The dismissal of Dena Bowers from her position as a senior recruiter with the University's Department of Human Resources has been surrounded in controversy, as Bowers' supporters assert she was denied due process and wrongfully fired, while the University claims that every dismissal procedure was properly followed. Bowers and her supporters will be moving forward with an employee grievance procedure, according to Staff Union President Jan Cornell.
On Oct. 11, Bowers, an often outspoken critic of the University's proposed charter, sent an e-mail to a co-worker from her University account with an attached report prepared by the Albemarle-Charlottesville NAACP. The report detailed the possible negative effects of the University's proposed charter on University Medical Center employees.
The e-mail read: "Please find the attached the number of MC [Medical Center]/academic side comparisons I gave out and reported on," and, as it was sent from her University account, included Bowers' electronic signature --- a signature that includes her full name and position as a Human Resources recruiter for the University.
Bowers' co-worker replied in an e-mail that she had forwarded the e-mail on to "a couple of people" and then asked if Bowers wanted to remove her electronic signature. Bowers replied "Don't worry about it ... maybe it helped increase awareness. If the [University's] administration tries to get me for it, I'll tell the truth, that being, I didn't distribute this list under my U.Va. capacity, but through my NAACP capacity." Copies of these e-mails were provided to The Cavalier Daily by Cornell.
One of the individuals who received Bowers' original e-mail forwarded Bowers' e-mail to all 275 classified Arts & Sciences faculty members. The sender, in an e-mailed correction sent Oct. 21 and provided to The Cavalier Daily by University Spokesperson Carol Wood without the name of the sender, said he mistakenly thought that the e-mail was an official University Human Resources communication.
"Had these documents not come under the pretense of Human Resources I would not have forwarded them without further investigation," he wrote in the e-mail.
Additionally, University Chief Financial Officer Yoke San Reynolds e-mailed the Arts & Sciences faculty Oct. 21 to clarify that Bowers' e-mail was not an official University communication, despite Bowers' usage of her title of HR recruiter, and she said the "incorrect and misleading" information in the e-mail's attachment caused "confusion and anxiety" among the employees who had received it. A copy of Reynolds' e-mail was provided by Wood.
On Oct. 22, Bowers was presented with an official notice of her dismissal, which Bowers' supporters alleged was the first time that Bowers had received clear reasons for her termination.
Bowers' attorney, Debbie Wyatt, said that Bowers had received a notice that she could face consequences for her actions in mid-October, and then the issue was not addressed until Nov. 17. Wyatt said the University refused to provide her or Bowers with a written clarification of the charges against her when they requested them a few days prior to Bowers' dismissal.
Wyatt also said to her knowledge Bowers never had a meeting with the administration to discuss the charges that were being brought against her prior to being presented with the written notice of her termination.
Cornell said Bowers was fired unfairly for misuse of her University e-mail account. She also said Bowers was targeted by the University because she was an outspoken critic of the University's charter and because she was disseminating information that was critical of the University.
Wood said usage of the University's e-mail services for private purposes could not be grounds for dismissing an employee, as it is a very common practice. Wood also said an employee would not be fired for being critical of the University, as this "would go against everything the University stands for."
Additionally, Wood said there are many procedures in place when an employee is being dismissed, including making the individual aware of all possible charges and consequences, and continued dialogue between that individual and the administration. All of these processes were followed in the case of Bowers' dismissal, Wood said.
The misrepresentation of the message and the source of the message, as well as a lack of cooperation by Bowers in clarifying that the e-mail was not from her in her official capacity as a University employee are the true issues at play in Bowers' dismissal, Wood said.
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