Assistant VP Doell Attempts to Remove VP Gilmer Resignation Article from Facebook

BY WATCHING ADAMS STAFF – 2/13/17
After a campus email that left more questions than answers, the Watching Adams article on the resignation of Dr. Chris Gilmer, Adams State University (ASU) Vice President for Academic Affairs, caught the attention of ASU administrators.  On February 9th at 8:05pm, Margaret Doell, Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs, reported the article on Facebook as “having misleading information” and requested that Antonito News administrators remove it from their Facebook page.
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Antonito News declined this request and the post remains active on Facebook here.

Doell did not explain what information she felt was “misleading” or why this warranted the article being removed from Facebook.  This development is particularly significant given that the university’s public statements on Watching Adams indicate that it has no interest in suppressing free expression.

In a November 9th, 2015 email sent to all employees, the ASU Board of Trustees assured the campus that Watching Adams publisher and then-banned former faculty member Danny Ledonne was not having his First Amendment rights infringed, stating: “Mr. Ledonne’s freedom of speech is in no way threatened. He has been given every document that he is entitled to under the law, and he continues to freely communicate his concerns through blogs and newspapers.”

Since last fall’s publication of Valley Courier Refused to Publish Critical Op-Ed, Other Publications Did, Antonito News has been posting sponsored posts from Watching Adams articles.  They exchange related page statistics and correspondence from these posts with Watching Adams.

Once Antonito News notified Ledonne that Doell had contacted them to take down the Gilmer article, Ledonne stated that he believes this is an attempt at censorship by a university administrator.  “Even if Doell contacted Antonito News to remove the article in a personal capacity outside work hours, she was absolutely acting as an agent of the state of Colorado in her role as AVPAA .  I appreciate that Antonito News did not acquiesce to an attempt at government censorship.” Ledonne said.

Until Dr. Gilmer’s resignation, AVPAA Doell reported to former VPAA Gilmer.  Doell is noted by observers on campus as a personal friend of ASU President Beverlee McClure. Dr. Gilmer had significant relational issues with President McClure according to his statement: “The friendship which President McClure and I formed quickly and easily has unfortunately dissolved and has begun to affect the university in a negative way.”