Richard A. Morrisett was a tenured professor at the College of Pharmacy.
As of April 6, 2018, when he was found dead in his home, Morrisett is no longer an active threat to anyone.
In late 2016, Morrisett was charged with three felonies for domestic violence against his
girlfriend. He had choked her to the point at which she “saw stars” and, on a separate occasion,
caused her to need hospitalization. He has continued to seek contact with her in violation of
court restraining orders.
In February 2017, Morrisett plead guilty to the first of his felony charges, reaching an agreement
with the Travis County DA’s office to resolve his cases. He was sentenced to four years of
probation along with community service and educational requirements.
Administration response: Morrisett failed to comply with university policy requiring employees to disclose felony charges
to the university. Upon learning of Morrisett’s charges from the UTPD on July 17th, 2016, the
university placed Morrisett on 18-day paid administrative leave while they conducted an
investigation.
Despite his failure to comply with university policy, however, Morrisett received no sanction
from UT. The team conducting the investigation into Morrisett deemed his violent conduct
outside of the classroom independent from his behavior on campus, where they believed he
posed no threat to the well-being of students, staff, or other faculty.
UT ignored student outrage about the issue. Fenves declared that UT would review its policy, but that the review would take 2 months. At a rally protesting Morrisett’s employment, a student was arrested on fabricated charges.
