Monthly Archives: December 2007

Taylor Less One Lawer with the Trial to Resme Soon

Posted on December 13, 2007 by | 6 Comments

There is a development in the trial for the homocide of Laura Dickinson; namely, the unexplained exit of Orange Taylor’s lawyer for the first trial:

“Taylor’s lawyer exits his case”

An Eastern Michigan University student accused of killing another student in her dorm room has until Wednesday to find a new attorney, after his lawyer withdrew from the case last week.

If Orange Taylor III does not have new representation when he appears for a pretrial hearing next week, his case will be referred to the public defender’s office.

The second trial is set to begin Jan. 28 supposing that this loss of a lawyer does not cause a delay in the proceedings.

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Posted in Dickinson Murder, Security and Safety

EMU settles Dickinson lawsuit for $2.5 Million

Posted on December 13, 2007 by | 16 Comments

I heard this on WEMU this afternoon and am now reading it on the EMU web site here:

Eastern Michigan University and the Family and Estate of Laura Leigh Dickinson, through their representatives, The Law Firm of GEE & LONGSTREET LLP, in Hastings, Michigan, Robert Dickinson and Debra Dickinson, Parents of Laura Leigh Dickinson, have agreed to settle for 2.5 million dollars the claim of the Family and Estate arising out of Laura Leigh Dickinson’s tenure as a student at Eastern Michigan University and her unfortunate death. Eastern Michigan University has agreed to the settlement without any admission of liability on the part of the University.

The press release also indicates that we’re not likely to hear any more details about this settlement, which is unfortunate since I have a lot of different questions. I guess one thing I want to know right now: given the budget cuts around this place as of late, how exactly is EMU going to pay this?

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Posted in Dickinson Murder

PrayHarrold renovation plans made public

Posted on December 12, 2007 by | 30 Comments

 Two pieces of good news, and one bit of bad news, on PrayHarrold and hopes for renovating it.  First, the major good news:  it’s looking very hopeful that EMU’s request for serious state money may be approved in the State Legislature.  It’s been a decade since EMU got state funds for a capital project, and we’re due.  Hopefully, there will be more detailed and specific news out of the capital in the  next few weeks.  Second, more good news:  at long last, after two years of asking and waiting, only to be ignored,  the Administration has responded positively to requests for access to the “Program Statement” that lays out the plans for how PrayHarrold is to be expanded and renovated.   Acting provost Bob Neely, responding to my most recent request for the document, agreed to make it public, and did so by posting it  at  http://www.emich.edu/public/aa/docs/prayharrold.pdf.   It is an 90 page document.  I commend Bob for providing access to it now. For two years, various PrayHarrold faculty  Continue reading →

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Posted in Academics, Budgets, Buildings and Grounds

Prof. Olga Nelson, dies at 65

Posted on December 12, 2007 by | Leave a comment

Professor of teacher education Olga Nelson died last week, at age 65, in a hospice.  I believe it was cancer.  I didn’t know her well, but in all my conversations with Olga, her energetic, well-informed passionate concern for our students was abundant and contagious.  I learned a lot from her –  I got to know her thru the academic advising system – she was one of the College of Education’s advisors. She struck me as a genius at the complex tasks that good academic advising entails:  listening, mastery of details of numerous academic programs and their requirements, making assessments of what is best for a given student, grasp of multiple deadlines and proper paperwork, and clarity of communication with widely diverse students and their many ‘styles of learning.’  Plus, as a good academic adviser she found,  on occasion, ways to get minor rules waived in order to meet the broader educational needs of a student.  Olga joined the EMU faculty in the early 1990s.  She grew up in New York, spoke with a wonderful New York accent, and attended SUNY Buffalo as an undergraduate in  Continue reading →

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Posted in Academics, Faculty Life, Student Life

BoR member Stapleton weighs in on President search, sort of

Posted on December 12, 2007 by | 14 Comments

There was an interesting “Other Voices” piece in today’s Ann Arbor News by EMU BoR member Jim Stapleton titled “U-M’s Martin is handling Miles issue with complete integrity.” I don’t know if you’ve heard, but that quaint liberal arts school in Ann Arbor is apparently in search for a new football coach, and some hilarity has ensued about the choices. The “Miles issue” has to do with the fumbles (nice pun, huh?) about trying recruit the Louisiana State University football coach to U of M; Stapleton’s point here is that U of M’s Bill Martin has handled all of this great.

