Marywood Administration vs. Frederick F. Fagal
04/11/95: Sister Mary Reap (at the time, President of Marywood College) writes a letter to Fagal about his "disservice to the academic community" while attending a Faculty Forum. Was this the start of the whole "Marywood Administration vs. Frederick F. Fagal" issue? Letter
04/17/95: Fagal writes to Sister Mary Reap, defending himself and questioning why his actions were a "disservice to the academic community." Letter
02/22/06: Sr. Margaret Gannon orders Fagal to remove a cartoon (depicted above), which was accompanying a news story, from his office door. She did this because she felt that some people might be offended and because there is a Muslim in the department. That same day, Fagal requested and was granted a meeting with Sister Mary Reap, the president of the University.
03/17/06: Fagal sends out a letter to faculty about the incident that occurred on February 22nd. Included with the letter, Fagal distributed a survey. Letter
03/21/06: President Reap summons Fagal to her office and proceeds to complain about the letter to faculty. Summons
03/26/06: Sr. Margaret Gannon writes to Professor Rod Carveth and declines to write a Wood Word editorial about the topic, citing a "personnel matter" and possible legal issues regarding Fagal and the Mohammed cartoon. Carveth responds. Letter
04/06: Fagal arranges for some students to survey resident students. A free speech poster, accompanied by a letter, carefully explains that free speech may very well offend some people. Poster
05/15/06: Fagal asks President Reap to clarify Marywood's free speech policy. Email
05/25/06: Fagal received no response so he sent the letter via certified mail. Letter was received on the 25th. Receipt
06/05/06: President Reap's (non) response to Fagal's request for clarification regarding free speech and free expression. Response
07/06/06: Professor Fagal contacts FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights in Education) Letter
09/19/06: FIRE writes to President Reap. Letter
10/03/06: Reap does not reply to FIRE by by today (the deadline).
10/04/06: Fagal re-hangs Mohammed cartoon on his office door to "encourage" Reap to reply to FIRE; he is asked to remove the cartoon from his office door once again. E-mail He complies to protect his options. Response Dean Torell summons Fagal to a meeting. Summons
10/05/06: President Reap responds to FIRE. Here is the link to president Reap's October 5 reply to FIRE where she drops the "hate speech" bomb on Professor Fagal. Letter
11/30/06: FIRE replies to President Reap, disputes on constitutional grounds notion of Fagal being accused by Reap of “hate speech”. Letter
02/08/08: Dr. Fagal sends out an e-mail to an associate after catching Dean Torell photographing his door. He is not sure why the pictures were being taken, but suspects something is in the works. He, too, photographs the items on his door for his own records should something arise. E-mail | Picture 1 | Picture 2 | Picture 3| Picture 4 | Picture 5| Picture 6| Picture 7 | Picture 8 | Picture 9 | Picture 10
03/25/08: A Marywood PhD student who claims to "support the freedom of speech and thoughts" writes a formal complaint about the items on Dr. Fagal's door claiming that "a grievous insult has been made to Islam at Marywood University." Complaint The complaint was about a picture hung up with an excerpt from a piece by author and filmmaker Gregory M. Davis. Excerpt
04/08/08: Dr. Fagal receives a formal report of the PhD student's complaint from Dean Torell. Report
04/11/08: Dean Torell sends Dr. Fagal an e-mail telling him to remove anything that could be considdered offensive from his door, including the item which the PhD student filed a formal complaint about, by 5:00 pm on April 14th. E-mail
04/14/08: Dr. Fagal sends a response to Dean Torell. He lets him know that the items were removed from his door and will not be put back up in the future. Dr. Fagal then asks Dean Torell for clarification on what is and is not allowed to be hung up on his door. Response
