Thwaits' firing justified

PROVO — By giving prescription medication to a student, a former Brigham Young University professor violated his contract with BYU and the school was justified in terminating him.

That was the verdict of the eight-member jury that returned their decision Friday morning after deliberating for nearly eight hours — 2 hours Friday morning and 5 1/2 hours the night before.

Richard Thwaits, 53, was seeking up to $1 million in damages, claiming wrongful termination and breach of contract.

The jury had listened to four weeks of testimony and seen mounds of evidence in the case of the former BYU professor and administrator who had sued the school for firing him despite his "continuing faculty status," which is comparable to tenure at other universities.

Thwaits, who served as department chairman of the animal science program, was placed on paid academic leave on 2000 and terminated in 2002 for giving veterinary medicine to students, lying about it to BYU administrators and engaging in inappropriate relations with female students.

One of the pivotal incidents, attorneys said, was when Thwaits provided a female student with the controlled substance Ativan, then denied to officials that the incident had ever occurred. Ativan is used to relieve anxiety, nervousness and tension associated with anxiety disorders.

However, he later pleaded no contest to a criminal charge of third-degree felony of practicing medicine without a license in 4th District Court. The plea didn't admit guilt but meant he didn't want to fight it with a trial.

After 18 months, the case was dismissed.

Robert Clark, the attorney for BYU, stressed during his closing arguments the seriousness of Thwaits' actions, especially in light of the school's strict no-drug policy and the Honor Code, which outlines expected behavior from students, faculty and staff.

"Ativan was the issue for (the jury)," Clark said after speaking with the jury members. "They recognized that a controlled substance brings a different level of seriousness to the conduct."

With the verdict, the eight member jury first had to find that Thwaits and the university were in a contract. Their second question was if Thwaits had held up his end of the deal, which they said he had not.