Hopes of a detente between feuding Wayne State University factions in 2020 have seemed to fade as quickly as a series of recent emails could be sent.

The emails, sent by Wayne State President Roy Wilson, two board members and a Detroit radio talk show host/newspaper columnist, show the deep divide that still exists on the board, which has been mired in a war of words and indecisiveness for more than a year over the professional fate of Wilson. The emails are at times a plea for peace, harsh accusation, charges of racism and staunch defenses of positions taken.

They bash the notion that tempers are cooling off at Wayne State.

The board will gather publicly for the first time since December on Friday. While the agenda for the meeting seems routine and tame, the tone of recent emails suggests things could be tense.

Battle lines drawn

The battle lines haven't really changed since the dispute began last January. On the side of getting rid of Wilson are Michael Busuito, Sandra Hughes O'Brien, Dana Thompson and Anil Kumar. Board members Marilyn Kelly, Bryan Barnhill and Mark Gaffney are supportive of Wilson. Shirley Stancato, the newest board member recently appointed by the governor, has yet to cast any votes, but has been supportive of Wilson in her comments.

While Wilson's continued employment is the most visible item at stake, the real struggle is over who is in control of the school's future. The battle has already had impact — at the December board meeting, the board deadlocked on a number of business items that might have been routine in normal times. Those items are back on the agenda for Friday's meeting. It's unknown whether the anti-Wilson board members will again vote against them in a protest of Wilson and his administration. The board controls the budget and also has to approve various policy changes.

The recent dustup — it's hard to know how many rounds this fight has already gone or has left to go — kicked off with a letter to the editor, publishedearlier this month in Crain's Detroit Business. Dwight Monson, who worked as a consultant hired by Wilson to help move the medical school's affiliation from the Detroit Medical Center to the Henry Ford Health System, wrote the letter. The med school affiliation with Henry Ford initially was approved by vote, but the four anti-Wilson board members later canceled it.

In his letter, published Jan. 19, Monson first went after board member Busuito, saying Busuito's opposition to Wilson was revenge for being removed as the board chair of the WSU Physician Group in 2016. Monson then went after board member Thompson and her husband, Bankole Thompson, a former employee of WDET, the university's public radio station, and currently a columnist at the Detroit News.

"The employment contract of Dana Thompson's husband was not renewed by a WSU-sponsored organization (WDET) during Wilson's administration," Monson wrote. "While not familiar with all of the particulars, it would appear Thompson may have a personal conflict of interest in objectively evaluating the president's performance."

Monson, who could not be reached for this report, also attacked board member Hughes O'Brien for a recent Higher Learning Commission investigation that found she was trying to run various departments in the university and overstepping her role.

"As we approach a new election cycle, I hope Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and others charged with screening and vetting candidates to sit on state boards will do a better job of identifying individuals who understand their role as board members and respect the role of management," the letter said.

Letter sparks reaction

That letter got board members talking — and not in nice terms. The following day, Wilson tried to put out the fire, starting by acknowledging that some were questioning whether he or his staff helped Monson with his letterto Crain's. Wilson told the Free Press that board chairwoman Marilyn Kelly urged him to writeto board members.

"Just want to set the record straight — I knew nothing of Dwight's article until I came upon it during my routine Sunday perusal of various newspapers," Wilson wrote in an email to the board. "I was surprised by it and wish Dwight had not taken that action."

Wilson told the board he hadn't talked to Monson in almost a year. He also said Michael Wright, the university's chief of staff, didn't know about the letter until Bankole Thompson called him. Wilson said Wright described that call as "accusatory and deeply threatening."

"I assure all of you I have no interest in this battle continuing to drag on, privately or publicly," Wilson wrote. "No one wins, we all look bad, and the institution ultimately loses."

Board members fire back

The next day, a flurry of emails attacking Wilson and Monson came flying back in response. Busuito, from the anti-Wilson side, bemoaned that things hadn't improved with the appointment of board member Stancato.

"Just as this Board is beginning to show signs of healing with Shirley's influence, (the consultant) throws a media firebomb and attacks Sandy, Dana and myself," wrote Busuito to Wilson and other members. "Wilson's response is to deny knowledge of the attack. I don't believe that for one second. ... He expects us to believe that Monson threw him under the bus after Monson made a fortune off of us and left Detroit describing Wilson in superlatives. You can decide for yourself. As for me, Wilson must leave."

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Dana Thompson waded into the fray the next day, responding to Wilson:

"Unfortunately, because Monson's talking points about me are those that some of my colleagues have told me that you have said about me throughout my time on the board to discredit me, your words ring hollow," she wrote, adding that she knows Wilson believes her decisions are controlled by her husband.

