English professor Bill Feltt will not teach again this semester because of health complications lingering from a brutal assault more than 20 months ago, a case that the University Police Department has yet to identify a suspect.

As of Monday, replacement professors were assigned to Feltt’s three classes. Feltt, who left work April 1, will need bone marrow transplant surgery after alternative medicines to the transplant did not work, English professor Keith Spear said.

“He’s been in amazingly good spirits considering what he’s been through,” said Spear, who shares room 3734 in Coleman Hall with Feltt.

Feltt’s health complications began on Aug. 27, 2002 when six to eight men in their early twenties assaulted him, swelling his face to twice it’s size and knocking out his teeth.

Feltt despite repeated attempts to reach him at his home could not be reached for comment.

Last week, Feltt was hospitalized at the Good Samaritan Hospital in Vincennes, Ind., where he previously had been treated when the assault happened on Aug. 27, 2002. He has since returned to his home in Robinson, says Jean Toothman, an English department office systems specialist, who added Feltt had left school a couple of times this semester for week-long periods.

As far as how Feltt’s health affected his performance: “I mean, he was fatigued, but Bill never has, never does complain,” English Chair Dana Ringuette said. “He was tired, but he was still meeting with his classes.”

English professors Ruth Hoberman, John Martone and Dagni Bredesen have volunteered to finish off Feltt’s semester of classes, a nearly month reprieve Feltt’s doctor suggested to avoid a sudden illness.

“His students really miss him,” Bredesen said. “He has a wonderful rapport with them, and he went in with a well of good will towards them.”

Over the past year and a half, Feltt has battled general fatigue and the susceptibility to other infections. He has also had flashbacks of the incidents. Ringuette said Feltt currently receives platelet and red blood cell transfusions and will continue them in the near future. The blood marrow transplant helps replace the spongy tissue in some bones that produce the body’s blood cells, which protect the body against illness.

During that same time, campus police, the UPD, has been unable to find a suspect to charge for the assault. A group of men from Champaign were suspected, but that did not lead to charges.

While the case still is considered open, “unless we get more information, really there’s nothing we can do about it now,” said UPD Chief Adam Due on Tuesday morning.

The search for evidence and witnesses caused a rift between the UPD and Feltt in the ensuing months after the assault. The UPD said Feltt’s memory was hazy soon after the attack and specific information on the location of the assault and appearance of the assaulters was inconsistent. Feltt said his story has never changed.

That lag in information resulted in a sketch drawing of the assaulter coming more than five months after the attack. Feltt has previously communicated a perceived lack of communication from the UPD.

“Any information I got from them, I had to make an effort to get, except for at the very first,” Feltt said in the Oct. 16, 2003, edition of The Daily Eastern News.

A return for the fall semester, Ringuette said, is likely for Feltt who became a professor shortly after earning his master’s degree here in 2002. Still, the spring semester is not a complete loss. Spear said one of Feltt’s students received a writing award at the departmental banquet a few weeks ago.

“That shows in spite of having medical difficulty, he’s been doing his job seriously enough, he produced at least one award-winning student,” Spear said.