Richard A. Morrisett, a pharmacy professor whose felony conviction prompted the University of Texas at Austin to change its policies, was found dead in his home on Thursday, the university announced.
Richard A. Morrisett, a pharmacy professor at the U. of Texas at Austin, was found dead on Thursday. Publicity surrounding his 2016 criminal-assault conviction prompted the university to change some of its policies.U. of Texas at Austin
“Professor Morrisett’s death is a tragedy,” the university’s president, Gregory L. Fenves, said in a statement on Thursday. “We support his family and loved ones as they grieve during this time. We recognize these are difficult times on campus and the university will offer all the support we can to students, faculty and staff members.”
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Richard A. Morrisett, a pharmacy professor whose felony conviction prompted the University of Texas at Austin to change its policies, was found dead in his home on Thursday, the university announced.
Richard A. Morrisett, a pharmacy professor at the U. of Texas at Austin, was found dead on Thursday. Publicity surrounding his 2016 criminal-assault conviction prompted the university to change some of its policies.U. of Texas at Austin
“Professor Morrisett’s death is a tragedy,” the university’s president, Gregory L. Fenves, said in a statement on Thursday. “We support his family and loved ones as they grieve during this time. We recognize these are difficult times on campus and the university will offer all the support we can to students, faculty and staff members.”
Morrisett pleaded guilty to the felony charge of assaulting his girlfriend in 2016. In January, the Austin American-Statesman revealed that Morrisett was placed on paid administrative leave for only 18 days in response to the conviction, while the university conducted a review. “The review found no relation between how the professor acted in this situation and how he acted on campus, and as a result he was allowed to continue his teaching and lab activities,” the Statesman quoted a university spokesman as saying.
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But the newspaper cited records stating that administrators found that Morrisett, who was tenured, had violated a university policy that requires employees to tell their bosses about criminal charges. He was not disciplined.
After he pleaded guilty, Morrisett was sentenced to four years of community supervision, which the Statesman described as “a kind of probation,” and he was ordered to take a class, participate in counseling, and perform community service. (He declined to comment on the first Statesman article.)
In response to the Statesman investigation, Fenves ordered a review of the university’s policies. That review concluded on Thursday, when the president announced that the university would be stricter in disciplining employees who committed crimes.
“The proposed new processes give the university the ability to take disciplinary action when employee conduct poses a threat to campus safety and security or other campus operations, or contradicts the core values upon which the university is built,” Fenves wrote in a letter to the campus.
Clarification (4/17/2018, 11:26 a.m.): A previous version of this article stated that university employees could now be disciplined solely on the basis of criminal misconduct. Specifically, the university announced that criminal violations would be considered in light of the institution’s code of conduct.