"Nothing is further from the truth," she wrote. "This is insulting, disrespectful and seems to be driven by a belief that an educated, professional and accomplished Black woman can't possibly make her own decisions. Let me set the record straight that all decisions I've made as a board member about WDET and all other issues concerning WSU are based on my own judgments, beliefs and ethical standard and NOT my husband's."

Thompson, a law school professor at the University of Michigan, reminded Wilson of her career as an attorney at a large international law firm, an international land conservation organization and law school professor. She said she made decisions in those jobs by herself and does the same at Wayne State.

"I know that as a University Board member and one with a fiduciary responsibility to the University, it is my job to ask questions of, provide support to and demand accountability of the Administration. This has proven to be a sticking point for you."

Husband joins fray

Shortly after his wife's email, Bankole Thompson also respondedto Wilson. His email disputed that he threatened Wright.

"Because I have a history with Michael Wright and you going back to our WDET days, I simply told him that I know there are folks around Wayne State who want to include me in the ongoing WSU mess. ... I told Michael to tell you that if my name and WDET appear anywhere then I will go public and let the world know why I left WDET.

"Most white people like Michael Wright quickly use 'threat' as a defense mechanism when they cannot stand the forceful and courageous nature of black people who speak truth to power. Michael Wright, as a privileged white man who serves as chief of staff in a major urban university in the largest blackest city in America, can NEVER put himself in my position and it explains why he used the word 'possessed' and 'angry' during my phone conversation with him yesterday afternoon to characterize my call to him."

Wright said Bankole Thompson is way off base.

"When Mr. Thompson called me, he was very upset about the Crain's letter, but at the time I had no idea what he was talking about," Wright said in a statement to the Free Press. "This email is similar in language and tone to others I have received from Mr. Thompson in the past. Though I typically refrain from responding, I find his implications regarding my character unwarranted and repugnant. I believe my record and character speak for themselves, and I have no intention of engaging further with Mr. Thompson on this."

Bankole Thompson left WDET because there was a "sustained and engineered campaign" to make Stephen Henderson, who since 2015 has hosted a show on WDET and was a Detroit Free Press editor and columnist, as the "sole dominant voice," according to his email.

"The letter on Sunday deliberately left my name out and left WDET out as well. I understand why it was done in that sly way. And I think somebody is overplaying their hand here. If anybody knows me, they know I love nothing but a good fight for justice and equality for black people.

"The bottom line is like James Baldwin, I was not WDET's negro. I am nobody's slave. I am my own man. I don't need a white man — or any white man for that manner — like Dwight Monson to talk about me. I don't know him but somebody obviously has put him up to this.

"Everything that I said in this email, I will be proud to repeat publicly and stand behind it."

He did that in an email to the Free Press.

"The only reason I can think of is that this is a failed disaccreditation attempt. As a veteran of the media, I understand very well how stories are sometimes planted in the press. Someone at Wayne has been trying unsuccessfully to use their influence to plant a story since last year but never succeeded. The most they could do was the recent letter to the editor, which referenced me to cast a shadow of doubt."

Wilson has no intention of leaving

The board has been fighting for more than a year and is split 4-4.

Much of the fighting has centered on the medical school and Wilson's plan to move the medical school's primary partnership from the Detroit Medical Center to Henry Ford Health Systems.

The medical school and the DMC have feuded for more than a decade, and Wayne State, guided by Wilson, has sought to find a new partner. Wilson and his supporters have been upset with the level of funding the medical school was receiving from the DMC for research and medical education, something for which an oversight board also has knocked the DMC.

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As part of the fight, University Pediatricians, a private care doctors practice, left its primary partnership with Wayne State and moved to Central Michigan University.

In addition to opposing the Henry Ford deal, O'Brien, Busuito and Thompson blistered Wilson in March at a public meeting, calling Wilson unfit to serve and asking him to resign.

Then, in November, the four anti-Wilson members used a committee meeting to "fire" Wilson. But Wilson and other board members have said the vote wasn't valid and he has stayed in his job since.

He said he has no intention to leave and hopes the board and his administration can work together.

"We have so many great things happening at Wayne State, and much more university business that needs to be conducted," he said in a statement to the Free Press. "These were internal Board communications that were provided to the press. It’s regrettable that some people continue to try and stir up controversy that distracts us from this important work.

"I will continue to try my best to work with the board, and I am hopeful that each board member will do the same."

Contact David Jesse: 313-222-8851 or djesse@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter: @reporterdavidj