1986-02-17; Central Michigan Life

              r
Central Michigan LIFE
Vol. 69 No 62
C1986 CM LIFE
Mount Pleasant. Michigan 48859
• 14 Pagt>»
Monday. February 17. 1986
State investigates former faculty member
(Elditor's note: Upon the recommendation of an independently-hired
media attorney CM UFE is withholding the name and other
identifying information about the farmer faculty member mentioned in
this story.)
by RENEE M. SMITH
LIFE Staff Writer
A state agency currently is investigating a former CMU faculty
member on charges of alleged sexual misconduct. The faculty member
resigned after charges were brought against the individual by a
student.
The state agency initiated its investigation after it received a letter
and other information about the allegations from a University official,
according to a letter from the chief deputy director of the state agency
in response to a CM LIFE Freedom of Information Act request.
The letter received by the state agency from the University official
was attached to an affidavit which "is highly 'personal' in nature," the
chief deputy director's letter states.
The affidavit details incidents that took place between the student
who filed the complaint with the University and the former faculty
member in 1982 and 1983, the state agency's letter states
The letter from the University official to the state contains the
disclaimer, The University is taking no position as to the truth or
falsity of these claims."
According to sources close to the case, after the CMU student
brought a complaint to University officials, the University suspended
the faculty member with pay while Ft. William Dunham, associate vice
provost for Faculty Contractual Relations, conducted an investigation.
Later. University officials decided untess the faculty member
resigned, the faculty member's employment would be terminated,
sources said
Upon the faculty member's resignation, a legal agreement between
the faculty member and the University was signed stating Central
would not make available to the public any information about the
faculty member's resignation, sources indicate
Payroll records released after a CM LJFE Freedom of Information
Act request show in the 2 l/s months preceding the faculty member's
resignation, the faculty member received more than $30,000 in 'salary
and contractual agreement payments from the University."
When contacted, the former faculty member said the reason for the
ISe* "Resignation'*—page 2
Committee's report
remains confidential
by RANDY LOVELY
LIFE Managing Editor
A 35 to 50 page report outlining
the presidential search process
may just contain an event
chronology, but the document's
contents have Ix-en viewed only by
a select group
Last week members of the
Board of Trustees and Dennis
Thavenet. Presidential Search
Committee chaii man, received the
report from the committee's
executive .secretary Jean May hew.
May hew said she was asked by
the hoard al the Ix-ginning of the
search to "writ<• a historical record
of the search process "
The document is a step-by-step
analy-is of the process, Mayhe-w
said, adding. "There is nothing in
that report that is of a controversial nature, it'sjust a discussion of
what hapJH-ned "
Tnja-ta-a-    Williaim    Oeiyklrk    aiaiij
the report wn-e a "very thorough
analysis of what happened." hut
said the contents "did bring some
ijuestions to my mind "
Although   he   would   nut   claim
rate on all his concerns. Odykirk
said    he   questions   the   "basis   of
elimination  of  some   people  from
the  jH . i)
Odykirk said the report stated
candidates    initially    were   e-Iimi
nated if they received two
negative votes from the
16-member committee. During
later deliberations, three negative
votes were necessary to eliminate
an individual
"It was pretty easy for two guys
to zing anybody." Odykirk said,
adding the committee narrowed
the list of 1M) candidates to 1 IH
during its first meeting
Odykirk also questioned lit
'what level value judgments were
made in comparing administrative experience versus publication
and research experience* "
While saying the report
contained no surprises. Trustee
Harhael Moreno said the
document cannot Ik* released to
the public.
"It's a private or confidential
document until the hoard decides
to receive it or act on it." Moreno
said
"The board talked about making
it an in-house document until it
was accepted," she added
Odykirk would not release the
manuscript until he was sure it
had been received by all Ixi.ird
menders
Trustees Ilernadim- Denning
and Mitch Kehetian confirmed
receiving the report Thursday-
Other    trustees    could    riot    he-
reached Sunday for comment.
