By Paul Elmendorf
Dr. John Wrazen has filed a grievance against Johnson State College and is challenging his dismissal from the school. Wrazen was dismissed from his duties as professor of environmental and health sciences in late January after being placed on paid administrative leave for the duration of the fall 2009 semester.
The professor had been at the college for 28 years prior to his dismissal, which stemmed from the closing of the Johnson State College animal lab last August.
According to the veterinary report filed after the lab was inspected, Wrazen had neglected his duties as caretaker of the lab animals.
Wrazen refutes this claim. “I was actually in every day, seven days a week, for at least an hour a day,” said Wrazen. He says his summer employment kept him from being seen by many on campus. “During the summer I also work at Smuggler’s Notch as program head for nature and hiking. So, I was coming in early in the morning, say, between five and seven a.m.,” he said.
He claims to have already been in the lab the morning of Aug. 4, 2009, the day that Dean of Administration Sharron Scott was notified of an acrid odor coming from the lab.
“When I came in the day after this event, the lock was changed on the animal lab, so I was denied access by reason of not being able to get past the lock.” As for what he did next, he said he could not comment.
According to Wrazen, he was subsequently banned from the campus until November. He needed to contact Public Safety to remove his office materials, which had been placed in storage.
Vermont State College Grievance Officer Russell Mills filed a grievance with the Vermont Labor Relations Board on Wrazen’s behalf on Jan. 4, 2010.
Even though he wasn’t dismissed until later that month, Wrazen filed his grievance based on information he had from shortly after the closing of the animal lab. “The president had notified me that she was contemplating disciplinary action in either August or September … I took that through the grievance process,” said Wrazen.
President Barbara Murphy declined to comment on the issue, citing via email that, “The constraint is, simply, that I don’t comment on personnel matters.”
If Wrazen wins his grievance, he says that he is open to returning to the college. “That will depend on the outcome of the grievance. The particular details of the decision would determine whether or not I come back to the college. As I said in the letter [to the JSC community (pg. 6)], I do miss it and [would] seriously consider being back at the college.”
As for his plans if he doesn’t win, “I’m not thinking about that, I’m focusing on the grievance,” Wrazen said.
On Dec. 22, 2009, Wrazen pled no lo contendere to charges of importing and stocking wild animals without a permit at his home in Franklin County. He said, “I simply wasn’t aware that I needed permits for animals from the pet store.”
He says that the plea was a reflection of his ignorance for the law that he broke.
According to Wrazen, most of the animals that he kept at his home were confiscated by Fish and Wildlife, and he is unaware of their whereabouts.
The only animals he has left are turkeys and chickens, which he keeps as pets.
