MassBay Professor Threatens to Sue Student Who Organized Protest

Photo released with the 2011 announcement that Bruce Jackson would receive a Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentor from President Barack Obama.

WELLESLEY, MA - A MassBay Community College professor is threatening legal action against a student who organized a protest last week in response to the school's handling of abuse allegations.

Bruce Jackson, Chair of the Department of Biotechnology and Forensic DNA Science at MassBay, has provided Patch with a letter of intent to sue Greg Gregory for defamation following statements made on a flyer advertising the protest.

"The flyer which I understand was not only posted but read in some classes accuses Dr. Jackson of serious misdeeds which have impugned his reputation and character as well as holding him up to scorn and ridicule on the MBCC campus," Jackson's lawyer, James S. Dilday, wrote in an April 25 letter to Gregory informing him of the pending legal action.

Gregory, the student vice president of academic affairs, accuses Jackson of verbal abuse, including yelling and intimidation, toward students.

Gregory said he coordinated the protest, held April 21 on the Wellesley Hills campus, in response to what he believes to be a lack of action from the administration in addressing its students' concerns.

Though he had not yet received the letter informing him of a potential lawsuit as of Wednesday, Gregory said the action would not shock him.

"It doesn’t surprise me that he uses legal action to basically intimidate again and get these allegations taken off of his name," Gregory said.

Last summer Gregory, then a student in one of Jackson's classes, wrote a letter to the administration detailing alleged incidents of bullying, exclusion and unprofessionalism perpetrated by Jackson toward himself and other students.

In one incident Gregory claims Jackson cautioned that if he did not take classes with the professors Jackson selected, he would not receive a letter of recommendation to a job or college.

The letter was reportedly signed by some of Gregory's fellow students.

A second letter was sent to the administration in the fall from a separate class; though Jackson did not teach these students, they cited several alleged interactions with him leaving them fearful or unwilling to seek his guidance as head of the department.

That letter was also reportedly signed by several students.

According to the flyer posted in advance of the protest, MassBay administrators conducted interviews with Jackson's students and Jackson himself after receiving the first letter and indicated a further review would take place.

The flyer went on to state that after the second letter was sent the Dean of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math met with the entire class to address the issues, but that no further action was taken.

"The administration conducted interviews with students and with [Jackson] and nothing really came about," Gregory told Patch.

On top of detailing the administration's reported response to the allegations, Gregory's flyer also accused him of "abusing his power" and "failing to teach the required course material and falsifying student material for scholarship purposes and recognition."

Though the flyer was written under the MassBay Student Government header, it is not signed by Gregory or other members of the student government.

"What this student is saying is contradictory to the history of Dr. Jackson," James Dilday, Jackson's lawyer, said. "And in fact it was posted while he was away being awarded for mentoring students."

According to Dilday any future lawsuit would be based on claims that Gregory did not obtain approval from the faculty advisor to the student government. He said there is a "strong likelihood" the case will move forward.

"This student needs to understand that you just don’t go out there and demean someone’s character like he did," Dilday said.

John Goldberg, a Harvard Law School professor who teaches about defamation cases, said that if the case were to move forward much scrutiny would be placed on Jackson's status as a public or private figure, as MassBay is a publicly funded community college.

"The main question is whether or not the professor counts as a public figure by being employed by a state institution," Goldberg said. "If you're a public figure and defamed, you have to prove that the person who defamed you said something about you that was false and knew at the time that they were uttering a falsehood, which is a hard standard to meet."

If Jackson is determined to be a private citizen, he has to prove Gregory was negligent in making false statements.

Either way, Goldberg said, the validity of the statements made would be the focus of the case; Jackson would have to address the issues raised in the flyer, which echoed the accusations made in both letters.

"He would have to prove that these complaints were false," Goldberg said.

Gregory said he would welcome the opportunity for Jackson to confront the students' allegations in court. He also told Patch that if a lawsuit is brought he intends to countersue.

Liz Cooper, a spokeswoman for MassBay, wrote in an email, "MassBay has become aware of concerns raised by a small group of students last week. We are actively working with these students to learn more about the specific nature of their concerns and to address any issues that we may identify through this process."

Jackson said he was unable to speak about pending litigation. He is a highly celebrated professor at the college with a storied history of success as department head. Since 1996, the Biotechnology program has produced 21 Goldwater Scholars, the highest honor granted to undergraduates in the science, mathematics and engineering fields nationwide; many have attributed this success to Jackson.

Jackson received a Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentor in 2011 and the Council on Undergraduate Research Goldwater Scholars Faculty Mentor Award in 2015. He has also collaborated with PBS as part of its "Secret Life of Scientists and Engineers" program.

Jackson's students are not alone in claiming the department head mistreated them; one of his colleagues, Chandrakant Pansé, accused Jackson of bullying him in front of Pansé's class.

Pansé, who teaches biotechnology, chemistry and biochemistry, said that in one class, while attempting to demonstrate a piece of equipment, Jackson walked in and started yelling at him.

"My firsthand experience was not particularly pleasant or something that you could call professional behavior," Pansé said. "The worst part of all of this is the college sort of goes out of its way to protect him."

Pansé himself previously filed suit against MassBay, in which he referred to the college president as "a reject from Montana," accused several defendants of lying and stated that the Office of the Attorney General was "unethical" and participated in "repeated misconduct," according to Massachusetts Legal Resources website.

The link to the site was provided to Patch by Jackson with no knowledge that Pansé had been interviewed.

Photo via PRNewswire