our institution is responsible for creating a system that was broken at the time we needed it? We really need to think about where the accountability lies.”