UAlbany incident a teachable moment from which UAlbany refuses to learn

I don’t purport to know all the facts in the case, but I do trust the university student conduct process and I know first-hand that President Robert Jones is an ethical and fair leader. Jones is fully committed to inclusive excellence and justice for all. He cares deeply about all members of our campus community regardless of race, standing or privilege.

Murphy, John M. "Letters to the Editor: UAlbany incident a teachable moment." Albany Times Union. March 5, 2016. http://blog.timesunion.com/opinion/ualbany-incident-a-teachable-moment/34670/

"I don’t purport to know all the facts in the case" just might be one of the few truthful things John M. Murphy has ever written in connection with UAlbany. He's not the most reliable of witnesses.

[The incident] shows college officials face a real challenge in balancing the demand for immediate information with the need to be accurate. The two are not always compatible.

Nothing like a false dilemma. Jones, had he had the sense to use "alleged" or "had reported" could well have managed to be both accurate and supplying information. Alternatively, had he possessed the sense to have his office staff or the Office of General Counsel check his press release he could have likewise managed (or maybe he did and they lack sense too?).

Personally, as an educator I stand with those like Jones who have compassion for all young people and who seek to make this incident a teachable moment on many levels.

Murphy does not have compassion for all young people, or for all students. At times he's seemed something of a sadist. Aside from that, he didn't seem to have all that high an opinion of students referred to the student conduct process, even though in the US there's generally a presumption of innocence.

We will be replacing tape recording devices for serious student conduct hearings with digital recorders to preserve the records of serious hearings. The quality of tape recording is becoming suspect and given the litigious nature of some individuals it is important to preserve these records.

http://www.albany.edu/studentsuccess/assessment/docs/AR%202003-04%20-%20FINAL.pdf

Of course the student conduct process does not involve due process, so presuming innocence is probably also a quaint idea there too.

As for the incident being a "teachable moment," the lack of interest on the part of the City and UAlbany in updating the ineffective 2008 Memorandum of Understanding for law enforcement purposes suggests that the City and UAlbany really aren't all that interested in learning from it.

education is never neutral; it either maintains the status quo or advances our society.

Another false dilemma! Can it not also do harm, particularly if the educational system is abused?

I have witnessed the evolution of the university in construction, curriculum development and social justice. I am confident that our university is in good hands, thanks to the excellence of our students, faculty and administration.

UAlbany, having a disdain for constitutional rights, legal rights, rights by policy (like the series of lies that UAlbany calls the "Student's Bill of Rights" http://www.albany.edu/titleIX/title-ix-bill-of-rights.php ) really is not all that evolved when it comes to social justice. As for the "excellence" of students, faculty and administration, Murphy perhaps knows better than most just how rotten some of them are - being quite rotten himself. He's proven himself to have a rather rotten memory, for that matter.

"I believe you and I met with Mr. McNeill once before in his office a few years back." John M. Murphy, July 12, 2012

No, confabulator/memory fabricator, we didn't - as I had indicated only ten days prior (even that was too much for him to remember, apparently. I'd *written* Murphy in 2007 about some issues I thought needed to be addressed and he and his partner in crime failed to follow up, failure that he is.

"I don't mind terribly if Mr. Murphy helps you [Christine Bouchard] research my questions; I recall his name from April 2007. I never did hear back at that time if any kind of 'follow up plan' was developed between him and Mr. McNeill, though." - me, July 2, 2012

And naturally, the Times Union continues to fail to report on its relationships and its publisher's relationships with UAlbany when reporting on UAlbany.

Disputing a transcript leads to threat of deportation for UAlbany student

"Grenz said e-mails among UAlbany officials demonstrate there were meanspirited delays on Yi's grievances. The e-mails were turned over as part of the criminal case.

“One by the assistant dean of graduate studies, Jonathan Bartow, states: ‘I do not intend to immediately respond to (Yi’s) most recent message and I hope I set the stage for such slow movement on his request in my earlier message.'"

