Ocala Star-Banner: Prosecutor unsure how fake-bomb case will be resolved
Man’s fake bomb, which was found in his truck, led to a theater evacuation.
The 19-year-old University of Central Florida theater student whose fake bomb led to the evacuation of the Hollywood 16 movie theater has been released from the Marion County Jail after posting a $5,000 bond, and a top prosecutor said he’s not sure what his office will do with the case.
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Posted in Legal issues
Star-Ledger: Ex-Sussex community college professor may sue for age discrimination, judge rules
SUSSEX COUNTY — A former adjunct professor at Sussex County Community College may proceed with a portion of a lawsuit she filed against the college that alleges she was not rehired because of her age, an appeals court has ruled.
While upholding a lower court’s decision that rejected most of the claims made by Joan Stephenson, now 70, a two-judge panel ruled she can proceed with a portion of her lawsuit that alleges age discrimination.
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Posted in Contingent labor, Legal issues
Tagged adjuncts, age discrimination, Contingent labor, discrimination, Legal issues
The Chronicle: Federal Court Rules for U. of California, Against Christian Schools’ Course Work
The University of California admissions policy denying the academic validity of some courses taken at a Christian high school is constitutional, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled this week. This decision upholds that of the U.S. District Court of Los Angeles in a case in which the Association of Christian Schools International argued that the policy discriminated against students who had taken biology, history, English, government, and world-religion courses at Calvary Chapel Christian School.
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Posted in Legal issues
The Chronicle: Sandra Day O’Connor Revisits and Revives Affirmative-Action Controversy
Having held in a landmark 2003 Supreme Court ruling that diverse college enrollments have proven educational benefits but that colleges should not need race-conscious admissions policies 25 years down the road, a retired associate justice — Sandra Day O’Connor — is now singing what some hear as a different tune.
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Posted in Diversity, Legal issues
Tagged affirmative action, Legal issues
Courier-Journal: Former U of L dean agrees to plead guilty to fraud, tax evasion
Former University of Louisville Education Dean Robert Felner agreed Friday to plead guilty to nine federal charges, including income tax evasion, and to serve 63 months in prison in connection with defrauding U of L and another college out of $2.3 million.
He also agreed to pay restitution of $510,000 to U of L and $1.64 million to the University of Rhode Island as well as to the forfeiture to the federal government of real property he owned in Florida and in Illinois as well as bank accounts of undisclosed value.
U.S. District Judge Charles Simpson III said he will review the plea agreement before deciding whether to accept it. He also held out the possibility of imposing additional fines of up to $2.25 million on Felner.
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Posted in Legal issues
Tagged Legal issues, prison sentence, Robert Felner, U of Louisville, U of Rhode Island
The Chronicle: Hawaii Faculty Union Asks Court to Block Pay Cuts and Order Arbitration
The union for faculty members at the University of Hawaii filed a motion today asking a state court to block pay cuts recently announced by the system’s president, M.R.C. Greenwood. Ms. Greenwood has agreed to personally join in a mediation session with the union over stalled contract talks, but she has rejected a union grievance demanding that she retract the salary cuts, which would show up in checks issued January 15. The union now wants the court to temporarily halt the cuts and order arbitration of its demands.
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Posted in Legal issues, Salary/Economic Benefits, Unions
Tagged arbitration, grievances, Legal issues, pay cuts, U of Hawaii, Unions
Courier-Journal: Attorney: Robert Felner to plead guilty to siphoning millions from Louisville, Rhode Island universities
Former University of Louisville education dean Robert Felner will plead guilty Friday in a case in which he and a colleague are accused of defrauding U of L and another university out of $2.3 million, his attorney said.
Attorney Scott C. Cox said Monday the plea is part of an agreement Felner made with the U.S. Attorney’s Office. He would not disclose any terms of the deal, including which charges Felner would plead guilty to or how much jail time he may receive. Felner was not available for comment.
