"After the body of an Eastern Michigan University freshman was found in her dorm room in December 2006, naked from the waist down with a pillow over her head, the chief of the university police said there was 'no reason to suspect foul play,' and let her parents believe she had died of natural causes."That silence held for more than two months. In that time, the student who was eventually convicted in her murder had free run of a campus where he was previously caught climbing into a window of a university building.
"In recent years Marquette University has been accused of mishandling accusations of sexual assault by four athletes, and Arizona State has been faulted in handling a student’s rape, allegedly by a football player with a history of sexual aggression on campus.
"The Penn State scandal has ended the reign of the university’s patriarch and longtime football coach, Joe Paterno, amid national expressions of shock. But the case is also emblematic of a parallel judicial universe that exists at many of the country’s colleges and universities."
Bernstein, Nina. "On College Campuses, Athletes Often Get Off Easy." N.Y. Times. November 11, 2011. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/12/us/on-college-campuses-athletes-often-get-off-easy.html
Hopefully UAlbany will replace Bob Ford with someone who doesn't endlessly admire Joe Paterno to the extent of even claiming Joe Paterno did nothing wrong, as Bob Ford has claimed.
"Albany has a reputation for grooming young coaches. How do you use your coaching staff? I heard Joe Paterno say, ‘You hire good people, give them a job to do, and don’t look over their shoulders all the time.’ I’d say that’s the way I approach my staff."Coaching Management, 8.4, May 2000, http://www.momentummedia.com/articles/cm/cm0804/qaford.htm
"'I'll miss a good friend and I think we'll all miss a coaching legend,' said Bob Ford, UAlbany's Head Football Coach. […] Ford was a friend of Paterno's, and remembers the coach's life fondly. [...] 'he himself did nothing wrong, but as he said, he wished he did more,' said Ford."
Cruz, Megan. "Locals mourn Paterno." YNN. January 22, 2012. http://saratoga-north.ynn.com/content/your_news/571083/locals-mourn-paterno/
I'm not overly optimistic, what with UAlbany naming a field after Bob Ford despite Ford's being the coach for a UAlbany football player who was electrocuted to death in a hazing incident, and UAlbany football players who committed gang rape and weren't reported ASAP to the Albany County District Attorney, among other things. Similarly, with Lee McElroy having failed to swear and file his Oath of Office with the NYS Secretary of State the year he was appointed as required, what business has he in remaining at the university and having anything to do with a search for a new football coach?
"University at Albany athletic director Lee McElroy said Saturday the school is wrapping up its football coaching search amid reports its choice is a University of Maryland assistant coach." Singelais, "UAlbany coaching search near end; School reportedly set to hire Maryland assistant to replace retiring Ford." Albany Times Union. December 7, 2013. http://www.timesunion.com/default/article/UAlbany-coaching-search-near-end-5045203.php
UAlbany should be hiring a coach who has a record of zero tolerance for athletes engaging in academic dishonesty, sexual harassment, sexual assault, etc. Universities exist for academics, not sports, and they're supposed to be characterized by academic integrity and safety. UAlbany is not.
Why hasn't any money poured into solving the disappearances of students from UAlbany the way it's poured into the athletics department?
A page for one of the students missing from SUNY Albany from 1999:
http://web.archive.org/web/19991023053405/http://www.albany.edu/public_safety/ciu.html#lyall
2004:
http://web.archive.org/web/20040220055124/http://www.albany.edu/public_safety/ciu.html#lyall
2006:
https://web.archive.org/web/20060901231522/http://police.albany.edu/2ColPage.asp?PageSName=SL (note her name misspelled as Suzan Lyall in the right sidebar)
2012:
https://web.archive.org/web/20120225084942/http://police.albany.edu/2ColPage.asp?PageSName=SL (six years later her name is still misspelled in the right sidebar)
No UPD page for her at all now. Why have they given up on finding her? Or perhaps they don’t want people to easily see that they never solved a missing persons case? It's a fact that should be mentioned in every annual Clery Act Report, every annual UPD report. "Chief" Wiley should be sent packing and someone who worked his or her way up through the ranks in NYS with distinction should be competitively appointed, someone who would pledge to do as much as possible to close SUNY Albany's missing persons cases, and who would do something to change UAlbany's rape culture.
FBI still have a page for her:
http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/kidnap/suzanne-g.-lyall
NYS Troopers still have a page for her:
UPD doesn’t appear to have ever had a page for missing SUNY Albany student Karen Wilson. She disappeared in 1985, well before the public Internet, but surely it could help to have a page for her nonetheless.
The NYS Troopers have a page for her, though the FBI don’t seem to:
No comments:
Post a Comment