Tag Archives: Legal issues

No job, no money for Churchill

Posted on July 8, 2009 by | Comments Off on No job, no money for Churchill

Denver Post: No job, no money for Churchill

A judge has ruled that the University of Colorado doesn’t have to give controversial former professor Ward Churchill his job back, even though a jury found he was improperly fired.

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Drama professor provocative, or an abusive bully?

Posted on June 9, 2009 by | Comments Off on Drama professor provocative, or an abusive bully?

Seattle Times: WWU drama professor provocative, or an abusive bully?

Over the years, Western Washington University professor Perry Mills has referred to an overweight student as a “400-pound canary who warbles nothingness”; slapped the nickname “Precious” on a male colleague he believed to be gay; and called a female colleague a “bimbo” and “slut” to her face.

Those remarks were just for starters, according to university records.

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Posted in Faculty

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Canadian profs lose fight against G-Mail

Posted on June 9, 2009 by | Comments Off on Canadian profs lose fight against G-Mail

CAUT Bulletin: Arbitrator Dismisses Google Grievance

Lakehead University Faculty Association contested the switch to Google’s e-mail in 2007, alleging violations of collective agreement rights to privacy and academic freedom.

In his decision, arbitrator Joseph Carrier acknowledged the university exposed its aca­demic staff to greater danger because “…the likelihood of such incursions by U.S. authority into a private e-mail system (Lakehead’s own former system) was marginal compared to what might occur in the presence of the Google system.”

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Tenure’s Value … to Society

Posted on June 8, 2009 by | Comments Off on Tenure’s Value … to Society

Inside Higher Ed: Tenure’s Value … to Society

A judge ruled last week in Colorado that not only is tenure a good thing for the professors who enjoy it, it is valuable to the public. Further, the court ruled that the value (to the public) of tenure outweighed the value of giving colleges flexibility in hiring and dismissing. That is a principle that faculty members say is very important and makes this case about much more than the specific issues at play.

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Posted in Tenure & Promotion

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Keeping an Eye on Earmarks: the Education Department’s Role in Oversight

Posted on June 8, 2009 by | Comments Off on Keeping an Eye on Earmarks: the Education Department’s Role in Oversight

The Chronicle: Keeping an Eye on Earmarks: the Education Department’s Role in Oversight

The University of Louisville’s former dean of education, Robert D. Felner, faces a criminal trial on charges that he and an associate diverted most of a $694,000 earmarked federal grant into their own bank accounts. Louisville officials have announced an administrative overhaul that will, they say, help prevent any future misbehavior with grants.

But what about the U.S. Department of Education, which was responsible for overseeing the grant on taxpayers’ behalf? Should it, too, be doing some soul-searching in the aftermath of Mr. Felner’s indictment?

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Posted in Government, Legal issues

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In Researcher’s Background, Some Warning Signs

Posted on June 8, 2009 by | Comments Off on In Researcher’s Background, Some Warning Signs

The Chronicle: In Researcher’s Background, Some Warning Signs

When Robert D. Felner applied to become dean of education at the University of Louisville in 2003, he carried a genuinely impressive vita. But two of the most recent large grants listed on that vita could not have survived close scrutiny — and it isn’t clear that Louisville’s search committee scrutinized them at all.

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Posted in Administration, Legal issues

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The motion to suppress statements made by Robert Felner has been denied by U.S. District Court

Posted on June 8, 2009 by | Comments Off on The motion to suppress statements made by Robert Felner has been denied by U.S. District Court

PageOneKentucky.com: Some Robert Felner Scandal Tidbits

The motion to suppress statements made by Robert Felner has been denied by U.S. District Court Judge Charles R. Simpson III. Click here (Warning: PDF Link) for that.

And click here (Warning: PDF Link) for the judge’s memorandum opinion of whether or not he was subject to custodial interrogation.

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Posted in Legal issues

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Raid seeks to prove City College of SF misused funds

Posted on May 7, 2009 by | Comments Off on Raid seeks to prove City College of SF misused funds

San Francisco Chronicle: Raid seeks to prove City College misused funds

A copy of a search warrant served on the college shows that investigators are scrutinizing the actions of former Chancellor Philip Day, who left the college last year to work for an education lobbying firm in Washington, D.C.

