U of North Dakota Tacitly Condones Adultery to the Detriment of Academic Performance

UND and Psychology Department Administrators Permit Sexual Tryst to Go on Until the Victim Finally Leaves

A UND a psychology professor, who because of embarrassment asked us not to use his name, left the Department of Psychology in December 1997 because his then wife, Dr. Nancy Vogeltanz, was carrying on an openly known extramarital affair with his BOSS, Dr. Jeff Holm!

Dr. P had been at UND for about 4.5 years when he discovered to his shock and horror that his then academic Boss, Dr. Jeff Holm (who was at the time Director of UND's Clinical Training) could not keep his hands off his then wife Dr. Nancy Vogaltanz who taught at the UND Department of Psychology also!

At the time Dr. Jeff Holm was having this extramarital affair he too was married with two small children!

Dr. P. asked the University's administrators to intercede because this sexual tryst was not only destroying his personal life, but his professional life as well. The great irony is that Dr. Jeff Holm was at the time (and still is) the President of the North Dakota State Board of Psychologist Examiners, the state agency charged with upholding ethical principles! The State of North Dakota requires all psychologists licensed by this board to demonstrate good moral character. Apparently the same requirement does not apply to the board president.

Among the professors and students and secretaries of the psychology department it was quite a scandal, but the administration acted as if it were oblivious.

The end result was in this highly qualified professor victim's decision to leave UND. Apart from the personal tragedy, this case is even more disgusting when one considers that this at best indifference to moral responsibility not only destroyed this professor's personal life, but seriously damaged the quality of the University's psychology program as Dr. P was the most productive scholar in the department in terms of publications and research grant money.

Shockingly, the Psychology Department allowed this tryst to go on, despite the fact that Holm was this professor's "boss" at the time.

In 1998, Holm was relieved of his position as the Director of Clinical Training at UND, but remains employed by the University of North Dakota's Psychology Department and is still the President of the North Dakota State Board of Psychologist Examiners.

Dr. P., a leader in research is now employed by a famous Ivy League University on the East Coast.  Dr. Nancy Vogeltanz now divorced, and Dr. Jeff Holm now also divorced, both remain at the Psychology Department of UND. 

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