Category Archives: Dickinson Murder

Judge: John Fallon must pay Eastern Michigan University legal fees

Posted on March 1, 2009 by | 5 Comments

In the never-ending saga that is John Fallon, we may have actually come to something that approximates “the end:” from mlive/AANews, “Judge: John Fallon must pay Eastern Michigan University legal fees.” I should have posted this yesterday because I actually first heard this story on Michigan Public Radio when the family and I were driving back into town after a busy week of traveling and looking at monumental things and catching up with old friends. In any event, here’s a long quote from the story:

A Washtenaw County judge has ordered former Eastern Michigan University President John Fallon to pay the school more than $18,000 to cover some of the legal fees associated with his whistleblower lawsuit.

Fallon owed the university $12, 236 for deposition costs and filing fees, and an additional $6,118 in special costs for transcripts and other court-related expenses, Circuit Judge Archie Brown said in a four-page ruling issued earlier this month.

The monetary award does not include attorney fees associated with the 2007 lawsuit, which Brown dismissed last October. He found the university did not fire Fallon because regents feared he may divulge alleged violations of the Open Meetings Act.

“This is perhaps the last chapter in this saga,” said Mark Boonstra, an attorney for Miller Canfield, the firm that represented EMU in the case.

We shall see about that last paragraph, Mr. Boonstra, we shall see. Given how long Fallon has held onto this thing, I somehow am afraid that we have yet to reach the bottom.

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Posted in Administrator Life, Dickinson Murder, EMU President, In the media...

Farewell to the Ann Arbor News?

Posted on November 12, 2008 by | 1 Comment

Some interesting you-know-what is hitting the fan over at Ann Arbor News that is not likely to be reported there: this might be a slight exaggeration, but it would appear that the paper is being all but closed down by the company that owns it.

A couple of interesting links to blog posts below the “Read More” part:
Continue reading →

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Posted in Ann Arbor, Blogosphere, Dickinson Murder, In the media..., Ypsilanti

And what did Sidney Fallon have to do with this again?

Posted on November 4, 2008 by | 1 Comment

The Eastern Echo had a story the other day about Fallon’s lawsuit being dismissed, and it raised a wrinkle/issue I hadn’t heard much about previously:

Faupel said the Fallon family is currently without income due to the university’s illegal discrimination against his wife in violation of the Elliott Larsen Civil Rights Act.

According to Faupel, Fallon’s initial contract draft stated that his wife, Dr. Sidney Fallon, could not obtain employment at EMU.

[Fallon’s attorney Marion] Faupel said the stipulation had been removed from the contract at Fallon’s request before he began his role as president, but that the chairman and vice-chairman of the board at that time told him that it was still enforceable.

She said this left Sidney Fallon without a job, and when John Fallon was fired, left the Fallons without income.

According to university records, John Fallon received $233,289 for the 2007 tax year.

I had vaguely heard this about Sidney Fallon before, but I guess I don’t quite understand why it is coming up again. Is this part of the lawsuit? Is this an angle that Faupel is trying to spin as to why her client is being wronged?

It seems kind of weird to me. For starters, I really think that if the Fallons had pressed the issue and if there was a position for Sidney Fallon that was appropriate at EMU, I am guessing she could have been employed. But is it conceivable that she would have kept her job, whatever it was, after her husband got canned? And besides that, she couldn’t get a job anywhere else?

Oh, and I have a hard time working up a lot of sympathy for a couple who made just shy of a quarter of a million last year. They probably aren’t going hungry.

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Posted in Administrator Life, Dickinson Murder, EMU President, In the media...

Fallon’s lawsuit dismissed

Posted on November 1, 2008 by | Leave a comment

I thought I’d go ahead and post a link to the story that was in the AANews the other day about Fallon: Fallon’s lawsuit dismissed. There’s nothing really new here, except this:

Fallon’s attorney, Marian Faupel, said this morning that she and her client were disappointed in the ruling and that Fallon was “certainly thinking about an appeal.”

Gosh, wouldn’t that be swell? Just think, this could go on and on and on!

And this:

Fallon has several applications pending for new jobs, she said, but she said it is difficult for him to find employment because of the way the board handled his firing.

Well, the fact that he helped cover-up a murder investigation on his campus might also be a bit of a deal-breaker for new jobs too. In the meantime, he is still (apparently) a candidate for the top job at North Country CC in upstate New York. We’ll see how that turns out for him.