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Posted in Legal issues

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Is Tenure Denial a Fair-Pay Issue? Federal Judge Says Yes

Posted on May 7, 2009 by | Comments Off on Is Tenure Denial a Fair-Pay Issue? Federal Judge Says Yes

The Chronicle: Is Tenure Denial a Fair-Pay Issue? Federal Judge Says Yes

When President Obama signed a new law in January that expanded workers’ rights to sue for discriminatory pay inequities, some higher-education legal experts predicted the measure would have little effect on colleges.

But a recent ruling by a federal judge in Mississippi could change that drastically by widening the areas covered by the law, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, to include decisions on tenure.

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Posted in Salary/Economic Benefits, Tenure & Promotion

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Not So Warm Welcome for New York Private College Chief

Posted on May 6, 2009 by | Comments Off on Not So Warm Welcome for New York Private College Chief

Inside Higher Ed: Not So Warm Welcome for New York Private College Chief

Last month, the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities in New York named Laura L. Anglin — New York State’s budget director — as its next president. Anglin takes office in July at CICU, which has historically been an influential player in Albany with work on behalf of the state’s private colleges. On Monday, the Student Assembly of the State University of New York offered a welcome of sorts to Anglin — in the form of an ethics complaint filed with the state public integrity division. The SUNY student group argues that holding the job of budget director while interviewing for the CICU job was a conflict of interest because the state has programs that assist private colleges and their students. Anglin, in a statement, responded: “The complaint filed by the Student Assembly of the State University of New York has no basis in fact. As a public servant for many years, I am clearly aware of my responsibilities under the state ethics laws. Throughout the budget process, I took the utmost precautions to ensure that I had met the requirements of the public officers law, both in spirit and in letter.”

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Posted in Ethics

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Ward Churchill Asks Judge to Order His Reinstatement at U. of Colorado

Posted on May 5, 2009 by | Comments Off on Ward Churchill Asks Judge to Order His Reinstatement at U. of Colorado

The Chronicle: Ward Churchill Asks Judge to Order His Reinstatement at U. of Colorado

With the support of two major faculty groups and a long list of scholars, Ward Churchill has formally asked a judge to order the University of Colorado to give him back his job as a tenured professor, arguing that only his reinstatement will repair the damage that his dismissal did to his reputation and the greater cause of academic freedom.

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Kentucky: Indicted former UofL dean wants trial moved from Louisville

Posted on May 3, 2009 by | Comments Off on Kentucky: Indicted former UofL dean wants trial moved from Louisville

Courier-Journal: Felner’s lawyer wants trial moved from Louisville
Media coverage called prejudicial

The lawyer for Robert Felner, the former University of Louisville education dean accused of misusing grant money and other funds, says his client cannot get a fair trial in Louisville and has asked that the case be heard in either Paducah, Bowling Green or Owensboro.
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Felner and a colleague, Thomas Schroeder of Port Byron, Ill., pleaded not guilty in October to federal charges of mail fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering and defrauding the Internal Revenue Service. Both are free on bond.

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Negotiators Report Progress on Antioch College

Posted on April 27, 2009 by | Comments Off on Negotiators Report Progress on Antioch College

Inside Higher Ed: Negotiators Report Progress on Antioch College

“Major progress” has been made in negotiations for Antioch University to transfer Antioch College to its own board, clearing the way for the revival of the college, the Great Lakes Colleges Association announced Sunday night. The association has been mediating negotiations between the university, which suspended the college’s operations, and alumni who want the college — the residential liberal arts college in Yellow Springs, Ohio — to operate on its own. According to a statement from the association, a “preliminary draft of a set of definitive agreements” has been completed, although some issues remain unclear. Some of those issues, involving control of endowment funds and tax status, require approval of groups such as the Internal Revenue Service and the Ohio attorney general’s office. The statement said that both sides are working to have board votes on the transfer plan take place by June 30.

