Former Ohio State professor who abruptly resigned appeals for her job back, citing psychosis

Jessica Orozco, Danny Fogarty
Fri, 01 Apr 2022 21:53:01 +0000
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Angela Bryant, a former tenured sociology professor is fighting for a job back, after she resigned from Ohio State Newark in the midst of a manic episode. Credit: Courtesy of Angela Bryant

On Nov. 11, 2020, Angela Bryant sent a profane email to Ryan King, then-chair of the Department of Sociology, abruptly resigning from her position as a tenured sociology professor at the Newark campus of Ohio State.?

King accepted her resignation. Then, nearly two weeks later and while involuntarily hospitalized for bipolar disorder, Bryant said she requested her job back but was denied.

Bryant said she sent in her resignation in the midst of a manic episode and has since been fighting for her job back. She said she was devastated when her request to rescind her resignation was denied.

“I don’t think I can really convey how crushing it was in the middle of me trying to deal with it,” Bryant said. “I’m also being dragged through a court process to see if they need to keep me in the hospital or how long they need to keep me, so it was overwhelming.”

University spokesperson Ben Johnson said the university cannot comment on an individual employment matter.

“Ohio State is committed to supporting the health and well being of our faculty, staff and students,” Johnson said in an email. “While the university takes individual privacy concerns seriously and cannot comment further on this specific case, the Ohio Civil Rights Commission has affirmed Ohio State’s handling of the matter.”

Bipolar disorder is a mental illness that causes intense shifts in mood, energy, concentration, activity levels and the ability to perform daily tasks, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. People with bipolar disorder can experience mania, in which they partake in uncharacteristic behaviors.

During a manic episode, an individual may experience psychosis, in which they have hallucinations and delusions, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.

According to records obtained by The Lantern, Bryant filed a complaint Jan. 22, 2021, with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission after her resignation went into effect. In a Dec. 16, 2021, report, the commission dismissed her complaint, saying Bryant was unable to establish that the university discriminated against her on the basis of disability, thus her claim was “without merit.”?

According to the report, the university did not know Bryant was “incapacitated from taking actions on her own.”

“[Bryant] had ended the employee/employer relationship,” the report stated. “Her request was not to make a change to the job so she could perform the duties, but to revive a relationship with her employer that had ended.”

In December of 2019, Bryant began to experience mental health issues, according to a complaint she submitted Jan. 20, 2021, to the Committee on Academic Freedom and Responsibility. Bryant said this led to her hospitalization in January 2020 and a diagnosis of both bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.

“What happened at the same time was what I thought was a panic attack, which I ended up finding out was an episode of mania,” Bryant said.

Following the diagnosis, Bryant was hospitalized multiple times during the spring of 2020, before she was excused from teaching for the remainder of the semester, according to the Jan. 20 complaint.

Bryant said in the complaint that her condition improved for a time but worsened during the fall of 2020. She said she sought assistance from the university by filing for leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act, but she struggled to submit the necessary documentation and the request was denied.

“My colleagues and human resources representatives were fully aware that I was struggling — possibly more than I myself was aware at the time,” Bryant said in the Jan. 20 complaint.

Niles Johnson, an associate professor in the Department of Mathematics at Newark campus, said in an email he supports Bryant’s reinstatement. He said while he did not work with her directly, he has seen the impact of her work on the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program.

Niles Johnson said Bryant often spoke up for minority and underrepresented groups — namely about how the university’s work would impact students during faculty meetings.

“It is a tremendous loss when she is not a part of our work,” Niles Johnson said.

On Nov. 9, 2020, just one day before Bryant sent her resignation email, she said she experienced extreme mania during a psychiatry appointment.

Kevin Truitt, legal advocacy director of Disability Rights Ohio — a nonprofit that advocates for the rights of people with disabilities — said employers are required to reasonably accommodate their employees with accommodation needs on file.

Truitt said mental disorders like bipolar disorder, depression and schizophrenia that substantially impair an individual’s ability to perform daily activities are considered disabilities, according to the Americans with Disabilities Act.

“There are high rates of unemployment and exclusion from workplaces and discrimination amongst people with disabilities, especially people with psychiatric disabilities,” Truitt said. “Those legal principles under the ADA are very important so people with psychiatric disabilities can be part of our workplaces and part of our communities.”

Ben Johnson said the university offers accommodations to employees with long- and short-term disabilities, providing equal opportunities to all.?

“In recent years, the university has also streamlined its oversight and administration of these important programs and policies,” Johnson said. “Individuals with concerns about an accommodation are encouraged to contact the Office of Institutional Equity, which provides oversight of disability services and investigates all allegations of discrimination.”

Following her resignation email and subsequent requests to be reinstated, King and Bill MacDonald, dean of Newark campus, denied Bryant after she explained how she sent the resignation email during a hyper-manic episode in which she was experiencing psychosis, she said. Bryant said she believes the university may have used her email as an excuse to get rid of her, as she had made them aware of her mental health struggles.

“Dr. King doesn’t even sit on that (decision to accept the resignation), to kind of have a phone conversation, maybe with a couple people, about what’s going on, or when my colleagues are notifying and trying to talk to them about it,” Bryant said.

After its investigation of the matter, the Faculty Hearing Committee — a group that considers faculty appeals — issued a letter Feb. 24, written or endorsed by 14 university professors, to President Kristina M. Johnson and Executive Vice President and Provost Melissa L. Gilliam. It requested that Bryant be reinstated.

The letter stated following Bryant’s sudden resignation, neither King nor MacDonald inquired about Bryant’s mental state, despite Bryant’s practicing nurse practitioner, Nicole McCrackin, informing the university Dec. 18, 2021, that the former professor was “incompetent to evaluate the consequences of submitting a formal resignation to her employer.”

“We are deeply troubled by the overall lack of compassion and concern exhibited in this case,” the committee’s letter stated.

Bryant said she is being treated for her mental illnesses and has not obtained another job, due to her fight to regain hers at Ohio State.

“I want people to know how much I miss my students and how much I love my job,” Bryant said.