An Open Letter to President Wilson, Provost Clabo, and the Board of Governors of Wayne State University

 

We, the organizing body of students, WSU Students for Action, are current and former students of COE’s Division of Theoretical and Behavioral Foundations (TBF). As students of the University, we hereby express our profound disappointment with the University’s lack of response to student complaints of racial discrimination and psychological abuse by tenured professor of Educational Psychology Dr. Cheryl Somers and assistant clinical professor of Educational Psychology, Dr. Lauren Mangus. The COE's administration has done all they can to support our student organizing efforts, but it is time for the university to acknolwedge the harm and work swiftly to remediate the situation. For years, Cheryl Somers has verbally and psychologically abused students and contributed to a culture of fear and intimidation, while perpetuating cycles of abuse. Her colleague, former doctoral mentee, and close personal friend Lauren Mangus, has also contributed to a hostile and racist division climate, violated personal and professional boundaries, and most recently, has denied students equal educational opportunities on the basis of race.

 

The College of Education faculty hold substantial power and sway over those who learn from them, work for them, and seek their counsel and advice in pursuit of education and professional advancement. It is imperative that professors employed by the University share the mission as stated on the school’s website to “create and advance knowledge, prepare a diverse student body to thrive, and positively impact local and global communities.” We are not thriving. Because of these two women, we are considering dropping out, changing fields, and seeking psychological services for the harm done. Not only has our education been impacted, but our mental health has suffered as well. 

 

Specifically, we detail below some of the documented instances that have contributed to an unsafe educational space for the diverse students that WSU enrolls. This is not an exhaustive list. Instead, we chose broad themes to make our issues known. 

 

Racism and Racial Discrimination

• Confusing Black students as the wrong students, which has been found to contribute to “othering”, direct quote “oh [student A] I always get you confused with [student B]" while laughing

• Asking inappropriate questions to Black students (e.g. asking a Black student in an interview “how many drugs have you done?” but not posing the question to others (that student did not enroll)

• Offering virtual opportunities for White students during COVID-19 and not to Black students

  • Lying about “everyone” getting the same treatment when the reality is students of color are fairing far worse

 

Sexual Harassment

• Constant critique of student physical appearance for tattoos, clothing choices, style of dress

• Dr. Somers openly discussed inappropriate topics including sex, during work events, and on campus

• Dr. Somers and Dr. Mangus shared intimate details about a student who fell back a cohort year out after getting an abortion, making fun of her with the office door open and staff working in the office, saying she could “pull up her big girl pants.”

• Invoke “professionalism” as a term used to enforce biased and sexist standards of how students should present themselves 

• Meetings set up to discuss “serious concerns” come to be about students wearing jeans

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General Toxicity

• Lack of physical and emotional safety in person and online

• Constant fear of speaking up, speaking out, met with CC’d emails with multiple faculty

• Performative woke-ness while allowing racism from students and faculty to continue (e.g. calling an Asian adoptee a “banana” for being “white on the outside but yellow on the inside” and then laughing it off because “everyone says that about her, she even makes the joke herself”)

• Constant questioning of “who can I trust?” leading to paranoia and severe anxiety

 

Boundary Violations

These two faculty consistently cross professional lines. Their communication and expectations go far beyond the scope of what is appropriate for a teacher, faculty member, or administrator. This line crossing is described below:

• Dr. Somers, after stepping down from her position as Assistant Dean, was inappropriately roped back into the school and community psychology program, with no formal explanation to students about what her role is. She is CC’d on every email, even when shes not on the original email thread, joins meetings to discuss student performance, and teaches graduate classes in the department.

• Emails are sent late at night (past 10 pm) and early in the morning (as early at 5 am) with a sense of urgency that is interpreted with urgency to reply and comply

• Texts and phone calls are placed late at night and early in the morning.

• Hosting students at their homes and taking students out to bars during the work day. Dr. Somers has a history of drinking during those gatherings and has been seen slamming a glass beer bottle down, yelling at people, arguing with waitstaff, screaming into her phone, and more. 

• Dr. Somers was seen twice slapping a student on the arm (she claimed it was a “love swat”).

• When Dr. Somers was put on administrative leave in 2020 for abuse allegations, she used WhatsApp messenger and an unknown phone number to continue contacting students, despite being explicitly told not to have any contact during the investigation. She also used her personal Google Drive folder while being locked out of WSU’s Academica.

 

Over Surveillance 

• Both faculty are clear that, when they are in the office, they know everything that is happening in the division

• Statements made to students including “someone is always listening” and surveilling for attitude, behavior, emotions, peer relations, personal handlings, and coursework.

• Other faculty are asked to report to Dr. Mangus about each class session, share how students are “acting in class,” how the students are “getting along” with each other which creates a constant culture of fear and paranoia. 

