BREAKING: USD Theology and Religious Studies professor suspended after on-campus threats

Tenured professor was accused of making threats against four other USD faculty members  

The USD Vista Executive Editors

The beginning of the Fall 2019 semester at the University of San Diego has been marred by scandal after a USD Theology and Religious Studies (THRS) professor allegedly made threats against four other professors. The tenured professor has been suspended from his position, removed from campus, and served with a temporary restraining order.

In a joint statement released to The USD Vista, USD professors Emily Reimer-Barry, Evelyn Kirkley, Lori Watson, and Leeva Chung, Ph.D.s detailed threats that were made against them last week. The alleged threats came in the form of flyers that were posted on public bulletin boards in Camino, Founders, and Maher Hall, and placed underneath the office doors of two faculty members. 

“We confirm that Drs Kirkley, Reimer-Barry and Watson were targeted by a faculty member who posted flyers calling us fascists among other things, and urging students to boycott our classes,” the statement reads. “The flyers called for our dismissal from the University. An image of a sniper/rifle scope was placed under the office doors of Dr. Watson and department door of Dr. Chung. These events have been chilling, disruptive, and caused undue stress and fear to ourselves and our students. We want to return to our normal life and resume our academic pursuits. We wish for the responsible individual to be held accountable for his actions.”

Like the statement describes, the flyers posted on the bulletin boards urged students to “oppose corruption” and boycott the “classes and events” of Reimer-Barry, Kirkley, and Watson, describing the three professors as “faux academics, fascists, miscreants, pseudo-scholars, and sycophants.” Additionally, the flyer called for opposition to the aforementioned professors’ projects, and their removal from their academic positions at USD, and included pictures of the three professors alongside a photo of former White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Reimer-Barry and Kirkley teach in the Theology and Religious Studies Department, while Watson is an instructor in the Department of Philosophy.

In a similar event that is believed by the threatened professors to be connected to the first flyers, pieces of paper with the image of a rifle’s crosshairs were slipped under the office doors of Watson and Communication Studies professor Leeva Chung, Ph.D.

USD President James T. Harris III, D.Ed, addressed the incident in an emailed statement on Wednesday, Sept. 11. Due to employee privacy laws, the university did not release the name of the professor. A portion of the statement reads as follows: 

“A professor took responsibility for the flyers and the inappropriate behavior,” the statement reads. “The individual was suspended, removed from campus and is not permitted to return to campus or participate in any USD-related off-campus events while we conduct our investigation and initiate next steps. The professor has complied with these directives, has not returned to the campus, and to our knowledge, similar inappropriate behavior has not occurred.”

The USD Vista was alerted to the allegations on Friday, Sept. 6 after several students were told by their professor that they had been targeted by a professor in the Theology and Religious Studies Department. The USD Vista reached out to USD’s Department of Public Safety, but with the investigation being ongoing, was not able to gain access to the Public Safety report. The university issued a statement to The USD Vista in response, which echoed what Harris would say in his Sept. 11 email to the USD community.

In the days following the incident and the accused professor’s suspension from the university, the class registration portal for USD students displayed sections 01 and 02 of THRS 110 classes with “TBA” listed as the instructor. The THRS department lists each professor’s classes along with their office hours on the USD website. According to the website, Louis Komjathy, Ph.D, was teaching THRS 110 sections 01 and 02. The sections have since been replaced with another professor. 

According to his biography on the Department of Theology and Religious Studies website, Komjathy has been a member of the department since 2009, focusing primarily on Daoism, Chinese religions, comparative mysticism, and meditation traditions. 

Days after the flyers were discovered, The USD Vista retrieved a temporary restraining order from the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department website. The order was filed for Civil Harassment through the San Diego Superior Court on Sept. 6. The recipient of the temporary restraining order, uncovered in the document, is Louis Komjathy. While Komjathy is listed on a temporary restraining order, his connections to threats on campus are allegations, and have not been proven. 

On Wednesday, Sept. 11, after hearing third-party reports from the media, a group of students gathered for a peaceful protest concerning the university’s lack of transparency on the issue. This story will be updated as it continues to develop.

Kaia Hubbard, Anderson Haigler, Celina Tebor, and Amy Inkrott contributed reporting.