Xavier strikes back
Defendants deny allegations of discrimination; call Finch and Michels’ motives into question
Patrick Stevenson
Editor-in-Chief
Vice President Roger Fortin.
Xavier University officials fired back at two professors who recently sued them for gender discrimination, denying all allegations of impropriety and gender discrimination made in the lawsuit.
The defendants, who include Dr. Roger Fortin, Academic Vice President and Provost, Dr. Janice Walker, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and Dr. Indra de Silva, chair of the Communication Arts department, allege that Drs. Miriam Finch and Tara Michels developed and executed a plan to wrongly accuse several high-ranking Xavier officials of gender discrimination.
A cornerstone of the defendants’ case is a letter written by a three member, independent review panel consisting of Ali Malekzadeh, Dean of the Williams College of Business, Carol Scheerer, Chair of the Department of Occupational Therapy, and Debra Pearce, Chair of the Department of Biological Sciences at Northern Kentucky University, who were appointed by Fortin to investigate the Communication Arts department [for the complete text of the document, visit xu.edu/newswire].
The report summarizes the findings of the panel’s investigation, which present a considerably different picture of the Communication Arts department than does Finch and Michels’ lawsuit.
The committee states that before the spring of 2007, Finch and Michels had publicly feuded for three years, often having “outbursts in department meetings.”
The report goes on to say that in early spring 2007, when Dr. de Silva was being re-appointed for a second term as department chair, “Dr. Michels called Dr. Finch at home, and asked her to join her in charging Dr. de Silva with gender discrimination, harassment and retaliation.”
According to the committee’s report, the actions of Finch, Michels and Michels’ husband, Randy Patnode, also a faculty member of the Communication Arts department, created a “divisive and distrustful” environment in the department. The committee also stated, “The result of this behavior by the three faculty members is that the work of the department is at a stand-still.”
Finch and Michels have also been criticized by several prominent Xavier academics for their treatment of fellow faculty members.
Ernest Fontana, professor of English [see Fontana’s letter on p. 4] and Paul Colella, professor of philosophy, wrote a letter to the faculty committee, protesting Finch and Michels’ characterization of Norman Finkelstein, professor of English, in their lawsuit.
Fortin also stated in an affidavit that during a faculty meeting at the beginning of the fall semester “Drs. Finch and Michels engaged in highly disruptive, disrespectful, juvenile and offensive behaviors along with Dr. Michels’ husband, Dr. Patnode.”
“Dr. de Silva claimed that he too was the victim of racial and national origin discrimination by plaintiffs Finch and Michaels and Dr. Patnode,” said Fortin.
At the recommendation of the independent review panel, Fortin, on Nov. 14, “requested that Xavier’s Faculty Hearing Committee initiate termination proceedings against both Finch and Michels.”
Local leaders leery of XU
Katie Rosenbaum
Campus News Editor
The Woods is just one of the businesses that has been affected by Xavier’s campus expansion project.
The upcoming campus expansion has generated hopes and concerns for community leaders.
Recently, Xavier officials has been working closely with the Evanston Business Council regarding what they envisioned for Xavier Square and on-campus businesses, says Elizabeth Blume, director of the Community Building Institute, which helps build relationships between Xavier and local communities, including Norwood, Evanston and North Avondale.
Blume says that community members have expressed a need for a bank, grocery store and drug store in Xavier Square, so those in charge of development will try to market to these types of businesses to serve not only students, but community members as well.
Community leaders have been shown four or five versions of potential versions of campus expansion. “We were asked for input on plans that Xavier had for campus expansion, although I do not ultimately know what the final plans for campus expansion will be,” says William Graff, resident of West Norwood, member of the West Norwood Neighborhood Council.
Gratt says Community members are excited and hopeful about campus expansion. “This expansion will have an impact beyond the Xavier campus. It will have a major impact on the area with the commercial and retail additions,” says Graff. “There is a lot of back and forth communication between local communities and Xavier,” says Blume.
However, some local business or community leader do not believe that they had input regarding campus expansion.
Sharon Muyaya, president of the Evanston Community Council, says that she does not consider herself part of the planning process and was not consulted regarding her opinion on which type of businesses she would be beneficial to the community. “I don’t consider showing someone a few options for Xavier Square plans as being involved in the planning process.”
She also says that the expansion is positive and “some of the Evanston local businesses will benefit from people and students that will be attracted to the area,” but Xavier “needs to be sensitive with regards to additional traffic that may occur as a result of Xavier Square.” Some of the side streets around campus are not designed to handle the traffic that may result, Muyaya says.
Will DeLuca, former member of Norwood City Council and owner of Betta’s Italian Oven, 3764 Montgomery Road, says that he has not had any input regarding campus expansion. “People in Norwood have called me a pioneer of the area, opening a restaurant when Montgomery was a forgotten, desolate stretch of land, but those in charge of campus expansion have not approached me to ask me for input,” says DeLuca.
He is excited for the campus expansion and says it will be great for Norwood, Xavier and students.
Next week: Part two of this series investigating Xavier’s relationship with local communities.
Zumbiel lives to see another day (or week, or month...)
Matthew Finger
Managing Editor
Newswire stock photo; Erika Breese
The demolition of the Zumbiel plant has been delayed again, despite plans for a Jan 19 implosion.
The discovery of small amounts of asbestos around window caulking within the Zumbiel plant is the cause of the delay, according to Xavier University Director of Public Relations Debora Del Valle. The asbestos must be removed before the planned implosion can occur.
The demolition of the plant has been contracted to J&L Management Corporations, a Michigan-based demolition and construction company. Matt Schwab, the Zumbiel site director for the J&L says that currently there is no time schedule for the destruction of the plant.
The plant will be imploded, but not before much of the steel and concrete is removed from the site for recycling. According to Robert Sheeran, the Xavier associate vice president for facility management, “All the steel, even what we find buried in the concrete, will be cut into small pieces and taken to AK Steel in Middletown for recycling.”
All of the concrete removed from the site will be ground into aggregate. The steel will go to a scrap processing facility, where it is melted down and reused. The removal of these materials is scheduled to take two to three months.
According to Del Valle, “Site preparation will take place over the next year with actual groundbreaking expected towards the end of 2008 or beginning of 2009.”
“Site preparation includes doing ground borings, which is going over the site and taking a deep sample from each area,” Del Valle said.
“This helps the planners, designers and construction managers know what kind of ground they will be working with, and if the land needs to be prepped in anyway.”
Once the site is prepared properly, there will be a symbolic ground breaking to commemorate the start of the project, Del Valle added.
J&L is also one of the companies that will be used to remove some of the houses on Cleaney Avenue for Xavier’s campus expansion.
John LaFollette
Editor-in-Chief
Rachel Peters
Ann Tassone
Darren LaCour
Senior News Editors
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