A video posted by Kennesaw State student Kevin Bruce went viral and sparked outrage, as it showed one of the academic advisors, Abby Dawson, accusing Bruce of harassing another advisor and threatening to call security.
It’s now been reported that Dawson will be temporarily relieved from her duties due to her action against Bruce.
“We have made it very clear to Ms. Dawson and her supervisors that the behavior she demonstrated on the video will not be tolerated; and while we have apologized to the student directly, we also want to publicly apologize for her behavior, which is not representative of KSU’s student-centered culture,” said KSU VP of Academic Affairs Ken Harmon.
Along with Dawson’s suspension, the school has taken actions in further training KSU academic advisement staff, as well as hired additional staff to see that every student need is taken care of.
While these measures are a step in the right direction, some believe that they don’t go far enough, and that Dawson’s suspension should result in her termination, both in professional propriety, and to keep KSU’s good name intact.
Shane Wright, a class of 2012 KSU alumni, had this to say:
“I was deeply disturbed to learn of Ms. Dawson’s unprofessional behavior as an academic advisor and am pleased that the administration at Kennesaw State has thus far acted swiftly and responsibly to rectify what I earnestly hope is an extremely isolated incident. In my time as a student at Kennesaw State I was always treated with the highest respect by my professors, advisors, and university staff. From my experience I believe that Ms. Dawson is an outlier, and in no way whatsoever reflects the quality of professionals employed by Kennesaw State. I trust that Dr. Papp and the rest of KSU’s leadership are working with legal counsel to ensure that Ms. Dawson is terminated in an appropriate manner and that her suspension is merely a temporary stop gap measure. We all make mistakes, and I sincerely hope that Ms. Dawson learns from this incident and goes on to lead a fruitful career, however her relationship with Kennesaw State is irreparably damaged and must come to an end so that this issue may be permanently resolved.”
Check out the video in question below.
Hailing from Austin, Texas, Brandon Morse has been writing about politics and culture across many websites for the last six years, with a heavy emphasis on anti-authoritarianism. Aside from writing articles, he is also known for voice acting and authoring scripts. He is an avid gamer, dog person, and has a bad habit of making vague references to things no one has heard about or seen. Follow him at @TheBrandonMorse on Twitter.
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