Emporia State requested for an Oct. 25 hearing on a district court case for seven professors terminated during the 2022 implementation of ESU’s Workforce Management Framework to be rescheduled according to Director of Marketing + Media Relations Gwen Larson.
In 2023, the Office of Administrative Hearings ruled that professors Lynnette Sievert, Dan Colson, Rob Catlett, Michael Behrens, Amanda Miracle, Charles Emmer and Michael Morales be reinstated at ESU. Documents filed with the Lyon County District Court show that the OAH concluded that the University’s decision for termination had “unfounded motivation” and were therefore “arbitrary and capricious.” The OAH also argued that ESU lacked reasoning and their decisions did not coincide with the approved framework.
After the decision for reinstatement, ESU filed a petition challenging the rulings. Petition for Review documents submitted by Dean cite misapplication of law by Judges Jennifer Barton, Sandra Sharon and James Ward who overturned the dismissals.
Larson said the lawyer representing ESU, Paul Edward Dean of Putnam & Dean LLC., asked for the scheduled hearing to be reset due to “an unavoidable calendar conflict” with a multi-day jury trial.
Dean requested a delay “of only one or two weeks” but the Court rescheduled the hearing for January, according to Larson. Court records indicate that the hearing is currently slated for Jan. 24, 2025.
“Because the new hearing date would result in an additional three-month delay, and because ESU does not believe the hearing will provide additional substantive information to the court, ESU intends to request that the court consider issuing a ruling based upon the briefs filed by the parties,” said Larson.
It is unclear what the exact circumstances of the scheduling conflict are. A spokesperson for the Lyon County Clerk of the District Court’s office also indicated that she understood the cancellation of the Oct. 25 hearing was due to a scheduling conflict with visiting Judge Courtney Boehm out of the 8th Judicial District. Boehm is overseeing the case.
The spokesperson also indicated that the date slated for January is incorrect. She said the Court is currently waiting on Judge Boehm’s schedule to reschedule the hearing.
