From: Harry Phillips
To: Christopher Philippo [...]
Subject: Re: John Philippo Lifetime Achievement Award
Date: November 8, 2013 at 5:58:58 PM EST
Sorry. I was unaware of this
______________________
Harry Phillips, 3rd
914.948.0486
[...]
Begin forwarded message:
From: Christopher Philippo [...]
Subject: serious problems of intimidation, retaliation, and non-compliance at SUNY?
Date: December 10, 2012 at 10:58:42 AM EST
To: Merryl Tisch <RegentTisch@mail.nysed.gov>, Anthony S. Bottar <RegentBottar@mail.nysed.gov>, Robert M. Bennett <RegentBennett@mail.nysed.gov>, James C. Dawson <RegentDawson@mail.nysed.gov>, Geraldine D. Chapey <RegentChapey@mail.nysed.gov>, Harry Phillips 3rd <RegentPhillips@mail.nysed.gov>, James R. Tallon Jr. <RegentTallon@mail.nysed.gov>, Roger Tilles <RegentTilles@mail.nysed.gov>, Charles R. Bendit <RegentBendit@mail.nysed.gov>, Betty A. Rosa <RegentRosa@mail.nysed.gov>, Lester W. Young Jr. <RegentYoung@mail.nysed.gov>, Christine D. Cea <RegentCea@mail.nysed.gov>, Wade S. Norwood <RegentNorwood@mail.nysed.gov>, Kathleen M. Kashin <RegentCashin@mail.nysed.gov>, James E. Cottrell <RegentCottrell@mail.nysed.gov>, Andrew T. Brown <RegentBrown@mail.nysed.gov>
Dear Chancellor Tisch, Vice Chancellor Bottar, Chancellor Emeritus Bennett, and Board of Regents:
It had been suggested to me that you may be able to help me regarding the following:
"Effective immediately, you are hereby notified that you are to cease and desist all contact with any office, department, unit or employee at the University [at Albany] other than me [Clarence L. McNeill]. As of this date, the University has designated me as your sole contact for all written and oral communication with the University, including, but not limited to, telephone calls and messages, emails, and mailed and faxed correspondence. I will determine when and if your communications will be addressed by the University."
The above was e-mailed to me on August 3, 2012 by Clarence L. McNeill, who is the State University of New York at Albany's Assistant Vice President for Student Success. Director of the Office of Conflict Resolution & Civic Responsibility, Chair of College/University Behavior [sometimes Behavioral] Intervention Team (CUBIT), and President of the SUNY-Wide Judicial Administrator group. He subsequently used the United States Postal Service to send it by Certified Mail, requiring my signature.
I graduated summa cum laude from the University at Albany in May 2012. Are SUNY judicial administrators in the habit of imposing prior restraint on freedom of speech, inquiry, association, movement, etc. on not just students but also on alumni without due process? Mr. McNeill cc'd his e-mail to George M. Philip, Christine A. Bouchard, John M. Murphy, J. "Frank" Wiley, John H. Reilly, and Janet M. Thayer, none of whom had any problem with what Mr. McNeill had done as far as I know. [...]
Mr. McNeill's prohibition means, among other things, that I may not request my own official transcript from the University Registrar when I require it for job or graduate school applications. I may not communicate with the Career Services Center, Career Services at the Psychological Services Center, or seek references from faculty and staff at the university with whom I had good relationships. Mr. McNeill's made it much as if I never attended the University at Albany; all that time and tuition, effectively stolen from me. [...]
Mr. McNeill's prohibition means I may not communicate with the University at Albany Council, which is intended to be "an oversight Council" and which is appointed by the Governor as mandated by N.Y. EDUC. LAW § 356. For UAlbany students or alumni to be prohibited to communicate with an oversight body for UAlbany strikes me as extremely problematic. Since Regent Jackson is on that council, it also means that University at Albany Assistant Vice President for Student Success McNeill forbade me to communicate with a member of the New York State Board of Regents; it's why I've left Regent Jackson's e-mail address out of the addresses for this e-mail. Mr. McNeill threatened me in writing that there could be a lawsuit if I violated the prior restraint he'd imposed on me without any due process. Regent Jackson is probably unaware of the prohibition on my communicating with him, unless Mr. Philip or SUNY central administration informed him.
