The day former College of William and Mary government professor David Dessler filed a discrimination lawsuit against the school marked 798 days since the enigmatic Oct. 21, 2015 email that resulted in police forcibly removing him from campus. The last time he had met with students in person, Oct. 26, 2015, was 793 days ago. Dessler had spent 77 of these 798 days in jail, including 45 on charges that were later dropped.
How did a respected professor end up in this situation? Were Dessler’s multiple arrests a form of retaliation by the College for his proposed mental health initiative? Were his due process rights ignored, as he has claimed in various court documents? How did the College community react to Dessler’s case?
The Flat Hat will be working to answer these questions and more over the next several weeks. Visit our website at flathatnews.com, pick up a copy of our print edition every Tuesday, or check back on Soundcloud for all of the latest updates.