Sunday Denning said she had
received the report but did not
want to discuss it
Mayhew said the* report's
account l>egins "with last June
when the Hoard of Trustees
decided they were going to
conduct a search and ends when
the five names were given to the
rxwd Dec   14 '
Atlacted to the- document was a
list of suggestions compiled by
Mayhew- and Thavenet "indicating
what the Ixjard could do differently in future searches,"
May hew >.nd She would not
comment <m the suggestions
Thavenet. who said he le-nt his
copy of the report to a friend, could
not rememl-er all the recommendations, but did reveal two
He said the attachment
suggested faculty members who
participate with a search
committee receive release time
from their classroom obligations
Also, he and Mayhew said the
search o If ice arrangement Was
elficier.t and should U- provided
(or in future searches
In trying to recall other recommendation-. Thavenet said. "I
can't remember I was ready to
divest my-ell of these thing- so I
didn't pay much attention to it "
And that's 100!
o*tm *—-.* f~t
After Muskegon freshman Sherry Kelly sank s pair of tree throws to put the cMU women's
basketball team over the century mark, the Chippewa bench rejoices the feat CMU beat Northern
Illinois, 101-79. Saturday at Rose Arena. See related story on page 10.
Academic Senate sends
resolution to Blanchard
by I»AT HltAY
LIFE Staff Writer
A letter calling for the immediate resignation*
ol    I he    Hoard    of   Trustee-    was    sent    to   t'nv
Hlanchard     Friday    by    the    Academic    Senate
Evecutive- Hoard
The* letter and resolution both deal with what
many have seen a- the hoard's inappropriate
actions during the recent presidential search The
trustees put a.-ide a list of five final candidate-
given to them by the Presidential Search
Committee- and selected former Interim President Arthur Kills to the presidency  Feb   4
A-Senate Secretary Stephen Holder said the
first draft of the letter was completed Wednesday
following the- group's Tuesday meeting At that
meeting the- A-Senate pas-.il a resolution calling
for the- immediate- resignation of all current bj.ird
memln-rs
Holder, as.-oei.itc professor of English, said the-
letter went through some minor changes f*-f<.re it
was sent Friday
"It would have- fn-en impossible for the facultv
to have- re-acted in any other way." Holder said
"The* letter basically echoed the Senate resolution   It also included a copy of the trustees' search
procedure "
The- letter sought to bring tour points of tin-
board's actions to the governor's attention
including
Violation ot the spirit ' f the search procedure
agreed upon with the- lacullv
-  Insensitivty to affirmative- action programs
Violations of the Open Meetings Act
- (it-neration of more bad publicity for CMI."
Holder said the governor din- not have- to take-
any action on the lette-r
If the- governor's education adviser. Tom
lialdmi, is correct, he- probably  will not
Haldim said after last week's A-Senate meet ing
the- governor would probably not take- any action
"I would doubt if the- governor would ever do
that that's   asking   the   governor   to   inject
him-e-ll   in  the-  middle- of a  political  conflict."  he-
said
Holder said the letter and pressure- from other
campus group- may have an effect e-ven if the
governor doe- not act on the issue He said some-
of the- trustees may l-e feeling the- pressure to
resign
"The-re is a wide- range of personalities un the
Irourd'. some-may have more sensitivity to it than
others." Holder said 	
Department postpones
appointment to search
by IJKTSY MINEIl
LIFE Ass't. News Editor
Due lo concerns that a dean
search will l«- conducted hastily.
p-ychology de-partment memlf-rs
postponed appointing a new
committee- member Friday
Psychology Department Chairperson Michael Ke-nt said the
department unanimously decided
f-nday to po-tpone- selection of a
new me-mbe-r to the committee
replacing William Theunis-e-n.
retiring dean o! the School of
Kefuc.it ion. Health and Human
Serv ires
A replacement was re-^uired
after psychology profe--or Te-rrv
Hec-hr resigned from the- -earch
committee becau-e he feared ihe-
dean search will mean little to the
Hoard of Trustees
"We postponed election of a
re-placement." Ke-nt saiel
Kent adde-d a letter w ill In- given
to Provost
outlining the
concerns about
which the se,
expected to be- c
ohn Cantelon
de-pa rt me-nt's
the sj'reed with
rch proce-s- is
nducted
"Anytime- you do a search t hat's
fnen done- too ejuicklv. there can
be- some problems," he added
Cantelon said he told search
committee me-mUrs to take- their
time- with the- search
"I informed the search
committee- that if they had any
time- pressures that they felt we-re-
a problem that they can continue-
to meet in the- fall and take- as
much time- a- they nie-de-d."