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Posted in Budgets & Funding

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Court Filings in Kentucky Give a Vivid Glimpse of a Dean’s Interrogation

Posted on April 24, 2009 by | Comments Off on Court Filings in Kentucky Give a Vivid Glimpse of a Dean’s Interrogation

The Chronicle News Blog: Court Filings in Kentucky Give a Vivid Glimpse of a Dean’s Interrogation

“Dean, I can help you. I can work with you. Okay? But you need to know upfront that lying to a federal agent potentially could have … some criminal ramifications.”

It’s not every day that a campus police detective interrogates a dean. But a brief filed yesterday in a federal court in Kentucky offers a vivid portrait of the scene that unfolded last June, when Jeffrey G. Jewell, an investigator with the University of Louisville’s police department, spent more than six hours grilling Robert Felner, dean of the university’s College of Education and Human Development. Four months later, Mr. Felner was indicted on charges of embezzling more than $2-million from a federal research grant and from contracts with three urban school districts.

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California Attorney General Says Anti-Affirmative Action Measure Is Unconstitutional

Posted on April 23, 2009 by | Comments Off on California Attorney General Says Anti-Affirmative Action Measure Is Unconstitutional

The Chronicle News Blog: California Attorney General Says Anti-Affirmative Action Measure Is Unconstitutional

San Francisco — A landmark ballot measure banning affirmative action in public hiring, contracting, and college admissions, approved by California voters in 1996, violates the U.S. Constitution’s equal-protection guarantees, Attorney General Jerry Brown said on Wednesday in a letter to the state’s Supreme Court.

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Dallas-based Institute for Creation Research sues state over denial of its master’s program

Posted on April 21, 2009 by | Comments Off on Dallas-based Institute for Creation Research sues state over denial of its master’s program

Dallas Morning News: Dallas-based Institute for Creation Research sues state over denial of its master’s program

The Institute for Creation Research has taken its fight to train future science teachers to the federal courthouse.

The Dallas-based group alleges that the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board violated its civil rights by denying the institute’s request to offer a master’s degree in science education.

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Posted in Academics

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Fla. Community College President Indicted

Posted on April 20, 2009 by | Comments Off on Fla. Community College President Indicted

Inside Higher Ed: Fla. Community College President Indicted

When allegations first surfaced last year about possible conflicts of interest involving state funds earmarked for Northwest Florida State College and its award of a job to a prominent state legislator who arranged for the money, the college’s president, Bob Richburg, angrily distinguished the situation from recent scandals in Alabama’s community college system that had led to resignations and even criminal charges.

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Posted in Legal issues

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Law Professors Sue Publisher Over ‘Sham’ Book Supplement

Posted on April 16, 2009 by | Comments Off on Law Professors Sue Publisher Over ‘Sham’ Book Supplement

The Chronicle News Blog: Law Professors Sue Publisher Over ‘Sham’ Book Supplement

Two law professors are suing West Publishing in federal district court for putting their names on a book supplement they did not write, arguing that it is a “sham” that could damage their reputations.

For nearly 20 years, David Rudovsky, a senior fellow at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and Leonard Sosnov, a professor of law at Widener Law School, have compiled an annual supplement to their 1988 book, Pennsylvania Criminal Procedure: Law, Commentary and Forms.

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U Texas System, faculty association settle lawsuit

Posted on April 16, 2009 by | Comments Off on U Texas System, faculty association settle lawsuit

Austin American-Statesman: UT System, faculty association settle lawsuit
Laid-off UTMB employees will get first consideration for openings.

The Texas Faculty Association and the University of Texas System settled a lawsuit Monday in which the association had charged that the system’s governing board violated the state Open Meetings Act by discussing layoffs behind closed doors.

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Florida: FAU says no to recommended faculty raises

Posted on April 13, 2009 by | Comments Off on Florida: FAU says no to recommended faculty raises

Sun Sentinel: FAU says no to recommended faculty raises

BOCA RATON – Florida Atlantic University is rejecting a magistrate’s recommendation to give larger raises to faculty.

The university and the United Faculty of Florida have been at impasse since November over faculty salaries. Special Magistrate Joseph M. Schneider recommended the university offer a one-year 2.5 percent raise, saying that should be “the minimum salary increase needed to keep faculty salaries competitive in the labor market.” The recommendation was nonbinding, but the union believed FAU should have abided by it.

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Posted in Salary/Economic Benefits

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