  • An extension of this is the feeling that you will be retaliated against if you are caught complaining or raising concerns with either faculty.  If this happens, you will be targeted and called into mandatory meetings.

 

Cycle of Abuse

Historically, the cycle of raising concerns has unfolded like this:

• Student has an issue, and makes the issue known, and is verbally convinced that these two faculty are “here to help.”

• Student has a joint meeting with both Dr. Somers and Dr. Mangus where there is an extreme power imbalance and the student is told the issue is not with the program, but the issue is the student. The student is then told to “take responsibility” for the issue and failure to do so will result in violation of professional characteristics of the specific program (e.g. National Association of School Psychologists or American Association of Psychology). 

• From there, the student gets scared, retreats, convinced they have done something wrong, doesn’t know who to trust, and feels like they are not allowed to raise concerns without fear of retaliation.

• Once a student has voiced a single complaint with Dr. Somers and Dr. Mangus, the two faculty identify that student as a target. You are now perceived as threatening and are brought into meetings where you are harassed until you comply. 

• The overarching fear that you will be kicked out of the program.

 

Bullying

• Frequent warnings via email and verbally to avoid making complaints to individuals outside Dr. Somers and Dr. Mangus 

  • Direct quote “if you have a problem, you need to come to me. You need to talk to me. You don’t go to the dean, that’s not how this works.”

• Asking students to CC them on all communication with other faculty, constant CCing of both faculty, regardless of the message content, to perpetuate a bullying culture of fear and intimidation.

• Call students into meetings without any of division faculty or College staff to “catch” complaints and “handle internally.”

• Dr. Somers yelling into her phone, down the hall, slamming doors, slamming phones, when angry.

 

Gaslighting

• When students raise concerns, the concerns are NEVER specifically addressed, and typically circumvented through gaslighting and manipulation, convincing the student that they are either responsible for the problem, or they are completely insane. 

• There is a deceptive culture put in place where the two faculty say one thing, but their actions show that they mean something else, ie: gaslighting. For example:

  • “Be honest with us, let’s meet so I can talk you through your issues”, only to then be met with having your entire character infiltrated, and your boundaries broken, so they can control every single minute you spend in their program. 

  • “We think you need to look inside of yourself to discover why you are having this issue”. 

  • “We want you to trust us” or “I just don’t understand why you don’t trust me”, only to then be manipulated into complying and conforming to their harmful mindsets that feed their own egos and reinforce their antiquated perspective on the world outside of this actual program.

  • “Self-care is so important, try five finger breathing when you are stressed”,  and when it is expressed that the environment the two have cultivated in the division does not encourage any forms of legitimate self-care, those critiques are met with more gaslighting, like “this is how it is in the real world”, and language oriented towards, “if you are unable to keep up with these demands, you may not be a good fit for the program.”

  • I am here to support you, I am here to help you through this”, only to then be met with threats, and exaggerated claims about behavior and that you are not meeting their expectations and therefore do not deserve their support and help.

  • Constantly being subtly threatened with professional characteristics, in response to issues being raised. ​

 

We have filed complaints, met and spoken with all the relevant members of our division and college, and now urge you, as leaders of this University, to think broadly and deeply about the kinds of behaviors you are willing to tolerate.

 

We call on each one of you to commit to swift action to remedy the toxic and racist environment created by these two faculty, including:

1. Immediate removal and dismissal of Dr. Lauren Mangus, a clinical faculty who is not tenured. She should no longer be teaching, advising, or directing or overseeing the School and Community Psychology program. As noted in the WSU policies and procedures, with respect to clinical faculty, “This delegation of authority is revocable at any time at the discretion of the president and without notice.” UP-01-1 7.1

2. Removal of Dr. Somers from the department entirely for longer than one year. Specifically, bar her permanently from teaching, interacting with students, sitting on dissertation committees, and advising. 

3. Implement an oversight committee or faculty member to ensure that all students receive fair and equal access to school placement sites, practicum opportunities, and research.

4. Appoint a separate faculty to oversee the internship programs and placements for the division who is clear on boundaries, and appropriate professional conduct.

5. Provide financial support for all students who have paid tuition and not received the educational opportunities they deserve, and are legally entitled to pursuant to Title IX.

6. Publicly address the racism and toxic environment, condemning the TBF faculty and speaking openly about the plans to remedy the situation.

7. Provide assurance that we will not be retaliated against or condemned for speaking out.

 

As students, we will continue to organize and be active, strong, and persistent advocates against abuse and discrimination in all of its forms. We hope that you are committed to action in service of these values as well.

 

We refuse to stay silent. It’s time for the leadership of the university to do right by us, the students.

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Signed,

The WSU Students for Action Collective

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