Dixie State Terminates Two Professors

Dixie State University fired two faculty members on Friday with no public explanation, according to The Spectrum. Dozens of staff members and students reportedly waited outside a campus building during administrative hearings for Glenn Webb, chair of music, and Ken Peterson, director of vocal studies. Both professors addressed the crowd after the meeting, saying they would likely not be returning. "The administration has made its intentions clear," Peterson reportedly said, suggesting that “alleged derogatory remarks” were at play in his case. "It's been a good run," he added.

Dixie State said in a statement that both professors’ tenures were terminated, but it did not say why. "The university carefully weighs the decision to terminate professors and makes every effort to support, invest in and advocate for our faculty and staff," it said. The Spectrum reported that Dixie State fired another professor of theater in 2015 after a student alleged he had hurt her in a stage exercise, even though a faculty review board cleared that professor, Varlo Davenport, of wrongdoing. Davenport sued the university in 2017, after a jury acquitted him of assaulting the student in a criminal case. Webb and Peterson reportedly testified on behalf of Davenport in his civil case against Dixie State.