Documentation to "My Case"

September 22, 2003


Dr. Shirley Strum Kenny, President
The Office of the President
Administration Building, Room 310
State University of New York at Stony Brook
Stony Brook, NY 11794-0701


Dear Dr. Kenny:

I have no choice but to appeal to you the decision by the Provost, Dr. Robert L. McGrath, not to intervene on my behalf. Enclosed is my letter to the Provost dated September 8, 2003, with the supporting documentation, and his response. The letter details a long-lasting pattern of abuse directed against me by the senior faculty members of the Department of Geosciences, which, I believe, represents a serious violation of my civil rights. This is the same kind of abuse that, I am sure, this fine University would not tolerate if it were directed against women or minorities.

Although I agree with the Provost that the rather humiliating terms of my employment as an employee of the Research Foundation do not provide me any guarantee of employment retention, the issue is not the terms of my employment but rather the most basic right of any employee to remain mentally and physically healthy at work. Instead, for 15 years, since 1988, I have been exposed to mobbing, a form of bullying in the workplace, that involves hostile and unethical behavior by several individuals against one individual, and could lead to profound legal, social, economic and mental consequences for that individual. In this type of conflict, the victim is subjected to a systematic, stigmatizing process and encroachment on his or her civil rights (e.g. http://www.leymann.se/English/frame.html), in my case by four departmental bullies, Liebermann, Weidner, Lindsley and Hanson, and two outside bullies, Navrotsky and Walker. This abuse is still taking place even at present, because the bullies are actively involved in sabotaging all my efforts to find suitable employment, or to secure funds for my research. If the mobbing process lasts a number of years, as in my case, it could cause post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), permanent mental injury, and even lead to suicides. It is, therefore, difficult to comprehend why, after a thorough scrutiny of the material that I had submitted, the Provost could not find any evidence to substantiate my charges.

I have also supplied the documentation showing that, in order to isolate me, the bullies attacked a number of other employees and students, who had the misfortune to become closely associated with me. Particularly appalling was the attack on a student that I had attracted to the Department, Jozsef Garai. Even the possibility that the bullies would use a student as a pawn in their scheming against me warrants a full investigation and, if confirmed, should be a ground for dismissal. Yet, the Provost felt comfortable ignoring even this evidence of the kind of behavior by the senior faculty members of the Department that is, in my view, quite despicable. One has to wonder just what kind of evidence and what kind of behavior would compel this Provost to act.

I have reasons to suspect that I am not the only one but just the latest victim of this kind of unethical behavior. After all, the bullies are the survivors, the winners of the vicious departmental wars that go back as far as I can remember. Having experienced this type of attacks, I see now clearly that the history of the Department is littered with their former victims, distinguished faculty members, who were forced to leave, or finished their tenure in misery and oblivion. This is because the University has not been paying attention to this kind of abuse, and even now, as evident in the non-action by the Provost, has the policy of ignoring rather than preventing this type of conflicts.

Since all four departmental bullies have recently become Distinguished Professors or Distinguished Service Professors, the least the University should do is to reevaluate whether they deserved the honor. I firmly believe that, on the basis of the information that I have provided, the University has no choice but to initiate a full investigation and disciplinary action against the four senior members of the Department of Geosciences, which potentially may, because of the gravity of the charges, result in their dismissal. I also expect a more detailed explanation for the inaction by the Provost than that provided in his letter to me. Please, let me know, when you will initiate the disciplinary hearings, and when will I be asked to testify.

I hope that you consider my complaint with the utmost seriousness it deserves, and thank you for your attention on this matter. Please confirm receiving this communication.


Sincerely yours,



Tibor Gasparik
Research Associate Professor


Cc.: Robert L. McGrath