…
While not part of the criminal case, Felner’s treatment of faculty and staff at U of L’s College of Education and Human Development — and grievances against him — came to light during the investigation. Former faculty accused Felner of being vindictive, manipulative and threatening. As a result of those claims, the university revamped its grievance process, reviewed its faculty governance procedures and established an Ombuds Office to address faculty concerns and complaints.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Monday that it would have no comment until Felner formally enters his plea — he is accused of funneling millions of dollars through non-profit centers he helped create, then using the money to buy private property and make other personal expenditures.
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Posted in Corruption, Crime, Legal issues
Tagged Fraud, Legal issues, Robert Felner, U of Louisville, U of Rhode Island
Philadelphia Inquirer: Bucknell professor gets death sentence from Ethiopia
A Bucknell University professor was sentenced yesterday to death in absentia by an Ethiopian court that convicted him of plotting to assassinate government officials.
Berhanu Nega, of Lewisburg, an associate professor of economics at the Union County school, was one of five people to receive death sentences for planning the attack in 2005 when nearly 200 people were killed in postelection violence.
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Posted in Legal issues
Tagged Bucknell U, death sentence, Ethiopia, Faculty, Legal issues
Inside Higher Ed: $78.5M Settles U. of Phoenix Case
The owner of the University of Phoenix has agreed to pay $67.5 million to the federal government and another $11 million in legal fees to two former admissions officials who six years ago accused the higher education company of illegally paying its recruiters based on how many students they enrolled.
The Apollo Group’s announcement appears to bring to an end a long-running legal fight that at points seemed poised to cost the country’s largest postsecondary education provider hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars — but ultimately cost it much less.
The Chronicle: Whistle-Blower Case Against U. of Phoenix Is Settled
The parent company of the University of Phoenix said on Monday that it would pay $67-million to the U.S. government, plus $11-million in lawyers’ fees, to settle a 2003 “whistle-blower” lawsuit by two former student recruiters, who accused the company of obtaining federal student aid under false pretenses. The company, Apollo Group Inc., noted that the settlement, first discussed in October, includes no admission of wrongdoing.
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Posted in Legal issues
The New York Times: Debate Rages in Greece About Right of Police to Enter University Campuses
A new wave of violent attacks against academics is sweeping campuses in Athens and Thessaloniki, leading Greek professors to question a law that bans police officers from entering university grounds.
The law exists nowhere else in Europe, but it has been sacrosanct in Greece since the fall of a military dictatorship that bloodily suppressed a student rebellion at the Athens Polytechnic in 1973 in which at least 23 people were killed.
The Chronicle: Plagiarism Charges Against University President Are Irrelevant, Court Says
The Alabama Supreme Court ruled on Friday that plagiarism charges leveled against William Meehan, president of Jacksonville State University, could not be part of a lawsuit filed by R. David Whestone, a biology professor at the Alabama university. Mr. Whetstone’s lawsuit accuses Mr. Meehan of swiping 55,000 plant samples; the plagiarism allegations were included to persuade the court that Mr. Meehan has a history of academic thievery. The court did not say whether it considered the plagiarism accusation valid, only that it was not relevant to the allegedly purloined plant samples. Mr. Whetstone found portions of Mr. Meehan’s 1999 Ph.D. dissertation that were identical to a dissertation published several years earlier. A chart of the similarities has attracted attention on several blogs.
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Posted in Ethics, Legal issues
The New York Times: Court Bars New York’s Takeover Of Land for Columbia Campus
A New York appeals court ruled Thursday that the state could not use eminent domain on behalf of Columbia University to obtain parts of a 17-acre site in Upper Manhattan, dealing a setback to plans for a $6.3 billion satellite campus at a time of intense fighting over government power to acquire property.
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Posted in Legal issues
Tagged Columbia U, eminent domain, Government, Legal issues
Boston Globe: Professors file health care lawsuit
Adjunct instructors challenge denial of insurance coverage
A group of part-time community college instructors filed a lawsuit yesterday against the state, saying that hundreds of adjunct faculty in Massachusetts’ public higher education system are unfairly denied health care coverage.
