BURLINGTON, VT — Students at Champlain College are facing an administrative kangaroo court this morning as the college moves to discipline protesters who spoke out against a controversial faculty hire.
The disciplinary hearings, which were announced to students Friday afternoon for a Monday morning start, have sparked outrage across the campus community. The 48-hour notice—delivered over a weekend—was a calculated tactic to ensure students had no time to prepare or secure representation. It also prevents the community from organizing against out in the open bigotry.
The unrest began in the Fall of 2025 following the hiring of Acad. Prof. Dr. David Tomasi as an adjunct professor. Tomasi, who lists himself as the Director of “Nortades Neuropsychology & Psychotherapy,” has come under fire not only for blatantly transphobic rhetoric that students describe as dangerous and bigoted but his professional background as well.
Screenshots from Twitter (X) and Facebook captured by activists before Tomasi could hide them highlight a pattern of extreme statements regarding gender identity. Tomasi characterizes personal views on gender as a fundamental threat to society:
“As scientists and doctors, we have the ethical and moral responsibility to fight all intolerance and hatred. It is our duty to show the genocidal and racist nature of ideologies such as Transgenderism, which undermine not only science and humanity, but have their origin in racist and genocidal narratives. Let us be clear, this is not an issue of “correlation vs. causation.” It is not the case that “only some” activists of #TransgenderIdeology support the massacre of innocent civilians in Gaza. It is the very nature, dogma, and essence of this ideology which is fully based upon the rejection of human dignity, tolerance, and science, in favor of totalitarianism, racism, bigotry, and violence.”
Tomasi frequently refers to ‘Transgender ideology’ as “antiscientific evil”
Leandre Waldo, Chief of Staff & Secretary of the Corporation at Champlain College, in a letter to students asserts that PSY340 will continue to be taught by Tomasi and defended the decision as a matter of academic freedom: “This decision comes down to academic freedom, which protects people’s ability to express ideas we disagree with… those same protections defend faculty who speak out against injustice, who challenge powerful people, who hold beliefs like yours” She also acknowledged how wrong this feels, apparently not wrong enough to give her pause.
Reader, lets be clear, Tomasi is not speaking out against injustice, he’s promoting it. He’s not challenging powerful people, he’s punching down to one of the most marginalized groups in our country. He doesn’t represent the values of anyone opposed to intolerance, a baseline for maintaining a functioning society, he is the intolerant one. Tomasi is an individual unmoored from reality, who legitimately believes that someone’s personal relationship with their own gender is the foundation of violence, racism, and specifically the genocide of the people of Gaza. Transgender people have existed since as far back as we’ve held a concept of gender.
Critics are also raising questions about the legitimacy of Tomasi’s extensive list of credentials. His portfolio includes a “Higher Doctorate Honoris Causa” from the Russian Academy of Natural History and degrees from institutions in Nicaragua and Mexico that have been flagged by academic watchdogs as potential “degree mills.” Further scrutiny has been directed at “Nortades,” a European entity Tomasi directs, which has been linked to various financial and psychotherapy ventures abroad.
Despite Tomasi’s status as an adjunct — a role that typically provides no job security — the Champlain College administration has taken an aggressive stance in his defense, opting to prosecute its own tuition-paying students rather than address the faculty member’s background and public statements of hatred and vitriol.
Students pay hard-earned money to better themselves and our nation at Champlain University. They don’t deserve to be harassed, legally threatened, and hauled in front of an administrative board for standing against intolerance. In days like these we need kids who will be brave and do the right thing, the university should be ashamed of it’s stance and actions in this matter.