Hi Vickie and All,
I agree with your sentiments whole heartedly, however, "gently gently catch em monkey......."
We are currently waiting for the final report from the university concerned, although we have been
reassured verbally by the investigating officers involved and the university provost's office that
they have found no merit in any of the student's claims what so ever.
The student has been excluded from her course of training on academic performance grounds.
The statues of the university concerned require the university to provide full legal defense of an
academic staff member who is subject to civil action in the course of their duties. This would
cover the trans staff member's legal costs should the student concerned decide to take legal action.
This is a considerable benefit to the trans staff member concerned as she would not be financially
able to go it alone.
Following the her successful defense in relation to these issues, the trans staff member has been
invited to become part of the president of the university's standing committee on woman's issues.
This is somewhat of a victory and hopefully will allow for some championing of trans issues at the
university concerned.
The trans-staff member is not the only trans person (both staff and student) at the university
concerned.
Cheers to all
Rhian
Rhian Cope BSc BVSc PhD
Assistant Professor Morphology
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
2001 S Lincoln Ave
Urbana, Il 61802, USA
Ph: 1-217-244-1583
Fax: 1-217-244-1652
Email: [log in to unmask] Fri Aug 18 00:11:17 2000,
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>In a message dated 08/17/2000 10:55:14 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
>[log in to unmask] writes:
>
>> Yes, I agree. Unfortunately, the procedure at the university concerned
>> outlaws, under threat of
>> dismissal, any action against any party involved in this type of dispute
>> that could be viewed as
>> retaliatory. A law suit would be judged to be a retaliatory action and a
>> violation of the
>> university rules.
>
>And in return for this abrogation of minimal civil and legal protections even
>in the face of extreme harrassment, what alternative protection does the
>university's procedure provide for those who are being harrassed in this way,
>duly subject to this death by a thousand cuts? A string of "not guilty"
>judgements like beads on a string stretching over the horizon?
>
>1) Unlawful contracts are not enforceable. Everyone is responsible for
>injury deliberately done others, including that child of adult age playing
>the vindictive game you describe, who should not be protected past a point
>which seems to have been passed. If the administration won't end the farce
>with at least a severe reprimand, I should imagine it could itself become a
>party to an instructor's lawsuit if it attempted dismissal because an attempt
>to hold a student responsible for his or her own actions "could be viewed as"
>(not "was found to be") retaliatory. 2) the educational institution's
>obligation to "educate" a marginal student includes the obligation to teach
>him or her not to use protective procedures vindictively. What is it doing
>in this regard? That the instructor in question *feels* harrassed and
>unprotected and has no recourse signifies its own abrogation of
>responsibility, I should think.
>
>In my institution, there would be a single fact finding examination, and if
>the student persisted after a finding that there was no merit in the charge,
>there would be confidential review of only those facts by higher authority to
>assure that due process was followed and the conclusion seemingly justified.
>The student would then be informed to accept the judgement or leave.
>Administrations exist to enable the faculty to do what they are asked to do
>(teach, determine curricula and academic policies, research, and thereby
>advance their disciplines) undistracted by the routine oddities always
>encountered among students. Shouldn't they be doing their jobs? See David
>Mamet's play "Oleanna" for a paradigmatic case.
>
>I suspect that whatever the university thinks, the student *like the faculty
>member* is free to raise the issues yet again in civil proceedings, where if
>the facts are as represented, especially if "academic due process" was
>followed, it would be eventually dismissed though after further punitive
>exposure of the faculty member. This because a grade (like a job) can be
>defined as an earned property right, and an unjust grade deprivation of that
>property. In such a suit the university would probably be a party with the
>instructor.
>
>Has the student's behavior become a campus issue, with choosing up of sides
>and letters to the student newspaper, etc? Now THAT would be educational.
>Does the student have peer support or peer condemnation in the Great Court of
>Public Opinion where most such issues are in fact settled? What says the
>"Women's Caucus" (or whatever the equivalent feminist organization) about all
>this? Has the Chronicle of Higher Education found it yet? Or the AAUP?
>Does anyone care?
>
>Love,
>Vickie
>
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