Excellent. It should be noted that the idea that university employees including faculty, staff and STUDENTS serving on university committees in the conduct system are immune from prosecution for their actions is a farce too many in academia believe. This was established in the case Silva vs. University of New Hampshire (1994) vis a vis a Title IX case against an English professor accused of sexual harassing 7 female students by use of 2 analogies in a large English class. (One was the example of a bowl of jello on a vibrator as a metamophor for a belly dancer.) After case that lasted 2 years the courts ruled in Professor Silva's favor restoring this tenured faculty member to the classroom and awarding him back pay, damages and legal fees that cost the university hundreds of thousands of dollars. The judge went on to rule that the manner in which the university had handled the case was so far from any possible interpretation of the due process required of the American legal system that the members of the boards and committees could be held individually and personally liable for their conduct. If we all started suing Deans, Title IX Officers, and the faculty and staff serving on these kangaroo courts, their power would quickly evaporate. It does require something that faculty have in short supply, however, personal courage and integrity.
Dean Bernardo is personally liable. The University and its liability insurance policy covers professors for merely negligent conduct. Bernardo, however, was reckless or intentional. I suspect it is illegal for the University to pay any of its damages. I know that if there are punitive damages, it will take a vote of the Regents to indemnify him.
I am in Santa Monica this week to observe the court sessions. If anyone is interested in a daily brief, please email me (nanzhong1@gmail.com). BTW, our racial discrimination lawsuits against the University of California, the University of Washington, the University of Michigan and Cornell are suing the senior administrators in their personal capacities too.
I had not seen the news story in 2020 so I read the link and I'm pretty astounded by the email by the student requesting that black students be given an easier exam. These things sometimes read like satires, rather than real requests by thinking people. It's very disturbing that young people are being taught that this is how you solve racism.
That said, Klein's snarky email reply was unfortunately kind of naive. Klein's rhetorical questions in his reply certainly drew attention to the absurdity of it all. That naturally made them angry and then they were out for blood. What's done is done. I am not excusing the administration so please don't attack me saying that. It's all awful.
But I think older people should take a lesson from this. You can't respond that way. This will be the result. You don't have to agree, but you can't say what you used to be able to say. The words don't mean the same thing as they did when we were young. And today's young people don't respond the way we all did to being logically challenged. The socratic method is interpreted as "fightin words."
A better reply would be that their request is not logistically possible, but there are individual students who are struggling emotionally due to traumatic circumstances that are interfering with their education, the only fair thing to do would be for those individual students to reach out to me directly to ask for help. I then can tailor the help to their unique situation. I cannot assume from this email that you are speaking on behalf of everyone in the class of a particular group.
This still shows compassion in the event that some students really are struggling (as in, some students might actually have COVID or be taking care of family members) but is not giving into their demands.
Best of luck to him. LA court is much better (less corrupt) than San Francisco court. (Or it was 4 years ago. Pretty hard to get as abysmal as SF.) LA has plenty of well qualified judges, and they fund the judges with assistants. It is still going to be a battle though.
Excellent. It should be noted that the idea that university employees including faculty, staff and STUDENTS serving on university committees in the conduct system are immune from prosecution for their actions is a farce too many in academia believe. This was established in the case Silva vs. University of New Hampshire (1994) vis a vis a Title IX case against an English professor accused of sexual harassing 7 female students by use of 2 analogies in a large English class. (One was the example of a bowl of jello on a vibrator as a metamophor for a belly dancer.) After case that lasted 2 years the courts ruled in Professor Silva's favor restoring this tenured faculty member to the classroom and awarding him back pay, damages and legal fees that cost the university hundreds of thousands of dollars. The judge went on to rule that the manner in which the university had handled the case was so far from any possible interpretation of the due process required of the American legal system that the members of the boards and committees could be held individually and personally liable for their conduct. If we all started suing Deans, Title IX Officers, and the faculty and staff serving on these kangaroo courts, their power would quickly evaporate. It does require something that faculty have in short supply, however, personal courage and integrity.
Dean Bernardo is personally liable. The University and its liability insurance policy covers professors for merely negligent conduct. Bernardo, however, was reckless or intentional. I suspect it is illegal for the University to pay any of its damages. I know that if there are punitive damages, it will take a vote of the Regents to indemnify him.
I am in Santa Monica this week to observe the court sessions. If anyone is interested in a daily brief, please email me (nanzhong1@gmail.com). BTW, our racial discrimination lawsuits against the University of California, the University of Washington, the University of Michigan and Cornell are suing the senior administrators in their personal capacities too.
I applaud you. I hope in this case the SWORD is mightier than the pen... =)
I had not seen the news story in 2020 so I read the link and I'm pretty astounded by the email by the student requesting that black students be given an easier exam. These things sometimes read like satires, rather than real requests by thinking people. It's very disturbing that young people are being taught that this is how you solve racism.
That said, Klein's snarky email reply was unfortunately kind of naive. Klein's rhetorical questions in his reply certainly drew attention to the absurdity of it all. That naturally made them angry and then they were out for blood. What's done is done. I am not excusing the administration so please don't attack me saying that. It's all awful.
But I think older people should take a lesson from this. You can't respond that way. This will be the result. You don't have to agree, but you can't say what you used to be able to say. The words don't mean the same thing as they did when we were young. And today's young people don't respond the way we all did to being logically challenged. The socratic method is interpreted as "fightin words."
A better reply would be that their request is not logistically possible, but there are individual students who are struggling emotionally due to traumatic circumstances that are interfering with their education, the only fair thing to do would be for those individual students to reach out to me directly to ask for help. I then can tailor the help to their unique situation. I cannot assume from this email that you are speaking on behalf of everyone in the class of a particular group.
This still shows compassion in the event that some students really are struggling (as in, some students might actually have COVID or be taking care of family members) but is not giving into their demands.
I am not going to desert the Socratic method.
I agree that he could have responded in another way. However, I am not sure it would have made much difference.
Responding at all just gave them ammunition. Maybe he should have just ignored it, or pretended the email was lost, or that he had not understood it.
The situation is not at all good. Faculty members are like sitting ducks, basically.
Yeah it's true. Not responding is best.
Not by coincidence, I substacked on Gordon Klein today, with lots of links to documents, etc. https://ericrasmusen.substack.com/p/the-trial-of-ucla-business-school
That's a very well done article Eric. I highly recommend it.
I know what you mean. Been there, too!
Here's the thing:
https://unbekoming.substack.com/p/reversal-turning-bureaucratic-weaponry
Best of luck to him. LA court is much better (less corrupt) than San Francisco court. (Or it was 4 years ago. Pretty hard to get as abysmal as SF.) LA has plenty of well qualified judges, and they fund the judges with assistants. It is still going to be a battle though.
All the best to Gordon!
Good luck Gordon!