By Emily Wunderlich and Anna Bryson
Upset by a story in this week’s Crow’s Nest, a foreign languages professor repeatedly removed stacks of the paper from racks around campus and dumped them in nearby trash cans.
Frederic Leveziel, coordinator of the World Languages Program and a faculty member since 2012, has acknowledged the thefts to campus police and university administrators and apologized to the newspaper staff, which will not press criminal charges.
“I recently made a very poor decision,” Leveziel said in an email to The Crow’s Nest on Dec. 1. “I was upset by an article which contained inaccurate assertions by a former faculty member and I did not react appropriately.
“I apologize to the staff of The Crow’s Nest and the USF St. Petersburg community for my actions and take full responsibility for them.”
The lead story in this week’s issue reported the abrupt resignation of adjunct Spanish instructor Maria Perez on Nov. 13, with only three weeks left in the semester.
The story also reported that, in Canvas messages to students in her classes, Perez had criticized her bosses in the World Languages Program as abusive and racist. In one message, she singled out Leveziel and French professor Martine F. Wagner by name.
The story noted that Leveziel had taken over all four of Perez’s classes. He did not respond to several emails and phone messages from The Crow’s Nest seeking comment for that story.
Crow’s Nest editor-in-chief Whitney Elstrom said that, after speaking with Leveziel, the newspaper staff decided not to press charges.
“We saw that he recognized the severity of his actions and deeply regretted them,” she said. “We understand that he was under an immense amount of stress after taking on professor Perez’s classes, and that the content in the story caused him anxiety.”
Regional Chancellor Martin Tadlock expressed the university’s disappointment in a statement.
“Like many on campus, we were dismayed by the removal of copies of The Crow’s Nest because we strongly value freedom of the press,” Tadlock said. “The University Police Department has conducted a thorough investigation and turned over the results to the university administration for further review. It is now a personnel matter and will be handled accordingly.”
The Crow’s Nest filed a complaint with campus police on Nov. 26, the day papers began disappearing from racks.
Elfstrom said papers were removed from racks in the parking garage, Lowell E. Davis Memorial Hall and The Campus Grind. Virtually all of them wound up in trash cans nearby.
The Crow’s Nest staff quickly refilled the racks, she said, but thefts continued. Over the next three days, the staff had to refill the rack in the parking garage four times and in Davis Hall three times.
The Student Press Law Center, a nonprofit in Washington, D.C., that supports and advises student journalists around the country, says vandalism and theft of student newspapers is a national problem. It is also a crime, the center says.
Campus police at USF St. Petersburg used surveillance video to identify Leveziel as a suspect. Because the papers that were trashed have an estimated value of $200 in paper and printing costs, the professor could have been charged with petty theft, police said.
Under Florida law, petty theft – called petit theft in the statutes – typically involves the theft of property valued at less than $300. It is a misdemeanor, with penalties that can include time in county jail, probation, community service and restitution.
Leveziel is an assistant professor of French and Spanish who came to USF St. Petersburg in 2012.
He was born in France and lived for years in Spain, according to his profile on the World Languages Program website. He has a bachelor’s in Spanish from Universite de Caen in France, a master’s in French from Washington University in St. Louis, and a doctorate in modern languages from Middlebury College.
In this country, he has taught in four states, won teacher awards and published in the fields of Spanish and French film studies, according to the profile.
The Crow’s Nest requested Leveziel’s personnel file Nov. 30, but university spokeswoman Carrie O’Brion said it was not immediately available.
“As a professor, Leveziel’s behavior sets a dangerous precedent,” Elfstrom said. “Censorship is never an acceptable action when someone doesn’t agree with a story. We want to emphasize that there are better ways for readers to voice their disagreements with what we print.
“We invite anyone with comments or concerns to come directly to us or write a letter to the editor.”
This series of events, beginning with the departure of Professor Perez is a sad reminder that everyone makes mistakes. No matter how seasoned or brilliant an individual might be, each of us can reflect on a situation in which we did something stupid, rash or impulsive. There are two events in this chronicle that give me pause and make me proud to be a member of the USFSP community.
The first is the courage and integrity of Dr. Leveziel in making a public admission of guilt and expressing remorse for his behavior. He did the right thing, even though the consequences of doing the right thing were quite painful in terms of public humiliation and embarrassment. For him, the lingering impact of this will not be over by the next publication of the Crow’s Nestor even in the next semester. The second event is that the members of the Crow’s Nest met his apology with compassion and forgiveness, laying the issue to rest.
All too often, circumstances like this cause people to blame, attack and stand in “moral indignation”. Thank you Dr. Leveziel and the Crow’s Nest for showing us the “high road”.
I wish someone had stood up for me as a student when having serious issues with an instructor. He was super careful about what he did and would never admit to anything.