DePaulia
The
The No. 1 Weekly College Newspaper in Illinois
Volume #100 | Issue #6 | Oct. 19, 2015 | depauliaonline.com
CASE
CLOSED University appears tone deaf while skirting Dean Koocher issue KATIE TAMOSIUNAS | THE DEPAULIA
I
Editorial Board
n an email to faculty and staff on Oct. 15, DePaul President Rev. Dennis Holtschneider, C.M. said he does not “share the position of some that Dr. Gerald Koocher, dean of the College of Science and Health, should be sanctioned by DePaul University for his work with the (American Psychological Association).” While effectively and unfortunately shutting the door on possible action being taken at the university level, it seems like a fitting end for a university that bungled this matter from the beginning. For those who have not been following the matter closely, the controversy began in July with the release of the 543-page Hoffman Report, a damning indictment of the American Psychological Association’s (APA) failures during the Bush Administration. In essence, the report found that the APA colluded with the government to create loose ethical guidelines for psychologists in national security situations, which contributed to torture taking place in places like Guantanamo Bay. In addition, the organization took a stance of deliberately avoiding probing into suspected torture cases involving psychologists. During the period in question (2005 to 2007), Koocher was an APA board member, serving as president-elect and then president of the organization. He was appointed to serve as a board liaison to the task force on Psychological Ethics and National Security (PENS), the committee charged with creating ethical
guidelines. Despite only being a board liaison, Koocher took an active role in the discussion on both the first day of the task force’s sessions as well as on the group’s email listserv. According to the report, Koocher aggressively dismissed and belittled those whose opinions disagreed with his own, effectively acting as an enforcer over which ideas were discussed. In addition, Koocher played an active role as APA president in refusing to investigate allegations of psychologists playing a role in torture. While the report acknowledged that the classified nature of such actions would have made it difficult, they noted that Koocher and APA officials did not even try to inquire in spite of news reports and rumors swirling around. Certainly, as Holtschneider writes in his letter, most of the blame lies on an APA staff that in many cases left the board, including Koocher, in the dark. “Unfortunately, senior staff employed at the APA concealed important
President Rev. Dennis Holtschneider, C.M., supports Dean Gerald Koocher News, page 4.
Faculty, staff and students react to DePaul backing Dean Gerald Koocher News, page 5.
See KOOCHER, page 12
A series of missteps from DePaul Commentary
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PRIOR WARNING
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REPUTATION TAINTED
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When hiring Gerald Koocher in 2013, DePaul’s search committee had in its possession a document that echoed many of the conclusions of the Hoffman Report. Regardless of whether Koocher is innoncent or guilty, Koocher’s association with DePaul is now tainted. “I think that it’s a perception issue and it reflects poorly on the university. And for that, I’m sad,” said Mona Shattell, an associate dean in the College of Science and Health.
STUDENTS SHUT OUT
While DePaul tried to ease the concerns of faculty and staff, they shut out students and didn’t inform them throughout the process.
IGNORING FEEDBACK
Members at Faculty Council submitted a proposal last Monday for DePaul to open an investigation, but the university instead backed Koocher in a letter.