[Vision2020] Lewiston Tribune: It's back to the shadows for the UI

[Saundra Lund]

A friend shared the below editorial with me - I'm surprised and disappointed
there was no Daily News coverage  L

 

What on earth is wrong with the UI?!  And, that question applies to more
than just the reprehensible and anemic response highlighted in the editorial
below.

 

Since Kent Nelson was brought onboard, the UI has become incredibly
secretive, particularly with respect to public records requests.  Indeed,
I'm perfectly comfortable saying that it has added extortion to its bag of
shady tricks.

 

For those who depend on the Daily News - as I do - and don't subscribe to
the Lewiston Tribune, I found this article that provides more detail about
the Williams scandal than does the editorial:

http://media.spokesman.com/documents/2013/03/2472_001.pdf

 

 

Saundra 

 

It's back to the shadows for the UI

Posted: Friday, March 8, 2013 12:00 am 

University of Idaho administrators act much differently when the spotlight
is glaring upon them.

And the lights were blazingly hot during the summer of 2011, when former UI
psychology professor Ernesto Bustamante gunned down graduate student Katy
Benoit and subsequently took his own life in a Moscow motel room.

Chastened by criticism that its response to Benoit's appeals for help had
been inadequate, UI responded with a mixture of contrition and transparency.
Rules governing relationships between faculty and students were tightened.
Sexual harassment allegations would be aggressively pursued.

Most vital of all, the public would see for itself how well UI conducted its
affairs. In the Bustamante case, that meant UI would join news organizations
in seeking release of the late professor's personnel file.

Some of the details that emerged embarrassed UI, such as a student
evaluation that reported Bustamante tossed around the idea of killing
students while in the classroom. Nonetheless, it telegraphed the
institution's commitment to public disclosure.

Now the lights are off.

What's happened since?

With the Benoit case still in the courts during 2012, the university had
been looking into claims that law professor Alan Fitzgerald Williams
sexually harassed at least two female students.

Based upon almost a year of the Tribune's Joel Mills' reporting, Moscow
police reports and the university's own acknowledgements, we know College of
Law Associate Dean Benjamin Beard accompanied one of the students to the
police interview.

When requested by Carmen Suarez, UI director of Human Rights, Access and
Inclusion, police provided her additional security.

Williams was placed on administrative leave during the fall 2012 semester
and was about to be terminated when he committed suicide at Gig Harbor,
Wash., on Dec. 30, according to the Pierce County Sheriff's Office.

As far as UI is concerned, that is all you need to know.

Never mind the precedent of 2nd District Judge John Stegner's ruling in
opening Bustamante's files. Because Bustamante was deceased, Stegner found
he had no right to privacy. The judge then found a compelling public
interest in releasing the documents.

What's different this time? Only the university's rejection of the Lewiston
Tribune's request to see Williams' personnel file. In response to the second
request - filed after Williams' death - UI said the public interest in
releasing the file was "nonexistent."

Never mind a 1996 2nd District Court ruling declaring student evaluations of
faculty to be public documents. Says UI, the law school holds itself apart
from the rest of the university. But it is merely a graduate school, an
extension of the university, not some government entity responsible for
licensing lawyers. During the Benoit-Bustamante episode, UI President Duane
Nellis was ubiquitous, frequently granting interviews assuring a statewide
audience of his intent to remedy the situation.

Today, Nellis is nowhere to be found. He's on his way out the door to lead
Texas Tech in Lubbock. The voice of UI is lead attorney Kent Nelson.

Outside the glare of statewide publicity, the Williams case still matters.
This marks the first time the reforms devised after the Benoit-Bustamante
case were tested. How are we to know if the system worked, where it failed
and what refinements are needed if the key players insist on hiding behind
closed doors?

What secrets do UI officials want retained within Williams' files and
student evaluations?

And how genuine was this UI commitment to transparency in the first place?
In all likelihood, the courts were going to order the university to turn
over Bustamante's records. UI could resist, get out of the way or appear to
cooperate.

Under no such pressure this time, UI has retreated behind its moat of
secrecy. In the background, you can hear the faint echo of an unmistakable
phrase: "Trust us. 

 

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