Ex-U of I grad student files suit against music professor and University of Iowa; Alleges inappropriate sexual remarks, humor, touching, relationship November 8, 2008
Posted by John in Crime/Courts, Education.Tags: Colleges & Universities, higher education, Iowa City (Iowa), lawsuits, Mark Weiger, Melissa Milligan, musicians, oboe, professors, sexual harassment, teaching assistants, University of Iowa
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UI Professor Mark Weiger
From THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF IOWA-DAVENPORT DIVISION:
MELISSA ROSE WALDING MILLIGAN,
Plaintiff,
v.
THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA and MARK WEIGER,
Defendants. …III. BACKGROUND FACTS
10. Milligan was a graduate student enrolled at the University in the Doctorate of Music Arts (“D.M.A.”) program during the 2006-7 academic year.
11. Milligan obtained student loans to finance her studies and living expenses at the University
12. Milligan’s major field was the oboe, and she sought to complete the three-year course of study in the D.M.A. program, culminating in a doctoral degree.
13. Milligan was enrolled in graduate music classes and was also a teaching assistant in her major field.
14. Milligan was assigned to study under Weiger, a tenured music professor in her major field who taught oboe and chamber music at the University.
15. During the course of her classroom and private instruction, Milligan was regularly subject to Weiger’s inappropriate sexual remarks and crude sexual humor.
16. Milligan also observed at least one act of inappropriate sexual touching by Weiger with another female student during instructional class time.
17. Weiger regularly engaged in inappropriate behavior during classes and instructional sessions, including telling jokes of a sexual nature and using inappropriate sexual language, much of which was directed towards Milligan.
18. Weiger was engaged in a sexual relationship with another student, which interfered with Milligan’s class time as it diverted Weiger’s attention from instruction as he focused on his sexual relationship instead.
19. In addition to the inappropriate sexual behavior, Weiger verbally harassed and subjected Milligan to personal character assaults, referring to her using derogatory terms and insults in the presence of other students on numerous occasions.
20. All of said actions interfered with Milligan’s reasonable expectation of instruction and education at the University, hindered her completing her doctoral degree, and caused her emotional distress. …
Related article from 1994 Gazette archives, Ex-U of I grad student files harassment suit:
IOWA CITY – A former graduate student is suing three University of Iowa faculty members claiming she was sexually harassed and discriminated against when she came here two years ago.
Debra Hawk-Burt of Columbus, Ohio, filed a lawsuit in Johnson County District Court Monday against three faculty members in the School of Music: Mark Weiger , assistant professor in the woodwind division; John Hill, associate director; and David Nelson, director.
According to the suit, Hawk-Burt applied for admission as a doctoral candidate in the school in February 1992 and was told she was eligible for a teaching assistantship and a $10,000 scholarship. Ultimately, she received no financial aid and withdrew from the university.
Soon after she applied for admission, the suit states, Weiger called Hawk-Burt and made inappropriate comments about her marital status.
When Hawk-Burt visited the campus and was interviewed by Weiger in March 1992, Hawk-Burt claims he inappropriately described to her the sexual activities of a female student.
When Hawk-Burt moved to Iowa City, Weiger told her she did not qualify for the scholarship but that she would work for him that summer teaching his students, the suit states.
Hawk-Burt also claims Weiger repeatedly made offensive remarks to her, telling her dirty jokes, using offensive language and swearing at her. He also allegedly told her he was involved in a sexual relationship with a graduate student who was a member of Hawk-Burt’s woodwind group.
According to the suit, Weiger made repeated, offensive sexual or demeaning comments to this student in Hawk-Burt’s presence. When Hawk-Burt objected, her financial aid was withdrawn and she received a barely passing grade from Weiger .
She reported the incident to Hill, who has supervisory responsibilities for the faculty in the school.
Hawk-Burt then appealed to Nelson in a written statement.
Vice President for University Relations Ann Rhodes said she had not seen the lawsuit and could not comment.
