A long-time Emergency Medical Services instructor at Capital Community College (CCC) was ousted for sexually harassing students, misusing his school email, and releasing protected student data in 2021 but was quickly reinstated only to immediately resign and retire, according to documents obtained by CII through the state’s Freedom of Information Act.
In a Human Resources investigation filing from August 2021, former CCC EMS Program Director Daniel Tauber was found to have violated the school’s code of conduct several times, including twice for sexual misconduct. In one instance, Tauber was found to have made a sexually suggestive comment regarding a student’s appearance. In another, he was found to have engaged in an inappropriate relationship with a second student.
That second student had documented their relationship in an email to Tauber that was included as part of the investigation. In the email, according to the investigation filing, the student said that she engaged in the relationship in part because Tauber, as an instructor and director of the EMS program, had disciplinary power over her. The investigation also found that Tauber had given the student gifts, including thousands of dollars toward the purchase of a Jeep, and had “more than likely” cosigned a loan for a Subaru. It found that “the majority of these gifts” were given while she was a student.
In addition to the relationship, investigators found that Tauber had threatened other students in both day and evening classes with disciplinary action, including termination from the program, if they discussed his personal life, including his relationship. The report states that this “more likely than not had a chilling effect on students to come forward or raise concerns about any inappropriate or unprofessional conduct by Tauber.”
In addition to the harassment and threat-related findings, the investigation also found that Tauber had used his school email to send himself items of a personal and sexual nature, and had blind carbon copied a third party on emails with students which included information that would have been protected under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).
Documentation regarding any action CCC took following the investigation was not made available as part of the FOIA request. A March 2022 stipulated agreement between the school and Tauber’s union (The Federation of Technical College Teachers, AFT, Local 1942, AFL-CIO), however, states that he was terminated the same month that the investigation was submitted to the school.
The union filed a grievance with the state following that termination and while the school denied any wrongdoing on their part, the parties agreed to drop the grievance under certain terms. Those terms included Tauber’s immediate reinstatement, backdated to August 20, 2021, as well as back-pay to that date. It also required the school to accept his resignation and process his retirement, as he had been employed with CCC since November 26, 1996.
In exchange, Tauber released the school and the Connecticut State Colleges and University system from future litigation and agreed not to work within the system in the future.
As a result of the agreement, Tauber has since been pulling a state pension worth nearly $30,000, according to state data.
According to his LinkedIn profile, following his departure from CCC, Daniel Tauber now serves as the Clinical Education Coordinator at Yale New Haven Hospital Center for EMS, in addition to positions with St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center and the Windsor Locks Lions Ambulance Corps.
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