A Dartmouth professor committed suicide after the school refused to allow him to defend himself from accusations that he ignored horrific allegations of abuse in his department.
David Bucci was the chair of Dartmouth University’s psychological and sciences department. He was a memory researcher as well. In 2018, several women filed a lawsuit against the university alleging rampant sexual abuse and accused Bucci (whose name appeared 31 times in the 72-page legal complaint) of enabling the abuse by not reporting it to Dartmouth administrators. Bucci, along with director of graduate studies Thalia Wheatley, were denied the ability to speak out in their own defense. Bucci had said at one point that the students who brought forward complaints “did not mention some of their gravest allegations, such as rape, and did not name the professors,” at least not at first. Wheatley would say that some of the students asked that they be transferred after “their evaluations were in” so that the professors they accused could not retaliate against them.
As The New York Times reported, Bucci and Wheatley “immediately went to the Title IX office, which handles such complaints.” From the Times:
“Much of the bad behavior took place after hours, off campus, and before Dr. Bucci became chairman. The signs of misconduct had been ambiguous, Dr. Wheatley said. The professor described as a “hugger” would go down the graduation line hugging both men and women. It was considered one of his personality quirks. … ”
The lawsuit had come as standards for workplace behavior were rapidly changing. “We’re all savvier now,” she said. “If I saw that now, I would ask more questions.”
Bucci was not accused of committing any sexual abuse, yet he was likened in the media to one of Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein’s associates, who sat idly by while his colleagues abused women.
At one point the women claimed Bucci “had called a department meeting where he browbeat the women who were planning to sue,” the Times reported. Wheatley told the Times that contrary to that claim, Bucci called a departmental meeting to “dispel rumors on Twitter that they did not really care about the women.”
Neither Wheatley nor Bucci were allowed to publicly defend themselves from the accusations, which the Times noted “blindsided” them. The Times reported that a Dartmouth spokesperson “said that the college’s general counsel and public relations office believed that the best way for [Bucci] to tell his side of the story was not by speaking out but through the legal process, mainly Dartmouth’s point-by-point rebuttal to the complaint.”
But as the Times noted, the lawsuit was filed in November 2018 and made national headlines, while Dartmouth’s rebuttal in January 2019 got “little if any notice.”
The accusers sued Dartmouth for $70 million, and because accusers often get far, far more than the falsely accused who also sue, settled with the university for $14.4 million. Dartmouth refused in its settlement to provide Bucci “the one thing Dr. Bucci had hoped for: a statement proclaiming his innocence,” according to the Times.
Bucci committed suicide in October. Dartmouth predictably ignored their role in the professor’s suicide. The Times reported Bucci had a history of “crippling depression” and was finally pushed over the edge when he was forced to remain quiet while his reputation was destroyed. The College Fix reported that, to add insult to injury, three of Bucci’s accusers went to his funeral.