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NACAC commission urges reduced use of ACT, SAT; Report questions value of scores to predict college success September 22, 2008
Posted by John in Education.Tags: ACT Inc, colleges and universities, higher education, Iowa City (Iowa), National Association for College Admission Counseling, University and college admissions
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From Education Week:
“Despite their prevalence in American high school culture, college-admission exams—such as the SAT and ACT—may not be critical to making good admission decisions at many of the colleges and universities that use them,” the report says. …
The commission was convened in late 2006 by the National Association for College Admission Counseling, based in Arlington, Va., partly in response to a rash of scoring errors on the SAT …
A year ago, more than 100 high school counselors and college-admissions officers packed a standing-room-only “listening meeting” of the commission in Austin, Texas that began airing questions about the utility of the SAT and the ACT, which is owned by Iowa City, Iowa-based ACT, Inc. …
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Former Simpson College president charged with drunk driving July 5, 2008
Posted by John in Crime/Courts, Education.Tags: college & universities, drunk driving, DUI, higher education, OWI, Simpson College (Iowa), Stephen Jennings, University of Evansville
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From Associated Press via Chicago Tribune:
The University of Evansville’s president [Stephen G. Jennings] entered a rehabilitation program Thursday, a day after police charged him with driving while intoxicated. …
[Jennings] also has served as president of Oklahoma City University, Iowa‘s Simpson College and the College of the Ozarks in Branson, Mo. …
‘Diary: Confessions of a Plagiarist’ by University of Iowa English Professor Kevin Kopelson in London Review of Books May 17, 2008
Posted by John in Education.Tags: colleges and universities, higher education, Kevin Kopelson, London Review of Books, Plagiarism, University of Iowa
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(Full title of ‘Diary: …’ appears on this page, or this one.)
From London Review of Books, Vol. 30 No. 10 · 22 May 2008:
And so I too – subconsciously – must have wanted to be caught. Caught and punished, in fact: ruined career in academia, ignominious return to law. But I wasn’t caught, unlike Albertine. For as far as I know, Eve’s never read the thing. (But what if she has!) Never seen my name above her work. Never noticed the plagiarism. Well, she will now. As will Bob, I expect. …
I’m at some public school in the Midwest. Midwesterners, of course, are very nice. (Barthes would call this statement doxa, a bit of conventional wisdom – like the notion that students plagiarise so as to please.) And I do like my colleagues. But the students! Or rather, the English majors! Our department, you see, is the only one in the humanities not allowed to require that majors have a minimum GPA. (I imagine administrators saying: ‘They’ve got to major in something – and they speak English.’) So for the most part, we get the very worst students: students with GPAs of 2.0 or lower. …
Kevin Kopelson’s page at University of Iowa
RIAA rep tells how they catch alleged music pirates (incl. accused at University of Iowa?) May 15, 2008
Posted by John in Business, Education, Music, Uncategorized.Tags: copyright, file sharing, higher education, Intellectual Property, Iowa City (Iowa), LimeWire, Media Sentry, P2P, Recording Industry Association of America, RIAA, University of Iowa
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From Chronicle of Higher Education:
To catch college students trading copyrighted songs online, the Recording Industry Association of America uses the same file-sharing software that online pirates love, an RIAA representative told The Chronicle at the organization’s offices during a private demonstration of how it catches alleged music pirates. He also said the group does not single out specific colleges in its investigations. …
Here’s how the process works: The RIAA maintains a list of songs whose distribution rights are owned by the RIAA’s member organizations. It has given that list to Media Sentry, a company it hired to search for online pirates. That company runs copies of the LimeWire program and performs searches for…
For the University of Iowa connection, see this Looking in at Iowa post from March: Record companies suing 20 University of Iowa Internet users accused of file sharing.
Regent Michael Gartner includes Cherry Sisters of Cedar Rapids in South Dakota commencement speech May 13, 2008
Posted by John in Education, History, Music.Tags: Colleges & Universities, commencement addresses, Dave Rasdal, Don Hanson, F.W. Faulkes, Frank Fritz, Fred Faulkes, higher education, historical newspapers, Jessie Cherry, La Porte City (Iowa), Michael Gartner, opera houses, Oscar Hammerstein, riots, The Cherry Sisters, University of South Dakota
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From Press & Dakotan:
Gartner’s third story involved the a performing act in Iowa called the Cherry Sisters. These five sisters couldn’t act, dance or sing. They managed, instead, Gartner said, “to exert a ghastly fascination over their audiences. And that was exactly what the great Oscar Hammerstein was looking for.”
Gartner explained that back in 1896, Hammerstein was in debt, and going broke, and the acts he brought to Broadway weren’t doing well.
According to Gartner, Hammerstein said, “I tried the best, now I’ll try the worst. So he sent for the Cherry Sisters from Cedar Rapids, Iowa.” …
“As you go through life, as you build relationships, as you take risks, you’re liable to have a few cabbages thrown at you along the way,” Gartner said. “There are always folks who are against things, and those folks will be shooting arrows, if not throwing melons, at you and your plans.” …
For additional information about the Cherry Sisters see Dave Rasdal’s interesting column in yesterday paper (or related blog post) about 90-year-old Don Hanson, who talked with the Cherry Sisters.
