Request for Financial Assistance: Bryan J. Pesta, Ph.D.
Dear Potential Donors,
My name is Bryan J. Pesta. I used to be a tenured full professor of management at Cleveland State University (CSU), with top departmental seniority. As a student there many years ago, I’ve also earned three degrees (one BA and two master’s degrees) from CSU. In fact, I have a near continuous presence (as faculty or student) at this school dating back to 1986 (I am old).
This all changed on March 4, 2022, as CSU terminated my (tenured) employment with them.
They “convicted” me of conducting and publishing unethical and racist research regarding my scientific explorations into why Blacks and Whites score differently—on average—when taking IQ tests.
Note, it’s trivially simple to find very smart Blacks and not so smart Whites. It’s frustrating that people have trashed my work and reputation by alleging I believe that ALL members of some race group are smarter than ALL members of some other group.
Note, I had been studying this topic at CSU since 2006. The school never expressed any concerns about the nature of my research until recently. In fact, CSU regularly awarded me (yearly) merit pay wage increases, specifically because of my research.
Note, the average IQ differences in question here are
incredibly well-documented by lots of quality data, going back to at least World
War I. The differences are also unfortunately rather large, but they predict
very important social outcomes (e.g., education
rates, income rates, crime rates, and even numerous measures of physical and
mental health). As such, I believe we have ethical and moral obligations to figure
out what is going on here. I’ve also argued elsewhere, that figuring this out would
dramatically improve human well-being for all.
That said, the actual causes of these differences (i.e., genetic factors, environmental factors, test bias, racism, etc.) remain unknown.
Importantly, CSU did not outright call me a racist for studying all this (though many
other students and academics both internal and external to CSU certainly
have!). Instead, the school hid behind numerous pretextual accusations that I
had mishandled sensitive genetic data, or otherwise committed “academic
research misconduct” regarding a specific article that colleagues and I
published in 2019 (https://www.mdpi.com/2624-8611/1/1/34).
At one point, fully 21 different allegations of academic research misconduct were “thrown at the wall” against me. I was able defend most of these allegations, but precisely four of them “stuck” with CSU, and I was ultimately fired. However, I will show that CSU’s rationale for these four charges was inane.
Unfortunately, the allegations against me are also very technical and full of jargon. This makes my case rather difficult to comprehend, especially if one lacks knowledge about how scientific research proceeds. I won’t get into the weeds now, but I will soon add a link to my complaint in federal court, once it is officially filed.
Not surprisingly, I have suffered rather severe financial and emotional consequences because of CSU’s illegal firing of me. I am also hated there, and I am completely unemployable in academics anywhere in the USA.
I would sincerely appreciate any financial assistance you might provide here. I’m confident I will prevail, but I need to survive as my suit progresses through the system. In sum, money is nice for sure, but this case is squarely about academic freedom and first amendment rights. Please consider helping me defend myself, and our constitution.
Sincerely,
Bryan J. Pesta