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Posted in Administrator Life, Dickinson Murder, EMU President, In the media...

Perhaps this is the last we will hear from John Fallon…

Posted on October 30, 2008 by | Leave a comment

Or we can hope, at least. From Pam Young comes this news:

Earlier today (October 30), Judge Archie C. Brown of the 22nd Circuit Court of Washtenaw County granted Eastern Michigan University’s Motion for Summary Disposition and dismissed former EMU President John Fallon’s lawsuit that was filed against the University in 2007. Judge Brown previously dismissed Plaintiff Fallon’s claim against the chairperson of the University’s Board of Regents.

The University is pleased with the Court’s decisions. The University is looking forward to an exciting year that will include construction of a new Science Complex, and renovation of Pray-Harrold Hall and the Department of Public Safety Office.

So, is this it? Will Fallon become a semi-distant memory?

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Posted in Administrator Life, Dickinson Murder, EMU President

Fallon finalist for president job at North Country CC in New York

Posted on September 29, 2008 by | 1 Comment

In the “where are they now?” category of things: John Fallon is one of four finalists for the job as president of North Country Community College in New York: NCCC narrows presidential search to four. This brief article from the local media in northeastern New York emphasizes Fallon’s past job as president of SUNY-Potsdam, which makes sense since NCCC about 75 miles away from Potsdam in the Adirondack mountains.

Here’s the part on Fallon:

Dr. Fallon began his career in 1973 in a joint appointment role as an assistant professor and consultant at Ball State University in Indiana.

He has served as president of William Penn University in Iowa, the State University of New York at Potsdam and Eastern Michigan University. For the past year, Dr. Fallon has been serving as a senior fellow with the American Association of State Colleges and Universities. He is a graduate of Western Michigan University (BS), Northern Michigan University (MA) and Michigan State University (Ph.D.). Dr. Fallon is married to Dr. Sidney Lynn Miller Fallon; they have four children.

Interestingly, I didn’t realize Fallon went off to that place where university presidents go in an attempt to be rehabilitated from the past, the AASCU. And I have to assume that the only reason why Fallon is a finalist for this job is because of connections he has in the region. After all, he’s the only finalist for this job who doesn’t have explicit experience at a community college.

Well, anyone doing a bit of internet research on Fallon will probably come across EMUTalk.org, so if there are New Yorkers new to this site, a big howdy from me. Oh, and I might suggest passing on Fallon for a variety of different reasons….

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Posted in Administrator Life, Dickinson Murder, EMUtalk.org News, In the media...

“Jim Vick passed over for AD job at Ypsilanti schools”

Posted on July 22, 2008 by | 5 Comments

From the Ann Arbor News comes “Jim Vick passed over for AD job at Ypsilanti schools.” In a way, the story repeats the news that was posted yesterday in this comment from Mark Higbee. Higbee is quoted in the article, too.

There were two passages in the piece that stood out for me:

Board members did not discuss their views of Vick before voting, a development that was questioned by an audience member.

[Board President David] Bates replied that six board members attended a human resources committee last week where the issue was discussed.

“Every member of the board did not make their decision lightly,” Bates said.

Bates also said that the public had already made up their minds about the issue and whatever board members would say would not change their opinions.

I’m just not entirely sure what Bates is getting at here; I don’t know if it is what he said, but it seems like it might really be confusing writing/reporting.

And then there’s this too:

After the meeting, Bates told The News that board members wanted a candidate with more recent high school experience. According to Vick’s resume, he was a 12th grade English teacher and wrestling and track coach in Cleveland, Ohio, from 1969 to 1973, before moving to EMU in 1973.

This, on the other hand, makes an enormous amount of sense to me.

Regardless of what you think of Vick as a “nice guy,” his abilities as an administrator, and his role (or lack thereof) in the Dickinson murder cover-up, it seems to me that this isn’t enough specific high school experience for this job. There is a big difference between secondary schools and universities, and anyone who teaches or works at one or the other can tell you that.

And yes, this was a loooong time ago. I believe I was in first or second grade when Vick wrapped up his high school career.

