Procedural Asymmetry: Dr. Bradley Foerster Directly Challenges SACUA Outside Counsel Bruce Wallace’s Role in His 5.09 Proceedings — No Reply Reflected in the Record (2019)
Academic Freedom, Faculty Governance, and SACUA’s Outside Counsel
Tenure protects more than continued employment. It safeguards academic freedom, which is why the process for dismissing a tenured faculty member places particular importance on faculty governance, fairness, and procedural safeguards.
SACUA’s own Overview expressly incorporated the “faculty perspective of academic freedom” into the 5.09 framework and charged SACUA with ensuring that hearings were “fair to all parties” and that Bylaw 5.09 procedures were followed.
The procedural asymmetry did not end with outside counsel representing the administration. It extended to the outside attorneys retained to advise SACUA itself.
The SACUA Overview addressed attorney participation in a single conditional sequence:
“In those cases where the faculty member has retained an attorney to represent him or her in the 5.09 proceedings, the Office of the General Counsel will represent the administration during the proceedings.”
It immediately continued:
“In these cases, the University should hire an external attorney who will advise SACUA and the Tenure Committee on matters of process and procedure (i.e., not on the substance of any alleged conduct by the faculty member).”
Dr. Bradley Foerster had not retained an attorney. He represented himself. Nevertheless, Bruce Wallace and Angela Jackson of Hooper Hathaway served as outside counsel to SACUA.
Mr. Tukel represented Dean Marschall Runge and the administration. Mr. Wallace and Ms. Jackson advised the faculty-governance body responsible for reviewing fairness and procedural compliance.
May 26, 2019: Dr. Foerster Challenges SACUA Outside Counsel’s Role
On May 26, 2019, after receiving the SACUA Review Committee’s May 24 decision, Dr. Foerster wrote directly to Mr. Wallace, copying Ms. Jackson and Mr. Tukel. He also provided Mr. Wallace with the detailed letter he was simultaneously sending to Mr. Tukel.
Dr. Foerster asked Mr. Wallace to explain how he had advised the SACUA Review Committee that the underlying Ad Hoc Committee proceedings had been conducted appropriately and in accordance with Bylaw 5.09.
He then challenged the basis for Mr. Wallace’s own participation:
“Also, can you please clarify under what jurisdiction you were operating as an advisor to the SACUA as once again, there is no provision for an external attorney if I was not represented by legal counsel?”
The SACUA Overview described outside counsel to SACUA “in these cases”—immediately after describing cases in which the affected faculty member had retained an attorney. Dr. Foerster had not.
Dr. Foerster also challenged Mr. Wallace on process and procedure, the role SACUA’s Overview expressly assigned outside counsel. He asked why Mr. Wallace had “never clarified the procedures before the SACUA Review Committee Hearing despite repeated communications” to him. He also questioned the timing of the Review hearing and asked Mr. Wallace to confirm that evidence requested by the Review Committee had entered the record.
Dr. Foerster also wrote that his mother-in-law, Maria Petrou, had visited Mr. Wallace’s office after Dr. Foerster had been unable to reach him regarding the Review. According to the letter, Ms. Petrou reported that Mr. Wallace said he had been:
“instructed not to communicate with [Brad Foerster].”
Dr. Foerster asked who, if anyone, had instructed Mr. Wallace not to communicate with him, noting that prior communications concerning the SACUA Review had specifically directed Dr. Foerster to communicate with Mr. Wallace. He also allowed for the possibility that Ms. Petrou had misunderstood the statement.
The documentary record reviewed for this post reflects no subsequent response from Mr. Wallace answering the May 26 letter.
May 26, 2019 Letter to Bruce Wallace
The complete May 26, 2019 letter from Dr. Bradley Foerster to Mr. Wallace is reproduced below.
5.09 Documentary Chronology
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Brad Foerster, MD PhD
Brad Foerster is a FOIA advocate documenting requests, transparency disputes, and accountability investigations involving public agencies, universities, police oversight, and Russia-Gate related inquiries. His work compiles original documents, timelines, and analysis of public records and institutional responses. Brad is also a board-certified radiologist, author of Town & Gown, and has published over 40 peer-reviewed articles. Brad lives in Potomac, Maryland with his family and is a member of the Montgomery County Medical Society and the Takoma Park U.S. & World History Book Club.