MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Morgantown Deputy Mayor and West Virginia University English Professor Mark Brazaitis has been relieved of his assigned teaching duties for the fall semester and banned from campus.
Police were called to the deputy mayor’s home Monday night for what was described as a “non-criminal matter.” Sources said the issue began at Brazaitis’s residence on Courtney Avenue during an attempt to have him involuntarily committed for a mental evaluation. The search for Brazaitis continued through out the night before he turned himself over to Monongalia County Sheriff’s Deputies nearly 15 hours later. Brazaitis was checked into Ruby Memorial Hospital Tuesday morning, before eventually being discharged from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
“Tell people I’m fine,” Brazaitis texted to The Dominion Post following the search. “When you want to do great things for the city and the state, sacrifice is required. I am not afraid.”
Brazaitis was notified Friday of the decision to bar him from the classroom through a letter from Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Dean R. Gregory Dunaway, which Brazaitis sent to WAJR News.
The letter states that Brazaitis has been removed from teaching duties for the fall semester and will instead focus on his reseach activities from home. He will also be required to complete an assessment process through the WVU Faculty and Staff Assistance Prorgram before he will be eligible to return to the classroom.
Click to read the Brazaitis Letter
In the meantime, Brazaitis is not permitted on WVU’s campus unless he is attending a pre-scheduled meeting with his supervisor or Dean or attending meetings necessary complete the FSAP evaluation process.
He will remain a WVU employee and continue to receive pay and benefits, if he completes the following steps:
1. Participate in an assessment process through our Faculty & Staff Assistance Program (FSAP), which may include an assessment by a licensed provider, independent from WVU, that meets the standards of our FSAP provider.
2. Sign the release that will allow the FSAP provider to discuss with the provider the assessment results.
3. Be cleared to return to the University and teaching functions through the oversight of the WVU FSAP office, in conjunction with the designated provider.
Brazaitis is required to sign the necessary paperwork to begin the evaluation process by Sept. 10. If he fails to complete the paperwork the within the next 30 days, he will be placed on leave of absence without pay until he does so.
If Brazaitis completes all of the necessary requirements, he could return to his usual role with the university.
Brazaitis has been a lightning rod for controversy over the last several weeks. Brazaitis has been involved in several very well publicized disagreements with the city’s parks and recreation focused BOPARC Board, the Mylan Park Board, Monongalia County Commission, the Hazel-Ruby McQuain Charitable Trust, the Monongalia County Democratic Committee, several fellow council members, and his own employer — West Virginia University.
Most recently Brazaitis has called out the Monongalia County Democratic Party, saying it needed to be purged and “replaced with actual progressives” and announced a haphazard write-in campaign for U.S. Senate. In his announcement he claimed he would be running against “either two or three Republicans,” referring to Democrat Joe Manchin as a Republican and possible Constitution Party candidate Don Blankenship as an obvious Republican.
The Secretary of State’s Office confirmed Thursday Brazaitis has not filed the paperwork to be an official write-in candidate, but has until September 18 to file.