Dr. Jay West Threatens to Sue Erskine Student

Below is presented the original example of the “culture of intimidation” at Erskine, published in the student newspaper “The Mirror.” I’m glad now I saved a copy all these years!

Note how bizarre this news piece is. Daniel Wells was interviewed for this article, but the accused – Dr. Jay West – and the only other witness, Anne Hawthorne, were never interviewed or quoted, except as heresy evidence recited by Wells himself. I know we don’t take Christians to court ever, I mean often unless it is justified to defend Synod, but shouldn’t the author have talked to everybody involved? The case against West became a strange case of “his word against nothing” – hardly strong legal material. Nor was Ms. Hawthorne ever consulted, apparently, even after Dr. West was brought before the Second Presbytery of the ARP Church for intimidating a student (actually, “brought before” is a misnomer – he was apparently not allowed to speak in his own defense).

And so the myth of the Culture of Intimidation was born – a myth so pervasive it survived four years of retelling on student blogs, Mirror articles, the SAFE website, Facebook, and eventually found a home in the Commission report itself. Mr. Carlisle practically invented the Fountain of Youth in this brief front-page article in, for what his words wrought shall live forever.

Lastly, note the conclusion to the article. What could be done to make Daniel Wells happy? A letter of apology? A spoken apology? A meeting with the college president to mediate reconciliation? Dr. West no longer working for Erskine? An official complaint in his file? All of these were done! I know of nothing more that could happen, and indeed I wish Daniel had made clear what would satisfy him. Heaven knows it isn’t over now, four years later, despite all that has happened. Will it ever end?

Ah yes! I know what will fix this culture of intimidation! Fire half the Board!

An follow-up letter by Drew Carlisle and a PDF scan of the original document are available here. Check it out!

Dr. Jay West Threatens to Sue Erskine Student

by Drew Carlisle [Class of 2007], Editor-In-Chief
Friday, October 6, 2006

In Summary:

Dr. Jay West, Vice President of Institutional Relations and founder of the Drummond Center threatened a lawsuit against Erskine Mirror staffman and Erskine student, Daniel Wells [Class of 2008]. Daniel asserted that West intimidated him in a private setting by using coercive language and a tape recorder to force a confession. West wished Daniel to affirm that Daniel authored an anonymous internet blog that made reference to Dr. West.

From the Editor:

Any good student newspaper reports on relevant student news. The aim of this article is not to smear any individuals; rather it is to be faithful to the purpose of the Mirror. My sole motivation in writing is so that students and others can be aware and make informed decisions about our school and world. Due to the serious nature of this accusation, I believe that visibility is essential for accountability in the Erskine Community.

During Freshman Orientation, I approached Erskine College junior Daniel Wells regarding writing an article for the Erskine Mirror on the Drummond Center. Last semester I read a blog Daniel wrote criticizing the Drummond Center as out of synch with the mission and purpose of Erskine College. Finding his blog intriguing and well articulated, I asked Daniel to write an editorial for the September issue.

The day the September Erskine Mirror was published, Daniel contacted me and expressed his severe anxiety over an email he received. Dr. Jay West contacted Daniel requesting a meeting Friday September, 8th. Daniel and I assumed the meeting was going to involve a response to his editorial on the Drummond Center entitled, “Is it possible to loathe something that doesn’t exist.”

Narrative:

As his editor I requested that Daniel report to me the details of his conversation with Dr. West. That Friday afternoon West and Daniel met on the third floor of Belk Hall in the Chestnut Conference Room for a private meeting. Before conversation began, Dr. West ushered Belk employee Anne Hawthorne, into the room as a third-party witness. Ms. Hawthorne is an administrative assistant in the EC development office and was not vocal during the meeting. Dr. West set a tape recorder on the table and stated that his lawyers instructed him to document the exchange. West stated that he felt Daniel had created a serious situation where West felt his name and reputation were slandered. He mentioned that he could not afford to allow Daniel to damage his future political aspirations and declared that a lawsuit against Daniel was a possible reality.

Meanwhile, Daniel was thoroughly confused. He did not know what he could have possibly written that would be considered slanderous to Dr. West. West then asked if he could turn on the tape recorder but Daniel told him no. Daniel claims to have felt very scared, intimidated and bullied by Vice President of Institutional Relations. Daniel requested to know what was to be discussed before he would consent to his voice being recorded.

Accusation:

Dr. West gave in and did not turn on the tape recorder. He then asked if Daniel had written an anonymous blog posted on blogger.com entitled, Moving Erskine Forward Together [If anybody has a link to where this blog used to be, please email me. It was an amazing piece of literature, to put it mildly]. This surprised Daniel because he assumed the conversation was about his article published on the Drummond Center. Daniel replied that he had, “never seen it before.” Daniel still claims that he did not write it, and does not know who wrote it.

Wells claims that Dr. West appeared desperate to bully a confession out of him again mentioning his future political ambitions. West claimed that his people had run a “linguistic analysis” on the Moving Erskine Forward blog and that his supporters believed Daniel wrote it because it was similar in phraseology and word choice to Daniel’s personal blog, Cosmic Christianity [now blocked from public access, but he started a new blog on Wordpress with the same name].

After Daniel protested his innocence again, Dr. West turned the tape recorder on. West again asked questions such as, “did you write the Moving Erskine Forward blog?” By not responding, Dr. West to realized his attempts to force a confession were futile. The tape recorder was turned off. Daniel asked if there were any other issues Dr. West had with him. There appeared no reason for the meeting once Daniel denied having written Moving Erskine Forward.

Dr. West said he did have problems with Daniel’s Cosmic Christianity blog and Daniel’s critique of the Drummond Center posted April 22nd, 2006. Visit http://cosmicchrist.blogspot.com to read the full text [no longer active]. The student and administrator then discussed the Erskine Mirror article. Dr. West had not read the clip at that point. He then read it out loud to Daniel and Ms. Hawthorne. West shook his head and rejected Daniel’s claim that the Drummond Center does not mesh with the mission statement of Erskine College.

Eventually, the conversation ceased. Daniel would like the readers of the Erskine Mirror to know that he cannot reveal all of the things that were said to him in the Chestnut Conference room because he does not want to provoke further bullying from Dr. West. In his interview with me for this article, Daniel said Dr. Went came across as a domineering and accusatory bully. Daniel reported the incident to his faculty advisors and to The Vice President and Academic Dean, Dr. Weatherman, because he felt Dr. West abused his power as an administrator.

Formal Complaint:

Dr. Weatherman filed a formal complaint to the new interim President, Dr. Randall Ruble, accusing Dr. West of having acted unethically. On September 13th, Daniel met with Dr. Ruble. Vice President of Erskine Seminary, Rev. Gaston, and Dr. Weatherman and talked to them the events of his encounter with Dr. West.

Dr. Ruble’s decision the following day was to have Dr. West and Daniel meet for a private time of reconciliation. Daniel refused to attend the meeting because he did not feel that it was a just solution to the situation. Daniel did not want to be placed in a position where he could be intimidated again. Daniel feels, “Dr. Ruble meant well by his decision but the Dr. West case is not merely an issue of two Christian brothers who needed reconciliation. The issue is one of professionalism and unethical conduct by an administrator to a student.”

Dr. Ruble’s final decision was to have Dr. West write a letter of apology to Daniel. About the apology Daniel said, “Even though I received a letter, that is not managing the matter. Under normal circumstances I would accept a personal reconciliation. I have already forgiven Jay. However, this is an institutional issue. What is to prevent this from happening in the future? What is a just solution?”

The Erskine Mirror openly invites letters to the editor on the current controversy. An explanation or apology from Dr. West is especially welcome.