There is an interesting decision in the case of Ohio Northern University law professor Scott Gerber (left), who sued over what he described as a pattern of bullying by this colleagues, including assault and battery law professor Stephen Veltri (right), who had served as associate dean and interim dean in 2011 and 2012, in grading and squeezing his shoulder. U.S. District Judge Jack Zouhary ruled that Berber could pursue claims of assault and battery, but not intentional infliction of emotional distress. The case is Gerber v. Ohio Northern Univ., 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 56767
We previously discussed the case of Jared Marcum, 14, who was suspended and arrested for wearing a t-shirt supporting the Second Amendment and the National Rifle Association. While many of us derided the arrest of a student (and the continuation of a trend toward criminalizing our schools), most people assumed that the police or prosecutors would immediately show a modicum of sense in refusing to bring the charges of disrupting the educational process and obstructing an officer. We were wrong but the charges were ultimately dismissed. Now, the family in West Virginia is suing.
Please try to read this story in eight seconds and do not get distracted by the picture of the goldfish. There is an interesting study that seems to confirm one curious aspects of our information technology revolution. As we are increasingly bombarded by information and images from different sources, our attention spans appears to be failing. The study of 2,000 people found that the average attention span has fallen from 12 seconds to 8 seconds. With the decline, we have now fallen below the attention span of a goldfish (at nine seconds).
Continue reading “Attention Span of A Goldfish? You Wish . . .”
We have been following the ongoing controversy involving Sabrina Rubin Erdely, the investigative journalist who wrote a feature story for Rolling Stone on an alleged sexual assault on the campus in Charlottesville, Va. I previously wrote about the curious response of Rolling Stone in admitting a range of shocking journalistic failures but refusal to fire anyone, including Erdely, for a story that clearly defamed a host of people and damaged the reputation of both the University of Virginia as the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house. I have commented in the past that Rolling Stone can clearly be sued in the case and probably should be sued. Now the first such lawsuit has been filed. University of Virginia associate dean of students Nicole Eramo has filed a multi-million dollar defamation lawsuit against Rolling Stone alleging that the magazine destroyed her reputation in her portrayal as callous and indifferent and that she was vilified by Erdely and the magazine. The magazine printed a photo illustration of Eramo that allegedly was edited from a mundane Cavalier Daily photo to a more menacing image that “demonstrates the lengths Erdely and Rolling Stone were willing to go to portray Dean Eramo as a villain.”
Continue reading “University of Virginia Associate Dean Sues Rolling Stone Magazine Over Rape Story”
“B.B. Wolf” has done it again. Faced with a double murder and attempted murder of the Three Little Pigs, the Big Bad Wolf gave a howl of joy with two hung juries after trials before the fourth grade classes of Churchill Elementary from McLean, Virginia. We held our annual field trip for elementary students to learn about the legal system and it was a smashing success. Adding to the fun this year was the flyover of vintage World War II planes and the hatching of ducklings in the George Washington quad as we took the kids outside. Just try to get that level of service at Georgetown.
Our amazing cast this year included Shirin Ahlhauser, Garrett Henderson, Sarah Keller, Justin Matarrese, and Ariel Oxman. The organizer was our own Claire Duggan who handled every possible detail from the treats to the buses. Our partner in crime was Churchill teacher Claire M. McHale and her colleagues. My assistant Seth Tate also served as Johnny on the spot for everything from missing kids to wayward buses. Against all odds, we held two trials and lost nary of kid . . . and even finished ahead by eight ducklings!
Continue reading “B.B. Wolf Walks After Hung Jury In Double Murder And Attempted Murder Trial”
There is an interesting new Pew poll that shows that the number of Americans without affiliation to any religion is continuing to rise — as is the number of Americans who now classify themselves as atheists or agnostics. The numbers of “nones” has grown to 56 million in recent years, making it the second largest number behind evangelicals. From 2007 to 2014, Americans describing themselves as as atheist, agnostic or of no particular faith grew from 16 percent to nearly 23 percent. This is roughly one out of four Americans. Pew found a rising tide of secularism in the United States. It is an interesting poll since religious groups tend to have far greater political power in the country as shown by various “faith-based” policies.
There is an interesting case out of Pennsylvania where a nursing student is suing Misericordia University for failing to adequately accommodate her anxiety and depression after failing a required course twice. While her professor Christina Tomkins (right) gave Jennifer Burbella (left) extra time for her final exam and “a distraction-free” environment, his failure to take her calls with questions during the exam was cited as a violation of the federal disability law.