Carleo-Evangelist, Jordan. “Question of fairness at school; Lawyer says UAlbany overreacted in dealings with now-jailed student.” Albany Times Union. October 25, 2007: A1. http://albarchive.merlinone.net/mweb/wmsql.wm.request?oneimage&imageid=6425910

"Attorney Eugene Grenz cast Liangdong Yi's arrest as case of post-Virginia Tech paranoia. City Court Judge Rachel L. Kretser, however, saw it more simply: University Police were incomplete in filling out the arrest documents. [...]

Yi, who was arrested when he returned to campus to talk to Murphy, later denied ever making that statement or threatening violence. His lawyer said it was a miscommunication stemming from Yi's limited ability with the English.

Carleo-Evangelist, Jordan. "Police mistake leads to dismissal; Ex-student faces possible deportation to China after judge finds threat case is tainted." Albany Times Union. March 14, 2008: D1. http://albarchive.merlinone.net/mweb/wmsql.wm.request?oneimage&imageid=6541186

Clearly we don't have all the facts in that case just from those articles, but John M. Murphy** seemed to me to have lured that student on campus with a promise of a meeting to discuss an issue about grades only so they could arrest him (maybe Murphy trying to lure me on campus when I had made it clear to him that I did not feel safe going on campus prejudices me). Another article stated the student was "trying to see Murphy and was carrying Murphy's letter."*

UAlbany claimed the student had made "menacing statements to university officials, including that if he 'was a different sort of person, I might get violent and use a gun.'" Who alleged he'd made the statement? If UAlbany was genuinely worried about the student, why were university police so utterly careless in handling the case that they botched the arrest so badly the court had to dismiss? How the heck does a student trying to straighten out his transcript prior to graduation (and UAlbany did still give him a degree according to the TU) end up getting deported?

If an article on a foreign website can be trusted, the case became an international one.

Lawyers now plan a complaint to the UN Commission on Human Rights [in] this case. [Translation by Google Translate]

http://www.wenxuecity.com/news/2009/02/05/-786924.html (if a print prompt pops up from that page, just cancel it and it should be possible to see the article) (Archived by WebCite® at http://www.webcitation.org/6flJAmn70 )

Google Translate makes an interesting poetic hash of some of the user comments there, incidentally. E.g., "legal culture is a surface like flowers, not as good as unreasonable under the eaves".

I haven't seen any articles indicating that the student had received any support (or abuse) from fellow students, student groups, United University Professions, etc. Whether guilty or innocent, some people have a harder time finding help than others.

I have no idea what happened in the end. Local media is really poor at follow-throughs.

* Carleo-Evangelist, Jordan. “Threat case reveals caution at UAlbany; Chinese national banned from campus held in jail, accused of making menacing statements.” Albany Times Union. August 29, 2007: D1.?

** John M. Murphy is perhaps an inauspicious name when it comes to government employees.

A Federal jury today found John M. Murphy, a Cook County Associate Circuit Court Judge, guilty of 24 out of 27 counts of racketeering, mail fraud and extortion.

Malcolm, Andrew H. "Federal Jury Finds a Cooks County Judge Guilty of Corruption." N.Y. Times. June 15, 1984. http://www.nytimes.com/1984/06/15/us/federal-jury-finds-a-cooks-county-judge-guilty-of-corruption.html

"John M. Murphy, a former New York City congressman who served 18 years in the House before being caught taking a $50,000 cash payment in the Abscam sting operation in the late 1970s, died on Monday on Staten Island.

"Fried, Joseph P. "John Murphy, Congressman Convicted in Abscam Sting, Dies at 88." N.Y. Times. May 26, 2015. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/27/us/politics/john-murphy-staten-island-congressman-convicted-in-abscam-sting-dies-at-88.html

the table keeps on turning

Organizers of Monday's rally say a culture change is needed, because no one would be asking for proof of such a vicious assault if the victims were different.

"I just think that it goes to show when a black woman says something that has happened to her, a lot of people don't believe it was true, but I feel like if the tables were turned, nobody would be questioning the situation," said Adanna Perry, president of the National Congress of Black Women.