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Posted in Dickinson Murder, In the media..., Ypsilanti

trusty getto on Vick being considered for YHS job

Posted on July 20, 2008 by | 2 Comments

“trusty getto” is the name of a fine local blog by Cameron Getto, an attorney active in the Ypsi community.  His latest entry, “Jim Vick to be considered for Ypsi High School administration position this Monday evening” does a very good and logical job spelling out the issues at hand here.  After a bit of background, Getto writes this:

[I]n my view, what we have here is quite the conundrum. Either Mr. Vick is innocent of the accusations made against him, and EMU and Buztel Long engaged in a cover-up of their own, or EMU is correct, and Mr. Vick hasn’t been forthright about the role he played.

It would seem to follow, then, that prior to hiring Mr. Vick, the Board of Education has a duty to satisfy itself that Mr. Vick is on the up and up. The BOE must be satisfied that the Butzel Long report is clearly wrong as it relates to Mr. Vick, and that all of the incriminating facts and conclusions set forth in the report are either mistakes, or out and out lies. The BOE must satisfy itself that the report issued by the U.S. Dep’t of Education is not referring in any way to Mr. Vick’s words or conduct, and that the fine issued cannot be attributed to anything Mr. Vick did or did not do.

This strikes me as an extraordinarily difficult task, perhaps an impossible one, and I do not envy those on our BOE who will have the responsibility to conduct such an inquiry prior to making what would otherwise be a routine hiring decision, what with all the time, money and division such an inquiry stands to require.

As Getto says, Monday’s Ypsilanti BOE meeting could be an interesting one to say the least.

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Posted in Administrator Life, Dickinson Murder, Ypsilanti

Vick up for vice-principal job at Ypsilanti High

Posted on July 2, 2008 by | 16 Comments

In the “seriously? wait, seriously, this is really true?” department of things, the AANews is reporting “Ex-EMU administrator Jim Vick in line for vice principal/athletic director job at Ypsilanti schools.” According to the article, the process won’t be official until July 21 when the board votes on it, which begs the question as to how/why it is in the paper now.

Why Vick? Here’s what he had to say:

“The school is right down the street from where I live, my degree is in secondary (education) administration and I was a high school teacher and coach before I came to Eastern,” Vick said. “I have a lot of a lot of administrative experience and I’ve been involved with athletics for most of my life, so it was a good fit.”

First off, this might be more evidence to suggest that Vick was never qualified to be a university vice-president, especially one who had as many responsibilities and as much power as Vick had when he was at EMU. Second, someone in Ypsilanti School District office might want to do a google search for “Vick Dickinson murder” or just do a search of EMUTalk.org for “Vick.” I don’t know Jim, and everyone who does know him personally say he’s a great guy. Still, I would think that Vick’s well-documented role in the Dickinson murder cover-up might be a good reason to say that he is probably not the best person to hire into a position like this.

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Posted in Administrator Life, Dickinson Murder, In the media..., Ypsilanti

EMU pays $350K fine for Clery Act violations

Posted on June 6, 2008 by | 7 Comments

From the AANews: “Eastern Michigan University to pay $350,000 in federal fines over Laura Dickinson case.” Here are the first few paragraphs:

Eastern Michigan University will have to pay $350,000 in fines for violating a federal campus crime reporting law – the largest ever imposed by the U.S. Department of Education for Clery Act violations.

EMU announced today that it agreed to pay the fine, which is slightly less than the original amount – $357,500 – proposed by the department after it concluded that university officials had not properly notified the campus community that it was investigating the death of a student as a murder.

“We’re pleased to have arrived at an agreement with the DOE and we appreciate their recognition of the progress and improvements that EMU has made during the past year in regards to Clery Act compliance,” said Don Loppnow, provost and executive vice president, in a statement released this morning. “EMU will continue its efforts to emphasize safety and security on campus.”

This settlement apparently sets a record for highest fine as a result of a Clery Act violation. Not the kind of “we’re number 1″ that EMU is seeking, obviously. If there is a “silver lining” to all of this it is that as a result of these fines and violations, which obviously included but were not limited to the horribly wrong way EMU handled the Dickinson murder, it is that things will certainly be getting better. As the AAN phrased it, “The department (meaning the US Department of Education) said in the settlement agreement that EMU ‘now has procedures in place and a published policy that should substantially improve EMU’s ability to make timely warning determinations and issue campus-wide advisories, as needed.’”

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Posted in Dickinson Murder, In the media..., Security and Safety