The lawsuit, filed in Suffolk Superior Court on behalf of five instructors, follows nearly a decade of unsuccessful wrangling with state legislators to get an adjunct health insurance bill enacted into law. It also comes as schools, particularly community colleges, are increasingly turning to adjuncts amid burgeoning enrollment.
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Posted in Legal issues
Tagged adjuncts, benefits, Contingent labor, health care, Legal issues
Inside Higher Ed: Religious Meets Litigious
A group that advocates separation of church and state has filed a lawsuit against South Orange Community College District, in California, for opening many of its official events with Christian prayer.
The suit by Americans United for Separation of Church and State challenges prayer at Saddleback College, one of two institutions in the district. It states that, “for years, the trustees, the chancellor, and the president of Saddleback College have routinely held official prayer at numerous events for college students and faculty, including scholarship ceremonies, graduations, and the Chancellor’s Opening Sessions.” These public prayers, the suit further argues, “are insulting to [the] deeply held religious beliefs of some students”; it also states that these prayers make other students “feel like outsiders because they do not belong to the … preferred faith” of the community college.
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Posted in Legal issues
Tagged California, Legal issues, prayer, Religion, South Orange CC
Hartford Courant: Conn. student newspaper faces harassment claims
HARTFORD, Conn. – A satirical column that uses derogatory language to mock women for one-night stands has prompted harassment claims against a Connecticut college newspaper that published the piece.
Student editors at The Fairfield Mirror are concerned the controversy could affect the paper’s $30,000 funding stream from Fairfield University and jeopardize the paper’s editorial independence. The Catholic university in southwest Connecticut has about 5,000 students,
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Posted in Legal issues, Media
Tagged Fairfield U, harassment, Student newspapers
Red and Black: Federal court closes case of former journalism dean
After three years of back and forth talk about sexual harassment, due process and court motions, the case is finally closed. Well, almost.
John Soloski, a journalism professor and former dean of the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, has reached an agreement with University President Michael Adams and the University to settle a lawsuit that started in 2006 after he was accused of harassing a co-worker.
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Posted in Legal issues
Flint News: Former University of Michigan-Flint student sues for $40 million
FLINT, Michigan — A former University of Michigan-Flint student wants the school to pay him $40 million for something he says began as a simple grade dispute over a Spanish quiz.
Former student Stephen Tripodi, 40, says he told his teacher in an e-mail that it seemed like she was “trying to hurt” students after she gave him a B instead of an A on a Spanish test and seemed to ignore his dispute.
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Posted in Academics, Legal issues
Tagged law suits, Legal issues, U of Michigan-Flint
Spokesman.com: UI settles with ex-workers
Husband, wife claimed they were punished for reporting on researcher
The University of Idaho has settled a lawsuit with two former employees who claimed they were punished for reporting concerns that a high-profile researcher was using university resources to benefit private companies.
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Posted in Legal issues
Tagged Legal issues, U of Idaho, whistle-blowers
Gainesville Sun: UF professor, wife charged with fraud
A University of Florida nuclear engineering professor and his wife were arrested Friday in Gainesville on charges they fraudulently obtained $3.7 million in government contracts and diverted money into personal bank accounts to buy cars and homes.
Samim Anghaie, 60, and his wife, Sousan Anghaie, 55, are accused of submitting false information, including research taken from UF students without their knowledge, in contract proposals to NASA, the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Navy. They are alleged to have diverted hundreds of thousands of dollars earned from those contracts into their bank accounts and the accounts of their sons.
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Posted in Legal issues
Tagged Fraud, Legal issues, U of Florida
The Omaha World: Metro will sue other com. colleges
Metropolitan Community College will sue Nebraska’s five other community colleges, trying to wrest away millions of state aid dollars that Metro leaders say rightfully belong to their school. The planned lawsuit, authorized Tuesday night by Metro’s board, will be filed in Lancaster County Court “in the very near future,” Metro laywer Bob Canella said.
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Posted in Budgets & Funding, Legal issues
Tagged Budgets & Funding, community colleges, Metropolitan CC
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