Rekhi, Tanja. "UAlbany Students Rally After Alleged Assault on CDTA Bus." Time Warner Cable News. February 1, 2016. http://www.twcnews.com/nys/capital-region/news/2016/02/1/ualbany-alleged-assault-on-cdta-bus.html

Law enforcement always has to look for evidence (not that they always do, unfortunately), regardless of the background of the alleged victims or perpetrators. Throw out the requirement of evidence, and it could just as easily work against you than for you.

"It's amazing how we're always asked to forgive before we've even healed" speaker at #DefendblackgirlsUAlbany

live tweet of unnamed speaker by Sami Schalk. February 1, 2016 3:37 PM. https://twitter.com/DrSamiSchalk/status/694303652979314688

“let it go and move on” is the advice I received in writing from a former professor of mine, a chair of the Women’s Studies department, who also characterized the pursuit for justice as "revenge" and that by dropping it I'd be "the bigger person"

“find some acceptance of it” is the advice I received from my department advisor, who warned me I'd be retaliated against and advised me not to pursue it

Perhaps I'm naive, but I don't think racism or misandry was necessarily involved with their advice. I think they probably genuinely feared for their own careers and safety if they supported me, and probably rightly so. Tenured professors/unemployed undergraduate student. So much discrimination is more hierarchical than anything else, I think. They could have at least been more honest about that, though. If my own demographics factored into why they wouldn't help, they could have been honest about that too.

In the bus case, prejudiced people both black and white seem to have utilized the "if the tables were turned" claim. It's garbage as a claim, regardless of who is making it. I could give multiple examples by people exhibiting prejudice in this case, but maybe one will suffice.

One of the 911 callers had stated "The cops weren’t called, ‘cause we’re black, so the cops weren’t called. [...] I guess the cops weren’t called, because there were no cops there."

(1) the caller herself didn't call 911 until afterwards, and one of her friends didn't call 911 until afterwards, and her other friend didn't ever call 911 - yet they complained that police weren't there?

(2) other black people on the bus, including at least one black woman, also didn't call - because the women were black?

The reasons why witnesses of all backgrounds don't call 911 can be varied. Victims of all backgrounds can suffer as a result. One significant contributing factor to why 911 isn't called in some cases (which may or may not have been the case with the bus), the bystander effect:

In 1964, 28 year old Kitty Genovese was raped and stabbed to death in front of her apartment complex. The attack lasted over 30 minutes and was witnessed by several dozen people who failed to report the incident. Some failed to realize that an actual crime was going on, claiming they thought it was a "lover's quarrel", whereas others realized they were witnessing a crime, but failed to report it because they assumed that someone else had already called the police. [...]

First, if you find yourself in an emergency situation with several fellow bystanders, realize that your first instinct (and the first instinct of those around you) will be to deny responsibility for helping the victim. By simply being aware of the diffusion of responsibility process, it may snap you out of the biased way of thinking and cause you to realize that you and everyone present is each 100% responsible for helping the victim. Second, if you find yourself in need of help, it is up to you to actively make one of your eyewitnesses feel personally responsible for your well-being. When we are in need of help and there is a crowd watching, we often plead for help to anyone that is listening, thinking that at least one person will step up to intervene. But self-defense instructors advise that you instead pick one person out of the crowd, look them dead in the eye, and tell that one person you need help. By pleading to a specific individual, you suddenly make that person feel completely responsible for your safety and this increases the odds that they will help. The same technique can be used if you are trying to get several others to help you assist a victim. Point to one person and tell them to go get help; point to another and tell them to call 911. Giving specific instructions to specific people counteracts the diffusion of responsibility process.

Burkley, Melissa. "Why Don’t We Help? Less Is More, at Least When It Comes to Bystanders; The more eyewitnesses present, the less likely people will help a victim." Psychology Today. November 4, 2009. https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-social-thinker/200911/why-don-t-we-help-less-is-more-least-when-it-comes-bystanders

I don't know that I was ever taught that, to single someone out and make it their job to call 911. I've certainly seen that in movies, "YOU! Call 911!" rather than "somebody call 911!"