Here’s a Gazette account of an ugly scene at a Cherry Sisters performance in 1895:
The Cherry Sisters
La Porte, Aug. 26 — Last Saturday evening occurred one of the must disgraceful riots ever witnessed in La Porte City’s opera house. The Cherry Sisters occupied the boards for the evening and quite a large audience was drawn out by the La Porte City cornet band. The crowd began hissing and howling the moment the show commenced and kept it up throughout. Toward the Iast it became worse and worse and when Miss Jessie Cherry came out with her song and roast on Editor Faulkes of the Cedar Rapids Gazette the climax was reached. Onions, cabbage and rotten watermelon rinds were showered upon the stage and then a pail of dirty black water was thrown at her from the back window of the stage. During all the show a terrible din was kept up with tin pans, horns, etc. Miss Jessie Cherry became exceedingly wrathy at this stage of the performance and came down in front and struck Frank Fritz over the head with a stove poker. Fritz “made a joyful noise” and the crowd all made a rush for the front of the hall. The rest of the performance was a blank as nothing could be heard except the loud talking and hissing of the audience.
After the performance was over Fritz swore out a warrant for Miss Jessie Cherry before Mayor Holph and she was arrested and fined $5 and costs amounting to $7.30.
The mob all stood around the opera house which was locked until after 12 o’clock waiting for the sisters to return to the hotel but they did not up to that time so the crowd dispersed. It is thought that several arrests may follow this morning.
Former University of Iowa provost, Texas Tech president a finalist for Portland State presidency March 22, 2008
Posted by John in Education, Jobs.Tags: Colleges & Universities, Education Administration, higher education, Jon Whitmore, Portland State University, Provosts, Texas Tech University, University of Iowa
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From The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal:
Texas Tech’s departing president Jon Whitmore is one of three finalists for the Portland State University presidency, Oregon University System officials announced on Thursday.
Whitmore, who did not return phone calls Friday, resigned as the president of Tech on Feb. 1. He agreed to lead the university until 2009 or until his replacement is hired. …
He came to Tech from the University of Texas, where he was the dean of the College of Fine Arts for five years.
He resigned less than two months after regional accreditors put Tech on probation for failing to prove student competency in a report. He has repeatedly said his resignation was not tied to the probation.
In his resignation letter, he told Tech Chancellor Kent Hance new presidential leadership was needed to carry out the university’s goal of 40,000 students by 2020. …
University of Iowa’s Gary Sasso named Dean of Lehigh’s College of Education March 17, 2008
Posted by John in Education.Tags: Colleges & Universities, Educational Administration, Faculty, Gary M. Sasso, higher education, Lehigh University, University of Iowa
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From Lehigh University:
Gary M. Sasso, Ph.D., chairperson of the Department of Teaching and Learning at the University of Iowa, has been named as the next dean of Lehigh’s College of Education. …
Sasso has led a distinguished career at the University of Iowa’s College of Education, where he’s built a national reputation among the special education community for his research in social and behavioral disorders. He’s been a member of its faculty since 1985 and has served in his current leadership role for the past seven years. …
Iowa City student-finalist for ‘junior Nobel Prize’ wins $20,000 March 11, 2008
Posted by John in Education.Tags: Competitions, high schools, higher education, Iowa City (Iowa), Xiaomeng "Jessica" Zeng
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Only 10 of the 40 finalists won scholarships.
From Associated Press:
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina high schooler beat out 1,600 others nationwide to win a $100,000 scholarship Tuesday for developing a model she used to identify stage II colon cancer patients at a high risk for recurrence. …
The other nine scholarship winners were Graham Van Schaik, 17, of Columbia, S.C., $75,000; Brian McCarthy, 18, of Hillsboro, Ore., $50,000; Katherine Banks, 17, of New York, $25,000; Eric Delgado, 18, of Bayonne, N.J., $25,000; David Rosengarten, 18, of Great Neck, N.Y., $25,000; Xiaomeng (Jessica) Zeng, 18, of Iowa City, Iowa, $20,000; …
NIU student who witnessed shootings now staying in Iowa City February 18, 2008
Posted by John in Crime/Courts, Education.Tags: Dan Monaghan, DeKalb (Illinois), higher education, Iowa City (Iowa), Northern Illinois University, school violence
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From Daily Egyptian (Southern Illinois University – Carbondale):
Thursday was a normal day for Dan Monaghan and his geology classmates at Northern Illinois University until a few minutes after 3 p.m. …
Shortly after 3 p.m., Monaghan said he thought the person stepping onto the stage during lecture was someone to fix computers. It was not until after he saw fire emerge from the barrel of a 12-gauge shotgun that he realized the “tech-support worker” had something else in mind.
“My first thought was, ‘These are blanks, and this isn’t real,’” he said. …
The flood of personal questions was one of the reasons Monaghan said he will be staying with his girlfriend in Iowa City, Iowa, until classes reopen on Feb. 25. But he said he wants to inform the public of what happened at Cole Hall to prevent the wrong story from spreading. …
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