Professors threatened

A USD professor targeted at least four other faculty members

Executive Editors / The USD Vista

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 at least four other professors. The tenured professor who is alleged to have made the threats 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 two weeks ago. The alleged threats came in the form of flyers that were posted on public bulletin boards in Camino and Founders Halls 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 THRS Department, while Watson is an instructor in the Department of Philosophy.

In a similar event, 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 to the USD community 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 a professor told their students that faculty members had been targeted by a professor in the THRS department. The USD Vista reached out to the USD Department of Public Safety (DPS), but with the investigation being ongoing, was not able to gain access to the DPS 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. Emily Reimer-Barry filed the order for Civil Harassment through the San Diego Superior Court on Sept. 6, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune. The recipient of the temporary restraining order, uncovered in the document, is Louis Komjathy. While Komjathy is listed on this temporary restraining order, his connections to threats on campus are allegations, and have not been proven. 

The San Diego County Superior Court will hold a hearing on Sept. 26 to discuss the temporary restraining order against Komjathy. 

On Wednesday, Sept. 11, after hearing third-party reports on the threats from the media, a group of students gathered for a peaceful protest concerning the university’s lack of transparency on the issue. 

Public safety discussion on campus safety

USD’s Department of Public Safety (DPS) Chief James Miyashiro held a Discussion on Campus Safety on Thursday, Sept. 13 and further detailed the ongoing investigation.

According to Miyashiro, Louis Komjathy is still employed at USD, and more details about the investigation cannot be provided because of employee protection laws.

DPS claims they were notified of the incident on Tuesday, Sept. 3. Miyashiro said that a professor, not pictured on the flyer, with a shared office space discovered the photo of the crosshairs on Saturday, Aug. 31.

Miyashiro said that DPS was able to identify the professor that made the alleged threats after seeing the flyer, because he “had other postings that kind of matched.” 

Miyashiro said the professor admitted to placing the crosshairs under the doors of professors. Additionally he said that the professor has been cooperative during the whole investigation, and that he was “posting things out of unhappiness, in whatever his situation was.” 

After the identity of the professor was confirmed, Miyashiro escorted him off campus Wednesday morning and the professor was suspended Wednesday night by the provost. Some faculty were notified of the incident on Wednesday through an email. There is a trespass order against him and he is subject to arrest if he is seen on campus. USD has a license plate reader as well as cameras on campus to identify him.

Miyashiro said that the USD DPS consulted the San Diego Police Department (SDPD) twice during its own investigation, on Sept. 3 and 4. The SDPD concluded that the professor’s actions did not include enough evidence to be criminally liable under Penal Code 422 PC – “Criminal Threats.” 

In the State of California, a criminal threat under Penal Code 422 is defined as “a crime which will result in death or great bodily injury to another person, with the specific intent that the statement, made verbally, in writing, or by means of an electronic communication device, to be taken as a threat, even if there is no intent of actually carrying it out.”

Both the USD DPS and the SDPD performed a threat assessment on Sept. 4. USD’s internal threat assessment included checking Komjathy’s social media, checking for weapons registered to his name, and checking if he had committed any serious crimes within the last year. The internal threat assessment came back negative as well as the SDPD’s threat assessment also came back negative.

Komjathy denied full professorship

Last year, Komjathy had applied for full professorship at USD, one of three levels on the tenure track: Assistant, Associate, and full professorship. Komjathy is an Associate Professor. Promotion to full professor is done through the consideration of one’s teaching, scholarship, service, and adherence to the mission of the university. 

The Appointment, Reappointment, Rank, and Tenure (ARRT) Committee is tasked with reviewing a professor’s performance at the university if they seek to become a full professor. The ARRT Committee at USD advised against Komjathy’s promotion last year.

A flyer posted outside Komjathy’s office door on Sept. 3, designed in a similar fashion to the flyers posted in Camino and Founders Hall, included pictures of eight professors from various departments within the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS). These professors are all members of the ARRT Committee. The flyer depicted professors Lisa Baird, Biology; Leeva Chung, Communication Studies; Del Dickson and Timothy McCarty, Political Science; Veronica Galvan, Psychology; Daniel López Pérez, Architecture; Lori Watson, Philosophy; and Irene Williams, English; Ph.D.s. 

Dickson, Ph.D., JD, was one of the members of the committee pictured on the flyer, and commented on the professor’s reaction. 

“The irony here is that promotion to full professor at USD is purely symbolic,” Dickson said. “There is no pay raise or any other tangible perks or privileges. You get a new sign on your office door and new business cards that you never use. Other than ego, the stakes couldn’t be much lower.”

Despite the flyers, Dickson does not fear for his safety on campus. 

“For me personally, I don’t feel unsafe at all,” Dickson said. “Top to bottom, people took this seriously. They investigated it quickly and thoroughly.”

This story will be updated as it continues to develop. 

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