University at Albany and City of Albany Memorandum of (Lack of) Understanding for law enforcement purposes

The transferring of one of the 911 calls in the bus case was not too bad, but the other was definitely problematic. The relatively lengthy attempts to work out who had jurisdiction were inexcusable (not helped by the caller). Jurisdictional matters and any relationship between UAlbany and CDTA were discussed somewhat by Pres Jones in his Press Conference. He seemed baffled at the suggestion that something could be done to improve things.

HALEY VICCARO, SCHENECTADY GAZETTE: Do you plan to work with CDTA in the future to ensure that if any sort of incident comes up that maybe you'd be able to come up with a way to handle it while it's ongoing on a bus?

PRES. JONES: I'm not exactly sure how that would work. The bus runs on our campus only for a short time period. We have no jurisdiction once the bus gets on city streets. We have, uh, I think our police chief has had conversations with the CDTA about, uh, you know, if there have been any incident or, uh, issues on these buses that we need to be concerned about, so that was our first response was to try to talk to CDTA to see what may have previously occurred that we need to be concerned about, and I know that’s kind of an ongoing part of our due diligence to, uh, to make sure the buses are safe and [advice?] and I’ve said, uh, you know, the bus is an important part of our mechanism for getting students back and forth and, uh, as far as we know, they are safe form of transportation.

Firstly, despite President Jones saying "we have no jurisdiction once the bus gets on city streets" that doesn't seem to be true. SUNY Police have their jurisdiction defined by N.Y. Criminal Procedure Law section 1.20 (34-a) (d):

The geographical area of employment of a police officer appointed by the state university is the campuses and other property of the state university, including any portion of a public highway which crosses or abuts such property.

As such, UPD would seem to have shared jurisdiction over portions of Fuller Road, Washington Avenue, Western Avenue, Washington Avenue, etc.

Furthermore, I think, among other things, that the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the University at Albany and City of Albany regarding law enforcement could potentially be revised to address jurisdictional matters and perhaps also the relationship with CDTA (or else a separate MOU including CDTA) to improve matters.

The last version of the MOU that I’ve seen can be read at https://d3gn0r3afghep.cloudfront.net/foia_files/6-27-13_MR4811_RES.pdf and https://muckrock.s3.amazonaws.com/foia_files/APD_MOU_2009.pdf It begins,

This Memorandum of Understanding, effective November 1, 2008, entered into by and between the City of Albany on behalf of its Police Department and the State University of New York, on behalf of the University at Albany, namely the University at Albany Police Department, sets out the respective duties and obligations with regard to the coordination of law enforcement efforts between the University at Albany Police Department and the City Police Department.

It was signed by former President Philip, former Mayor Jennings, and former APD Chief James Tuffey, so if it hasn’t been revised then President Jones has been grossly negligent in his role as President:

The campus president has the authority and responsibility for the overall operation and security of the campus. Accordingly, the president, or his designee, through the chief of university police, administers the operations of the University Police Department.

https://www.suny.edu/sunypp/docs/364.pdf

Subject to the approval of the chancellor, the president of each state-operated campus of the state university shall enter into a written agreement with adjoining law enforcement agencies establishing protocols for the exercise of authority by such university police officer off-campus, including mutual aid and assistance. Such written protocols shall not be deemed to supersede the authority of other police officers.

N.Y. EDUC. LAW § 355 (2) (l) [lowercase L]

Chief James Tuffey resigned in 2009. A new agreement might have been a good idea at that time, but certainly after both the City of Albany Mayor and University at Albany President both changed.