Cantelon said
"I think the ge-ne-ral feeling of
the department wa- it's rather
late- in the academic year to In-
undertaking a national search."
psychology professor Arthur
Thomas said
"Since the position is going to In-
vacated   this  summer  there   isn't
much tune- to eio all  of that
he- adde-d
The- eeince-rris voiced lis
psychology department faculty do
Hot      relate-     to     the     pri-sldeutlal
-••an h
Carole- He-e-re-. lo.iiil.ilr
professor nl psychology, -.nd "The
more- customary way that an
academic search i- done I- that
the- i<ls are plae'e-ei in the paper in
early fall and application- <ome in
middle- or late r part o! the- fall
"We're-    limiting    our    applicant
pool by looking at the wrung tun.
In a way   It's  like  trvmg  to buy     i
Valentine in Juls," -he added
He-e-ri- -aid the solution :- to
appoint an interim dean and
proeied with a -earih -lowly
"lavt's   do  .1   good  Job     it    wh  it,   We
do      Everybody     I've    talked    to
thinks  thi-    Particularly   with  .in
admin-t rative-        appointment
They're   not   only   important,   but
can l-e long lasting." -In-   added
News Brief
Yolanda King, daughter of the late civil rights activist Martin
Luther King Jr will speak about "The Dream Deferred* tonight
at 8 in Warriner Auditorium  Admission is free
Weather        (nd
Cloudy     Monday      Good ■ ■ ■*-*>~"*.fV
chance  of mixed  snow,  sleet
and    freezing    rain    north LIFK-wirepage 2
Chance of freer ing rain south. Profile page 3
changing to  rain during the Comment page4
afternoon    Highs   lower   30.-. Bloom County page4
north  and  mid  30s  to lower Entertainment page6
40s   south.    Mostly    cloudy Spotlifc page6
Monday night  and Tuesday. Placement Notices page9
with   slight   chance   of  rain Sports page 10
extreme   south.    Lows   20s Classifieds page 12
north to 30s south. Highs mid Police Reports page 14
30s to lower 40s.
Student's lawsuit may be dismissed
by DF.B BAKER
LIFE Staff Writer
A student's law-uit against the l.'niver-ily may !«• thrown out of
court U-c.ium- it has been filed t<x> late-
Trie case involves a more than two year-old incide-nt involving
pl.iintilTJohn ThierofT. I-amlx-rtville- junior
Thieroff was running down the- hallway in Robinson Hall, possibly
to retrieve* a frisbee. when another person "accidentlj" shoved
Thieroff. forcing him into a window The- window broke- and Thie-roffs
hand was injured in the Se-ptemher 19**..') incide-nt. said Robert Jan-ma,
CMU's attorney in the suit
Thieroff did not file suit earlier because he hoped his injuries would
heal and not aJTe-ct him pe-rrnanently. ThierofTs lawyer. James
White-house, said
Whitehouse said the suit's basis was improper maintenance The*
University is charged with failing to install the proper type of window
in the residence hall
ThierofT is seeking damages in "excess of $ 10,00O* in compensation
for medical injuries and a delay in education Whitehouse said
ThierofT has impaired writing, typing and piano playing ability due to
nerve damages in his hand.
Whitehouse aaid ThierofT is not considered fully disabled and
therefore not eligible for Social Security disability benefits
Thie-roffs education se-thark consists of Thieroff- inability to
complete- a semester at ("Ml" Ihimum- of writing problems and a drop
in his grade- point average. Wlute-hoUM- said
Thie*roff left the University after that se-me-ster and altendi d the-
University of Toledo but has returned to CMU. he said
Originally the archite-cts who designed the- window, also wen-
charged in the suit, but White-house- said he wa- unable- to IrK.ite anv
representatives of Roger Allen and Associates architects That portion
of the suit was dropped
The window should have- l-ren de-signed to take more abu-e
Whitehouse said
"It's the* same idea as a playground where you know kid- will U-
climbing around on the e-ejuipment . the- de-sign of the- window eiid
not correspond to what would l>e needed in a freshman men's dorm
fille-d up with young, energetic males without constant supervision"
Whitehouse said.
He added the window should have Ix-en up higher on the wall or
metal guards should have been me-shed inside the glass
Both sides are waiting for a court decision whether the case should
In- discontinued.
One subject in question is whether the University h.'Ls a policy which
prohibits horseplay in the hallways Neither lawyer said they knew
and Housing Director Oeorge .Jennings was unavailable for comment