Honestly, I don’t care at all who is coach of the U of M football team or how Martin has handled it. But there was an interesting passage here about the EMU presidential search.
Continue reading →

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Posted in Board of Regents, EMU President Search, In the media...

The Search for Safety

Posted on December 11, 2007 by | 1 Comment

There is a quite detailed article on the search for the new Executive of Public Safety:

“Panel chooses final 4 for EMU public safety director“

Three interviews down, and one to go, for finalists chosen from among 54 applicants for the job of public safety director at Eastern Michigan University. … The successful candidate will fill the position vacated earlier this year in the aftermath of the scandal over a homicide on campus. Ellen Gold, the EMU staff member heading the search committee, said the group expects to make a recommendation before Dec. 17. “We were absolutely excited after looking at the pool of candidates,” said Gold, executive director of University Health Services.

Continue reading →

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Posted in Security and Safety

academics — an unwanted step-child?

Posted on December 8, 2007 by | 4 Comments

Thesis: Academic Affairs is the good-hearted whore slapped around by the other divisions (paraphrased from the respected PT down the hall).

Evidence:

  • Academics gets cut, athletics gets increase.
  • Academics barely mentioned in ad for president.
  • Big push for program sustainability, non-academic divisions/programs are not so threatened. Nor are they examined with anything like the rigor that academic programs are examined with.
  • “Recoupment” money allocated to academic affairs is absorbed into general fund.
  • Student fees pretty much entirely allocated to non-academic programs.
  • Monies collected from students in previous years to directly support student labs have been re-classified and are now going to general fund.
  • Functions previously done by non-academic divisions are transferred to academic divisions without transfer of resources: e.g., entering course schedules to Banner, payroll.
  • Largest slice of Continuing Education “profit” goes to general fund, not academics.

Am I wrong?

I am *so* ready to support a president who understands that the point, the whole point, is academics. Everything else makes the academics happen and some of the non-academic stuff makes academics more fun.

The mission is the knowledge. What makes EMU so special is who are students are and how they relate to faculty.

The problem is other divisions get to hide behind their antiquated, clunky and secretive processes.  Academic Affairs is pretty much laid bare for all to see — not so for other divisions.

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Posted in Academics, Budgets, EMU President Search, Uncategorized

“EMU broadens search” for next Prez

Posted on December 8, 2007 by | 13 Comments

The Ann Arbor News has a pretty okay story this morning about the search for the next EMU President, “EMU broadens search Diverse pool of candidates sought for next president.” I say “pretty okay” because while it mostly is a recap of old news, it has some interviews from some local EMU folks offering their thoughts on what they want for the next president. It’s worth checking out the paper version because I don’t think the sidebar interviews with different EMU folks is online.

I have all sorts of thoughts, but I guess for the time-being, I’ll offer four:
Continue reading →

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Posted in EMU President, EMU President Search, In the media...

Local Facebook news/U of M SG scandal

Posted on December 7, 2007 by | 2 Comments

I posted this already on my official blog, but I thought folks here might appreciate this too:

Wandering through this evening’s Ann Arbor News, I came across this “concerned citizen” letter to the editor that I know newspapers always love to run. Follow the link to read the whole thing (it’s the first letter); here’s my favorite paragraph:

My question is about YouTube and MySpace. What is it about putting all of one’s personal and private business out into the public domain for friend and foe to gather information so that they can either stalk you, attempt to rape or molest you or even attempt to kill you. Is your 15 minutes of fame worth the cost of a rapist, predator or murderer showing up at your front door?

Ah yes, much YouTube/Myspace molestation for sure….

Anyway, one link led to another, and I learned that the U of M student government president was brought down by a Facebook scandal. There was a story about it on the national media site Gawker, and an article in the (University of) Michigan Daily.

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Posted in Academics, In the media..., Student Life

Gasoline fight just down the street

Posted on December 7, 2007 by | 4 Comments

And I don’t mean the kind of gasoline fight like the one in Zoolander. I’m sure many commuters coming in from Ann Arbor already know this, but there are a couple of gas stations on Washtenaw between Mansfield and Cornell that seem to be engaged in a perpetual price war. Driving by there last night I saw traffic backed up onto Washtenaw, and when I stopped back later to fill up, the price had gone up a quarter, from a low of $2.75 to $3.00 (which is still a good price around here nowadays).

So if you want wait in line to save a few pennies….

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Posted in Faculty Life, Staff Life, Student Life, Ypsilanti