Despite there being a MOU that became active in 2008, the UAlbany Emergency Management plan dated July 2015 and which contains a Letter of Promulgation signed by President Robert J. Jones inexplicably contains what appears to be a copy of a Memorandum of Understanding between UAlbany and the City of Albany from January 1, 1999 (possibly signed in late 1998?) rather than the 2008 or any more recent MOU. It begins,

This Memorandum of Understanding, effective January 1, 1999, entered into and between the City of Albany Police Department and the State University of New York, University at Albany Police Department, sets out the respective duties and obligations with regard to the coordination of law enforcement efforts between the University at Albany Police Department and the City Police Department. http://www.albany.edu/ehs/pdf/UAlbanyEmergencyManagementPlan.pdf

The City of Albany Chief in 1998 or January 1, 1999 was possibly Kevin Tuffey; the signature is not included in the Emergency Management Plan. At any rate, not by the man who’s City of Albany Chief in 2015, nor by the current Mayor or President. Why? In President Jones' Letter of Promulgation in the 2015 Emergency Management Plan, he stated,

this Plan is a Guide to the University for Emergency Management and coordination of all phases of emergency management operations, in order to minimize the impact of emergencies and disasters, and to protect the people, property, and restore the ability of the University to serve our mission.

How exactly is a plan with a Memorandum of Understanding from seventeen years ago likely to serve the university or the city well?

Backdated arrest report?

End Campus Police?

"UC Irvine Black Student Union Demands End to Campus Police Department." OC Weekly. January 28, 2016. http://www.ocweekly.com/news/uc-irvine-black-student-union-demands-end-to-campus-police-department-6927075

Interesting. "Campus Police" should be abolished, but there still does need to be law enforcement. Local police or state police would do - at least their chiefs are theoretically accountable to elected officials or the public. SUNY Police Chiefs are not.

Sojourner-Douglass College accreditation revoked; UAlbany "Chief" Wiley's degree from there

The college from which UAlbany “Police Chief” J. “Frank” Wiley allegedly received a bachelor of arts degree in Human and Social Resources (which has a concentration in Criminal Justice as an option) lost its accreditation this year.

Students at the Inner Harbor East Academy will relocate to a temporary facility next week because the school’s operator, Sojourner-Douglass College, hasn't paid the heating bill, according to city school officials.

Anderson, Jessica. "Charter school to move because of unpaid bills." Baltimore Sun. February 11, 2015. http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/education/bs-md-ci-inner-harbor-east-academy-20150211-story.html

Sojourner-Douglass College is being sued by the owner of its Edgewater campus property for failure to pay rent, according to school officials and the plaintiff's attorney.

The lawsuit, filed last month in Anne Arundel County District Court, is the latest in a series of setbacks for the Baltimore-based school, which has satellite campuses in Maryland and in the Bahamas.

Burris, Joe. “Sojourner-Douglass sued for failing to pay rent on Arundel campus.” Baltimore Sun. January 15, 2015. http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/education/bs-md-ci-sojourner-douglass-suit-20150115-story.html

the school faced financial difficulties — including a $5 million lien from the Internal Revenue Service. The Middle States Commission on Higher Education cited the financial woes when it moved last year to revoke accreditation and again this year when the college appealed.

The college sued the commission the day before the accreditation was revoked, claiming racial discrimination, breach of contract, violation of due process and negligence.

In addition to denying the request for an injunction, Hollander dismissed two counts in the lawsuit — racial discrimination and breach of contract. She gave the college 17 days to revise the lawsuit.

Wood, Pamela. "Sojourner-Douglass College loses bid to restore accreditation." Baltimore Sun. August 28, 2015. http:www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/education/bs-md-sojourner-ruling-20150828-story.html

The college’s website http://www.sdc.edu doesn’t appear to give any indication that its accreditation was revoked, or that they revised their lawsuit within the seventeen days they were provided.

The Human Services degree with a concentration in Criminal Justice in recent years may not be exactly the same as Wiley’s Human and Social Resources degree from 1989, but one would suppose it to be at least similar. There's only about eighteen credits' worth of courses that seem relevant to criminal justice:

Introduction to the Criminological Theory [sic]; The Criminal Justice System; The Judicial Process; Parole and Probation; Constitutional Law; Juvenile Delinquency

"Criminal Justice Concentration." Degree Programs, Concentrations, and Certificates. Sojourner Douglass College. http://www.sdc.edu/admissions/undergraduate/degree-programs-org.pdf

They did have a Criminal Justice degree also, but I'm not sure if that was available when Wiley was there.

