NEWARK — For the first time in its nearly 130-year history, New Jersey Institute of Technology's trustees have stripped a faculty member of tenure and fired him, citing ethics violations, school officials said.

David Hawk, a former top NJIT dean, was dismissed last week in the latest move in a lengthy and bitter legal fight between the Newark school and the veteran professor.

NJIT accused Hawk of abusing his power as dean, hiring a woman he lived with for a job and changing a business colleague’s grade from an “F” to an “A,” according to legal documents. Hawk denied the charges and filed a lawsuit in 2011 accusing the university of unfairly suspending him from his $175,400-a-year job after he fell out of favor with top school officials.

Last week’s unprecedented vote by the board of trustees came after a lengthy probe by a retired judge hired by NJIT to do an independent investigation.

“The independent hearing officer found that Professor Hawk violated the ethics laws, gave false testimony and manufactured evidence. After scrutinizing the record, the board of trustees voted to de-tenure,” said Matthew Golden, an NJIT spokesman.

Hawk, 68, said he did nothing wrong in his 30 years at NJIT and his firing was the result of years of false allegations by campus officials. He vowed to take the case back to court.



"I'm pursuing this because I like the students at NJIT," said Hawk, of Flanders. "The students have asked me to keep pursuing this forever."

It is rare for universities to attempt the costly and time-consuming process of stripping a faculty member of tenure. Tenure is given to professors to help guarantee academic freedom and protect faculty members from being fired for political reasons or without cause.

Hawk, an expert in international business, holds a doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. He won several teaching awards and other honors while holding a series of academic and administrative posts at NJIT over three decades. He also served as an adviser to IBM, Nokia and other companies.

He was appointed dean of NJIT’s School of Management, but served less than three years in the post before he was asked to step down in 2008 by then-NJIT President Robert Altenkirch.

According to legal documents, NJIT banned Hawk from campus in 2009 and began investigating a series of allegations he misused his power as dean and misspent campus funds.

Among the most serious charges was an allegation Hawk failed to disclose he had a personal relationship with a professor he recommended for a tenured teaching post at NJIT. The dean denied he had a romantic relationship with the woman, though they were close friends and she lived with his family for a time.

In another case, NJIT officials accused Hawk of changing a business colleague’s grade from an “F” to an “A” without the professor’s knowledge. Hawk said he was correcting a bureaucratic error for a student, who he knew from his work at IBM, after she was incorrectly given an “F” for incomplete work in the course.

The independent investigation into the case found there was not enough evidence to prove nearly all of the allegations against Hawk. In a 60-page report issued in August, former Superior Court judge William Dreier said he held 30 days of hearings and reviewed hundreds of pages of documents. He concluded only the charge that could be proven was the allegation Hawk helped get a friend hired at NJIT without disclosing their relationship. Dreier said the trustees were within their rights to strip Hawk’s tenure for the ethical violation because it violated state ethics laws.

But the board could also consider a lesser punishment, including a suspension, “considering the many talents and benefits Hawk has brought to the faculty of NJIT and could continue to bring in the future,” Dreier wrote.

Hawk said he was given three minutes to speak at last Thursday’s hearing before the NJIT trustees voted to remove his tenure and dismiss him.

“There is an awful lot of anger at NJIT and I’m not sure why,” Hawk said. “The meeting on Thursday was a very angry meeting.”

Hawk and his attorney, Andrew Bondarowicz, allege NJIT spent nearly $5 million on legal fees and other costs associated with his case. Golden, NJIT’s spokesman, denied the costs were that high, but declined to provide an estimate of what the public university has spent.

"While this was clearly an administrative law matter, Professor Hawk filed separate lawsuits that were both properly dismissed. He also filed appeal after appeal, all of which were denied, compelling NJIT to defend frivolous allegations,” Golden said. “Nevertheless, Professor Hawk’s contention that NJIT spent $5 million on this matter is grossly inaccurate."

Hawk, who had not been paid by NJIT since 2010, said he has been supporting himself with income from a 1,500-acre farm he owns in Iowa. He said he also serves as an unpaid adviser to foreign companies and a Native American tribe, taking no pay so his legal case against NJIT would not be compromised.

Now that he has been fired, Hawk said he plans to work on a book about the U.S. legal system, using his case as an example.

“The working title is ‘Injustice for All,’” Hawk said.

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