It's all quite overwhelming, and even to some degree scary that state university officials would be behaving with such disregard for the law and constitutional rights. Add to that problems with firearms violations by UAlbany's Police Department, which had also been failing to maintain their Sexual Offender Registry properly for years to such an extent that they'd wound up with two different ones, both mismanaged, etc. and the administration seems as lawless as the "Kegs and Eggs riot" already indicated too large a percentage of the student body to be.
Might you indeed be able to help me? At least by informing me what law enforcement agency has jurisdiction over SUNY police? Newly-appointed SUNY Commissioner of University Police R. Bruce McBride, former SUNY Director of University Police David Schindler, and former SUNY Assistant Vice Chancellor for University Police and Public Safety Roger Johnson have all been unwilling to inform me what police department would have jurisdiction, i.e to whom J. "Frank" Wiley, Christine A. Bouchard, George M. Philip, and others could be reported.
It's not merely a question of helping me, but my family, my friends, students at SUNY, faculty and staff at SUNY, and New York State taxpayers, what with such grossly illegal and unconstitutional retaliation occurring in writing, and such serious safety and security issues as firearms violations and failure to maintain the Sexual Offender Registry going unaddressed. Incredibly, at the root of all this, they're protecting a visiting assistant professor who has failed to achieve tenure in his fifteen or so years at UAlbany, who published a book review a decade ago and seemingly nothing else before or since, and who does not appear to have ever engaged in research.
There's not as much hearsay involved as you might think. There are many witnesses to the professor's actions, but I was prohibited to communicate with them by Mr. McNeill. Some of the professor's actions are documented in writing, and the nature of UAlbany's and SUNY's responses to the things I'd reported about him is extensively documented in writing. That they'd retaliate so viciously on behalf of someone who appears to be just taking up space in a department, someone they could dismiss at any time even apart from everything I'd reported him for, is what had prompted me to look into problems there deeper. If I'd been granted academic accommodation when I'd first requested that upon reporting his academic dishonesty and sexual harassment, I'd never have uncovered all the other problems I found.
Instead, the department chair forced me to remain in that professor's class, continuing to be subjected to his unprofessional, offensive, and increasingly alarming behavior as a condition of receiving my degree, joining the graduating class, the Alumni Association, etc. That might constitute both hazing and quid pro quo sexual harassment - and it was the chair of the University at Albany's Presidential Advisory Council for the Prevention of Sexual Assault who had refused to grant me that academic accommodation and forced me to remain in such a class with such a professor.
Governor Cuomo has stated, "the safety of our students and the security of our campuses is our top priority" http://www.governor.ny.gov/press/091412stmtsunythreats I hope you feel the same way; safety and security do not even appear to be on the radar for far too many people at SUNY.
Thank you for any help you can provide,
Christopher Korey Philippo
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"Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act" whistleblower protection:
"The statute now includes language specifically protecting whistleblowers who report violations of the Clery Act. This section is effective immediately" (2).
Storch, Joseph. "2008 Changes to Clery Act Reporting Requirements." September 2, 2008. SUNY.edu. http://www.suny.edu/govtRelations/federal/pdf/2008-68%20Guidance%20on%202008%20Changes%20to%20Clery%20Act%20Reporting%20Requirements.pdf
"Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act" 20 U.S.C. § 1092(f) (17)
"Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to permit an institution, or an officer, employee, or agent of an institution, participating in any program under this subchapter and part C of subchapter I of chapter 34 of title 42 to retaliate, intimidate, threaten, coerce, or otherwise discriminate against any individual with respect to the implementation of any provision of this subsection."
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“Make you the world a bit better or more beautiful because you have lived in it.” - Edward W. Bok
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