We have been covering the attacks on secular writers and bloggers by Islamic extremists in Bangladesh. Now a third blogger and secular writer has been murdered by Islamic extremists . The latest victim is Ananta Bijoy Das, a blogger who advocated secularism, was attacked by four masked assailants wielding machetes. The rise of Islamic extremism has alarmed the free speech community in Bangladesh, which sees increasing Islamic orthodoxy in society and intolerance for non-Islamic views.
Continue reading “Third Secular Writer Hacked To Death By Islamic Extremists In Bangladesh”
As expected, the NFL has suspended New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and imposed team sanctions for “deflategate.” As we discussed this week, the NFL investigation found rejected the claims of innocence in all of the balls being deflated after inspection in the New England’s AFC title game against Indianapolis in January. The NFL report stated “We found these claims not plausible and contradicted by other evidence.” The report found that Brady “was at least generally aware” of all the plans to prepare the balls to his liking and that it was “more probable than not” that two Patriots employees – officials’ locker room attendant Jim McNally and equipment assistant John Jastremski – carried out the plan. McNally is accused of demanding expensive shoes and signed footballs, jerseys and cash. Now, Don Yee, the agent for New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, has lashed out at the NFL and suggested a bizarre pre-game collusion between the NFL and the Colts.
Boston University has been widely criticized for its response to racially-charged comments of its newest professor, Saida Grundy, an incoming assistant professor of sociology and African-American studies. Various news outlets are reporting that BU alums have threatened to withdraw support from the school over hiring a professor who has denounced “white men as a “problem population” and called “white masculinity . . . THE problem for america’s (sic) colleges.” Grundy has made her Twitter account private and refused to make any comments to the media about her past comments that have been denounced as both racist and sexist.
The National Security Agency is still struggling to explain what many denounced as the uncharged act of perjury by Director of National Intelligence James Clapper in denying the existence of the secret NSA surveillance program targeting the communications of all Americans. If you recall, the first explanation by Clapper was that his denial was an intentional act to pick the “the least untruthful” statement to answer the question. Then, National Intelligence general counsel Robert Litt (left) insisted that Clapper “misunderstood” the question. Now, Litt is changing spins and saying that Clapper merely forgot about the massive surveillance system. It was not only massive but recently declared illegal, as some of us have long maintained. It is the latest chapter in America’s Animal Farm as average citizens are criminally charged with small discrepancies in statements to investigators while people like Clapper and David Petraeus and Sandy Berger are protected from serious repercussions for alleged criminal acts.
While Professor Saida Grundy has not actually started teaching at Boston University, she is already facing calls for her removal from the faculty. After being hired by BU, Grundy let loose with a series of tweets that are denounced as racist and sexist. Grundy tweeted, for example, “White masculinity isn’t a problem for america’s colleges, white masculinity is THE problem for america’s colleges.” The tweets have triggered a debate over whether there is a double standard for such comments and whether such comments should be treated as protected speech.
Spanish police were a bit surprised when they checked out the luggage of an Ivory Coast woman trying to come into the country from North Africa at a border crossing between Morocco and Spain. They were suspicious because the 19-year-old woman appeared nervous and decided to x-ray her bag. The 8-year-old boy, Abou, was described as in a “terrible state” when he was let out of the bag. It brings a chilling meaning to the old Samonsite slogan: “If you traveled the way your luggage does, would you look as good as Samsonite?”
Continue reading “Spanish Authorities Find Eight Year Old Boy In Luggage At Border”
Egypt continues to descend toward a Sharia-based system with a new prosecution of four teenagers accused of “insulting Islam.” The insult came in a video that the boys shot while on a trip with their teacher Gad Younan, 42 – a film that mocked ISIS. While the boys were accused of insulting Islam, the brief video only showed them mocking ISIS beheadings. One of the boys apparently mumbled an Islam prayer as part of the execution and that was enough to cause riots and demands for their executions. The four teens and teacher are from the ancient Coptic community, a community targeted by Muslim extremists for harassment and killings.
By Cara L. Gallagher, weekend contributor
Who has two thumbs, a lame but accommodating social life, and listened to 150 minutes of oral arguments about same-sex marriage this weekend? This girl.
By now, you’ve likely read or seen a lot of coverage recapping this term’s same-sex marriage cases bundled into Obergefell v. Hodges. Certainly if you have the time and inclination to listen to the oral arguments, do it. The link to both recordings – two separate recordings uploaded to the Court’s website because the traditional time of 60 minutes for oral arguments was extended since five cases were consolidated into one – is here. But if you’re a functioning human being with a life and no time to listen to oral arguments, here’s what I learned after listening to the oral arguments, a couple podcasts, and a few articles. Continue reading “Three Favorites from Two+ Hours of Same-Sex Marriage Oral Arguments”