UNCW dean removed from position, claims retaliation after expressing free speech

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — The former head of the Watson College of Education is sharing his side after UNCW announced the college would be under new leadership this fall.

UNCW announced on June 26 Dr. Van Dempsey was leaving his position as Dean of the Watson College of Education. Shortly after the announcement, attorneys representing Dempsey shared a statement that Dempsey felt his rights had been violated by being removed from the position.

“It’s pretty clear in our minds that there is retaliation in this case, pretty blatant, and that the Board of Governors member has acted unethically,” Attorney Jim Lea said.

Specifically, a violation of free expression. According to Dempsey, it all stems from the Razor Walker Awards. It’s an award given by the college to members of the community for their commitment to the state’s children.

In 2022, Dempsey says UNC System Board of Governors Member Wendy Murphy raised concern that she believed conservatives don’t win the award. Dempsey says this is not true.

“A person should receive the award because of the work that they do, the advocacy they do, the persistence and tenacity they show in the work that they do are having a positive impact and beneficial impact to children and families in communities in North Carolina…but the person’s own political ideologies should not be a factor in that. As a matter of fact, I’ve coordinated receipt of the award I think six times. We’ve never been definitively aware of what a person’s politics are, what their political affiliation is unless they’re in elected office,” Dempsey said.

Dempsey says the concern that the award, Watson College, and Dempsey himself were too left-leaning impacted the 2023 awards.

Senator Michael Lee was nominated for the award. He was ranked second to last on a list of 12 nominees which were vetted by a group of reviewers made up of academic leaders, previous award winners, and a community leader. Dempsey says that the ranking changed after a meeting with Chancellor Aswani Volety.

“It was certainly the chancellor’s intention that he receive the award. He and I had that meeting in his office. When I went into that meeting, [Michael Lee] was clearly identified as 11th out of 12th in that process. When I left that meeting, he was in the top four,” Dempsey said.

Some students, faculty, and staff protested Lee receiving the award because of his sponsorship of the Parent’s Bill of Rights — which some people believe will be harmful to LGBTQ+ youth.

Students demonstrated outside the ceremony held in April while faculty and staff walked out of the ceremony when Lee accepted the award. A demonstration Dempsey feels was respectful and well within their rights to free expression.

“I couldn’t be more proud of the faculty and the students and the staff for doing that,” Dempsey said. “Could not be more disappointed that a member of the Board of Governors of one of the finest, maybe the finest, university system in the country expressed threat against people who had engaged in an act of free expression.”

The day after the ceremony, Dempsey received an email from Board of Governors Member Wendy Murphy.

The email reads in part, “Those individuals who walked out when Senator Lee received his award should be ashamed, and there should be consequences if they are employees of our university. How can we expect students to conduct themselves in a civil way if our role models are behaving in this manner?”

Among others, Chancellor Volety and the president of the UNC System were copied on the email.

After Dempsey says the university refused to discuss a response to the email, that’s when he chose to speak with a media outlet.

“All people have a right to free expression and free speech. Universities should not just allow that, they should embrace it, they should engage it, they should help students learn how to do that in ways that are respectful of the constitution and respectful of themselves,” Dempsey said. “I think it’s incredibly important for public institutions in particular to support that right and engage that right. In the world in which we live, it’s uniquely important for universities to do that. Universities are one of the places where I think we’re uniquely positioned to be able to engage in constructive and beneficial ways in acts of free speech.”

The article was published on June 8. Less than three weeks later, the university announced Dempsey would no longer lead Watson.

Despite what happened, Dempsey hopes a space can be left behind where free speech and expression are welcomed and not punished.

“Whenever anybody does anything, particularly people in positions of power and people who can leverage that power to harm people as I have been harmed, that when people see those moments knowing those threats and forces are there, if possible being able to find a way to make their voices and their concerns and their advocacy known. If they can’t find that or can’t create that, to be able to ally with people who can do that,” Dempsey said. “In terms of me as an individual and as a dean in this process and this story, that maybe is the most important thing, certainly that I have done as dean of the Watson College at UNCW and probably in my career to be able to, and it was not easy, to be able to make the decision that space had to be created. I hope people will see it as an opportunity or an opening to be able to advocate for free speech or expression, the best governance of UNCW and the University of North Carolina, and that when challenges and controversies are before the university,  we find ways to talk about them in a public way.”

The attorneys representing Dempsey at The Lea/Shultz Law Firm and Rhine Law Firm say they are still in negotiations with the university. They say an ideal resolution would allow Dempsey free moving forward and damages for the payment he would have received in the coming years as dean of the Watson College of Education.

When asked for an additional statement about Dempsey’s departure, a spokesperson for UNCW referred to the university’s announcement about the leadership change at the Watson College of Education because “it represents UNCW’s statement on this confidential personnel matter.”

WWAY also reached out to Wendy Murphy for comment but has not yet heard back.