Category Archives: Legal issues

AAUP Council Backs Churchill’s Reinstatement

Posted on April 9, 2009 by | Comments Off on AAUP Council Backs Churchill’s Reinstatement

Inside Higher Ed: AAUP Council Backs Churchill’s Reinstatement

The National Council of the American Association of University Professors has issued a statement calling for the reinstatement of Ward Churchill by the University of Colorado. The statement, in its entirety, is this: “We believe the disputes over Ward Churchill’s publications should have been allowed to work themselves out in traditional scholarly venues, not referred to disciplinary hearings. We believe Churchill should be reinstated to his faculty position at the University of Colorado.” A Colorado jury last week found that the University of Colorado did not fire Churchill as an ethnic studies professor on the Boulder campus for legitimate reasons, but for his political views. A judge will later determine whether Churchill can return to his tenured job. Typically, AAUP’s academic freedom committee issues findings about cases involving claims of wrongful termination, but Nelson noted that the National Council from time to time speaks out on its own, as it did in this case. Churchill was fired after the university found that he had engaged in numerous instances of scholarly misconduct.

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Historically Black College Sued for Discriminating Against White Instructors

Posted on April 9, 2009 by | Comments Off on Historically Black College Sued for Discriminating Against White Instructors

The Chronicle News Blog: Historically Black College Sued for Discriminating Against White Instructors

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has sued a historically black college on behalf of three white faculty members who said they were denied jobs or let go because of their race.

Federal officials today simultaneously announced the lawsuit and an agreement between the EEOC and Benedict College to settle the case. The institution said it would pay $55,000 to each of the instructors. The college also agreed to remind staff about its employment policies prohibiting discrimination, train administrators and faculty members, and make periodic reports to the EEOC.

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Professor Loses Discrimination Case Against Montana State U.

Posted on April 8, 2009 by | Comments Off on Professor Loses Discrimination Case Against Montana State U.

Bozeman Daily Chronicle: MSU prevails in gender discrimination lawsuit

A jury of eight women and four men ruled against a female Montana State University professor in Gallatin County District Court Friday after a ten-day trial in which the university’s promotion and pay policies were challenged based on allegations that the engineering professor was paid less than her male counterparts.

The jury was asked to determine whether tenured engineering professor Aleksandra Vinogradov was discriminated against because she is a woman and the discrimination was retaliation for complaining about her pay. Vinogradov was the first woman to be granted a tenured professorship in the university’s engineering department and was the only female professor there for several years.

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Widow loses lawsuit over UC Irvine’s willed body program

Posted on April 7, 2009 by | Comments Off on Widow loses lawsuit over UC Irvine’s willed body program

Los Angeles Times: Widow loses lawsuit over UC Irvine’s willed body program

Evelyn Conroy sued after the university lost track of James Conroy’s body. The California Supreme Court says she failed to prove that the university violated its donation agreement with her husband.

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Florida: Faculty complaint exposes unrest at Chipola College

Posted on April 6, 2009 by | Comments Off on Florida: Faculty complaint exposes unrest at Chipola College

Tallahassee Democrat: Faculty complaint exposes unrest at Chipola College

MARIANNA — An obscure labor-law complaint filed by nursing professors at Chipola College has exposed simmering unrest among faculty members at the little campus in the tall-pine country of Florida’s Panhandle.

“They used to get paid the same for doing the same work,” said Tom Brooks, a Tallahassee attorney for the United Faculty of Florida. “Now they have to work a lot more to earn the same.”

Chipola faculty representatives say there’s “an ol’ boy network” that pays handsome salaries to an influential current state legislator and another former lawmaker who serve as roving ambassadors for the college president.

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Churchill $1 award result of one juror

Posted on April 6, 2009 by | Comments Off on Churchill $1 award result of one juror

Denver Post: Churchill $1 award result of one juror
Five on the six-person jury wanted to give the fired professor more.

Five of six jurors favored awarding fired University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill as much as $110,000 or more — while a single juror insisted he get nothing, a juror and Churchill’s attorney said Friday.

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Ward Churchill’s $1 Damage Award Said to Have Been Product of Jury Compromise

Posted on April 3, 2009 by | Comments Off on Ward Churchill’s $1 Damage Award Said to Have Been Product of Jury Compromise

The Chronicle News Blog: Ward Churchill’s $1 Damage Award Said to Have Been Product of Jury Compromise

Thursday’s jury verdict in Ward Churchill’s lawsuit against the University of Colorado has given rise to a mystery: How is it that a jury could rule that the university had acted illegally in firing Mr. Churchill, and yet still award him only $1 in damages?

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Jury Says Ward Churchill Was Wrongly Fired

Posted on April 3, 2009 by | Comments Off on Jury Says Ward Churchill Was Wrongly Fired

The New York Times: Jury Says Professor Was Wrongly Fired

DENVER — A jury found on Thursday that the University of Colorado had wrongfully dismissed a professor who drew national attention for an essay in which he called some victims of the Sept. 11 attacks “little Eichmanns.”

