Officials for Washington State University say the school plans to hire an outside lawyer to review how administrators treated the school’s former provost, who described receiving sexist performance evaluations and other resistance before leaving the position last fall. Mitzi Montoya served as WSU’s provost and executive vice president for less than two months before she left the job in September, keeping a separate position as a tenured professor. Few details of Montoya’s departure were made public until this past last week when Whitman County Watch published internal emails in which Montoya described a meeting with a consultant who told her there were major concerns about her personality and communication style. The emails also describe tensions arising from poorly defined administrative roles and budgeting procedures across WSU campuses. The university was preparing a contract with a lawyer to review how Montoya was treated during her time as provost. At WSU, Montoya quickly developed a reputation as a change agent, launching initiatives aimed at research, enrollment, and creating more leadership opportunities for women. (AP)