The college was only nine years old at the time Wiley graduated, thus about five years old when Wiley presumably began around 1985 (if his BA took him four years): http://www.sdc.edu/about/history.asp An early advertisement in the Baltimore Afro-American, September 23, 1980 emphasizes "a flexible program which combines theory and practice within a structure that enables you to obtain the Bachelor of Arts Degree through a self-designed, individualized plan." http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=e64lAAAAIBAJ&sjid=TfUFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3464,1815720

Its curriculum in its early days sounds unusual: "the S-D administration builds its very curriculums around the experiences of the students. Dialogue between the professors and their students becomes critical. The students bring their experiences to the classroom, and blend books and theory to come up with a workable whole." For many things that might be ideal, but for police procedure or police administration, I'm not so sure. The enrollment was said to be 350 students at that time.

"Sojourner-Douglass College: fruition of a dream." Baltimore Afro-American. August 29, 1981. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=FuZfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=RQMGAAAAIBAJ&pg=1566,1410293

In 1990, a year after Wiley allegedly graduated, there were rumors the college would close (due to problems that had apparently existed while Wiley had been a student). The federal "Office of Education had threatened to terminate all of its federally backed student financial aid programs […] audits performed in 1987 and after, indicated that the Guaranteed Student Loans (GSL) and other programs were awarded before the college thoroughly investigated backgrounds of those applying for assistance and resulted in a high default rate for repayments. Further inquiries found that Sojourner-Douglass had not disseminated federal monies awarded to recipients by the mandated deadline and improperly filed student records needed to conduct required bi-annual audits. […] 'Sojourner-Douglass had a 40 percent default rate which is considered high'"

Tyler, Joy M. "Sojourner-Douglass college continues to survive." Baltimore Afro-American. March 7, 1992: A11. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Y4clAAAAIBAJ&sjid=X_UFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1228,1237179

In 1993 it had an enrollment of only about 200 students: "Sojourner-Douglass College lays bias to state agency." Baltimore Afro-American. September 11, 1993. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=k58lAAAAIBAJ&sjid=7fQFAAAAIBAJ&pg=2516,1781655

Questionable financials for about thirty years! Have people involved with the college been audited?

Supposedly Wiley graduated summa cum laude. I'd be curious to know if everybody who graduated there graduated summa cum laude....

With the NYS Division of Criminal Justice Services having written in response to a FOIL request that Mr. Wiley “has not completed any training, including basic training, reported to DCJS" and with the NYS Department of State Assistant Records Access Officer having written in response to a FOIL request that they could find no Oath of Office on file for Mr. Wiley for 1996 or 1999 when SUNY peace officers became full police officers, and his dodgy degree, one really has to wonder how he continues to be employed there - and to be one of the highest-paid chiefs in SUNY and in the Albany area for that matter. His love for football, his having been an athlete, his having been a coach, his creating a ride-along program for football players, his police getting paid extra to do security for the NY Giants' summer training camp at UAlbany when it was there, his decision not to report a gang rape by UAlbany football players to the Albany County DA's office ASAP, etc. all likely answer the question, though.

In 1996 when he was hired, SUNY Albany had a need for a police chief who would lead the department to solving the disappearance of SUNY Albany student Karen Wilson and who would be able to handle a campus shooting case like the then-recent one of Ralph Tortorici. Instead, not long after Wiley was hired Suzanne Lyall went missing under circumstances somewhat similar to Karen Wilson's - something that should not have happened if the Wilson case had been given proper attention. Had Wiley ever worked a missing persons case as an officer while in Maryland, much less led one as a chief? I doubt it!

Wiley's signed off on false Clery Act reports for years. He's willing to back threats made against a student who dares to report crimes. The man belongs in prison.