Ward Churchill, who was a tenured professor at the University of Colorado, left, walked with his lead attorney David Lane out of the courtroom after a jury ruled that he was wrongly fired by school administrators, on Thursday.

But the jury, which deliberated for a day and a half, awarded only $1 in damages to the former professor, Ward L. Churchill, a tenured faculty member at the university’s campus in Boulder since 1991 who was chairman of the ethnic studies department.

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Amid Talk of High Ideals, Arguments Close in Ward Churchill’s Lawsuit

Posted on April 2, 2009 by | Comments Off on Amid Talk of High Ideals, Arguments Close in Ward Churchill’s Lawsuit

The Chronicle: Amid Talk of High Ideals, Arguments Close in Ward Churchill’s Lawsuit

The trial in Ward Churchill’s wrongful-dismissal lawsuit against the University of Colorado drew to a close on Wednesday with the embattled professor’s lawyer telling jurors that nothing less than the fate of the Constitution rested in their hands.

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Churchill jury returns today

Posted on April 2, 2009 by | Comments Off on Churchill jury returns today

The Denver Post: Churchill jury returns today

A Denver jury will continue deliberating the fate of Ward Churchill’s civil case against the University of Colorado today after meeting for a half-day Wednesday without reaching a verdict.

The four women and two men listened to the case for four weeks and heard 45 witnesses testify in the courtroom of Denver Chief District Judge Larry J. Naves. Two male alternates were sent home after closing arguments Tuesday.

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Court Upholds Dismissal of Delaware State Professor

Posted on March 31, 2009 by | Comments Off on Court Upholds Dismissal of Delaware State Professor

Inside Higher Ed: Court Upholds Dismissal of Delaware State Professor

A federal appeals court on Friday upheld Delaware State University’s firing of a professor, Wendell Gorum, after he was found to have changed grades and enrollment status in official university records for 48 students. Gorum claimed that he was fired in retaliation for certain statements he made in the context of his job duties — statements that disagreed with administration positions. The court rejected Gorum’s free speech claims, citing a Supreme Court ruling in 2006 that limited the free speech rights of public employees when they are speaking on job-related matters, not simply speaking as public citizens. That decision has concerned advocates for public college faculty members, fearing that they could be punished for criticizing administrators. In the Delaware State case, however, the appeals court found that Gorum’s conduct changing grades would have led to his firing, for legitimate reasons, even if he had never spoken out in ways that may have offended the administration. Gorum’s actions changing grades, the court found, showed “disregard for the academic integrity of DSU.”

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California: Charges dropped on poison accusation at UCSF

Posted on March 31, 2009 by | Comments Off on California: Charges dropped on poison accusation at UCSF

San Francisco Chronicle: Charges dropped on poison accusation

San Francisco prosecutors dropped all charges Monday against a former UCSF lab researcher who had been accused of trying to poison a co-worker.

Ben Chun Liu, 38, who worked in the urology department, had been charged with attempted murder and putting poison in a drink belonging to co-worker Mei Cao, 44.

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Kentucky: Court hears Felner’s interview

Posted on March 27, 2009 by | Comments Off on Kentucky: Court hears Felner’s interview

Courier-Journal: Court hears Felner’s interview
Defense seeks to block its use

During a six-hour-plus interview with federal investigators last summer, former University of Louisville education dean Robert Felner went from being described as confident by investigators and a colleague to saying he was “freaked” and asking if he could go to jail.

“I’m starting to feel like I’m getting thrown under the bus,” Felner said in a tape-recorded conversation with investigators that was played in court today during a hearing to decide if comments he made during the interview can be used against him in a criminal trial.

Felner, 58, faces 10 counts of mail fraud, money-laundering conspiracy and income-tax evasion after a federal grand jury indicted him in October.

A colleague, Thomas Schroeder, 51, of Port Byron, Ill., also is charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering, mail fraud and conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service.

The indictment accuses the two of fraudulently obtaining nearly $2.3million in grant and contract money from UofL and the University of Rhode Island. Both pleaded not guilty in October and were released on unsecured bonds.

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Texas: UTMB faculty members fight for old jobs

Posted on March 25, 2009 by | Comments Off on Texas: UTMB faculty members fight for old jobs

The Galveston County Daily News: UTMB faculty members fight for old jobs

GALVESTON — Hearings have begun for about 30 University of Texas Medical Branch faculty members who are fighting for jobs lost in mass layoffs after Hurricane Ike.

The 30 are among 127 faculty members dismissed after the Sept. 13 storm flooded more than 1 million square feet of buildings on the island campus, knocking John Sealy Hospital, its main revenue maker, out of commission for months.

