In a 14-page Notice of Dismissal dated August 27, an outside investigator hired by the University of Oregon ruled that a complaint filed in January by Dean Adrian Parr Zaretsky about an art show by sophomore Cassy Steuerwald, who is majoring in psychology and minoring in art, was unfounded.
Steuerwald had been accused of antisemitism for the art show he organized with approval of the UO student gallery director. The dean of the College of Design was given five days to appeal the decision, but did not reply to an email from Eugene Weekly asking whether she did so. Steuerwald could also face discipline for talking about the case with EW.
Steuerwald put together an art installation in January titled “We Tried Throwing Them a Dinner Party.” It consisted of a small dining table with a pink tablecloth and place settings for University of Oregon President Karl Scholz, Nike billionaire and UO benefactor Phil Knight, and Parr Zaretsky, dean of the UO College of Design.
A zine or pamphlet previously distributed on campus suggesting that Parr Zaretsky, who is Jewish, is complicit in genocide in Israel’s war in Gaza was tacked on the wall behind the table.
Parr Zaretsky’s complaint led to an investigation that began in early April and went on for months.
“Taken as a whole, the information gathered in the investigation is such that no reasonable decision maker could find that Respondent violated the discrimination policy,” the August 27 notice says. “Therefore, at the threshold review, the Complaint is dismissed.”
“I’m very relieved the case has been dropped after so many months of being harassed,” Steuerwald told Eugene Weekly by email after the newspaper got word of the decision. “I’m also left very confused why it took the university nearly five months to conclude they had no evidence. The whole thing has left me feeling very violated as a student and artist, but it won’t stop me from continuing to speak out against my university’s complicity in the ongoing genocide in Palestine.”
Parr Zaretsky, who has maintained that Steuerwald’s January art show was part of an organized and ongoing program of antisemitic harassment against her, says in an email: “Time will tell whether the debilitating coordinated and extensive campuswide antisemitic harassment, intimidation and threats I and other members of the Jewish campus community have endured for 22 months, continue this next academic year.”
Steuerwald has also been ordered by the university not to tell anyone, including the news media, about the dismissal of the case against him. On August 27, Nicole Commissiong, the UO’s chief civil rights officer and Title IX coordinator, told Steuerwald to “please be aware that the disclosure of the outcome of the investigation to third parties could result in harassment towards the complainant, as the complainant’s name was previously disclosed in violation of the expectations for the investigation.” Eugene Weekly reached out to the UO and Commissiong for comment but did not receive a response before press time.
The Weekly did not find out the results via Steuerwald.