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Protection for For-Profit Colleges

Posted on March 25, 2009 by | Comments Off on Protection for For-Profit Colleges

Inside Higher Ed: Protection for For-Profit Colleges

Arbitration clauses in contracts are designed to give parties a clear-cut and less expensive route to resolving potential disputes. But provisions that require parties to go through arbitration and relinquish their right to pursue other legal avenues have been controversial, particularly when one of the parties is viewed as being at a disadvantage to the other, as in the case of nursing homes and their clients.

Those issues took center stage in a decision issued Tuesday by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, which reversed a lower court’s ruling last year forcing a for-profit college to defend itself in court against 38 students’ charges of fraudulent misrepresentation and negligence. In its ruling, a three-judge panel of the Eighth Circuit said that the arbitration clause contained in the enrollment agreement that students signed before entering High-Tech Institute, a vocational institution in Missouri, compels the student plaintiffs to enter arbitration before they can rightfully pursue their claims in state or federal court.

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Ward Churchill Is Defiant in Second Day on Witness Stand

Posted on March 25, 2009 by | Comments Off on Ward Churchill Is Defiant in Second Day on Witness Stand

The New York Times: Fired Colorado Professor Is Cross-Examined in Lawsuit

DENVER — A former University of Colorado professor spent nearly six hours defending his scholarly work on Tuesday during cross-examination in his lawsuit contending that he was fired for an essay he wrote about the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The Chronicle News Blog: Ward Churchill Is Defiant in Second Day on Witness Stand

Ward Churchill acknowledged some flaws in his scholarship, but strenuously denied that any merited his 2007 dismissal by the University of Colorado, in testimony delivered today in a trial in which he is attempting to prove that his firing violated his First Amendment rights.

The Denver Post: Churchill: Plagiarism occurred: But it wasn’t he who lifted from another prof’s essay, he asserts.

A juror’s question, posed Tuesday after former professor Ward Churchill had been on the witness stand for more than seven hours, gave him the opening to argue — succinctly — that he was the victim of his controversial views, not his scholarship.
The Denver Post: 2nd day on stand for Churchill

The Colorado Daily: Regent testimony closes out the day

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New York: Binghamton “misconduct case pursued for ‘people who have gone through this'”

Posted on March 24, 2009 by | Comments Off on New York: Binghamton “misconduct case pursued for ‘people who have gone through this'”

Press & Sun-Bulletin: Woman addresses filing of sex complaint
Misconduct case pursued for ‘people who have gone through this’

VESTAL — The woman who filed a sexual misconduct complaint against two members of Binghamton University’s athletic department said she came forward to show others they don’t have to be victims.

“I’m not doing this for me,” said Elizabeth Williams, a fund raiser for the athletic department. “There’s nothing about this that’s good for me, my family or my career. I’m doing this for all of the people who have gone through this and will continue to go through this.”

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New York: Development officer accuses Binghamton U athletic staff of sexual harassment

Posted on March 24, 2009 by | Comments Off on New York: Development officer accuses Binghamton U athletic staff of sexual harassment

Press & Sun-Bulletin:
UPDATED: Sex complaint filed against BU
Fund raiser claims ‘egregious’ behavior by two athletics officials

Woman accuses BU athletic staff of sexual harassment

A woman who has been employed by Binghamton University for one year is accusing two members of the athletic staff of sexual harassment, according to a story on the New York Times Web site.

The New York Times said Elizabeth Williams, a major gifts officer for Binghamton athletics, began processing a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on March 5 and formally filed it Tuesday. In it, she named Jason Siegel, a senior associate athletic director, and Chris Lewis, the assistant athletic director for development.

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U.S. Supreme Court Lets Stand Rulings in Favor of Berkeley’s Web Site on Evolution

Posted on March 24, 2009 by | Comments Off on U.S. Supreme Court Lets Stand Rulings in Favor of Berkeley’s Web Site on Evolution

The Chronicle News Blog: U.S. Supreme Court Lets Stand Rulings in Favor of Berkeley’s Web Site on Evolution

Washington — The University of California at Berkeley has prevailed in a longstanding legal dispute over a Web site that explains and supports biological evolution. The U.S. Supreme Court declined today to review lower-court decisions that threw out a lawsuit challenging references to religion on the site as unconstitutional.

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California: Win for Anti-Bias Rules

Posted on March 18, 2009 by | Comments Off on California: Win for Anti-Bias Rules

Inside Higher Ed: Win for Anti-Bias Rules

A federal appeals court on Tuesday gave a major win to public universities and advocates for gay rights who have wanted to preserve in full the institutional anti-bias policies that bar discrimination based on sexual orientation.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled — in a two-sentence decision — that the Hastings College of Law of the University of California was within its rights to deny recognition to a branch of the Christian Legal Society. Hastings said that the student group’s ban on members who engage in “unrepentant homosexual conduct” violated the law school’s anti-bias policies. In turn, the Christian Legal Society argued that its First Amendment rights were being violated by the law school in that it was forcing the law students in the society to abandon their religious beliefs in return for recognition.

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