The Ultimate Machiavelli - Technical Communication - Kangaroo Court
Machiavellian principles have applied at University of Washington for more than two decades.
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Internet Censorship Mark A Emmert The Editor sent three prepublication notices and a courtesy media release to Mark A Emmert, President, University of Washington, and twenty other top administrators, to announce a new series: The notice gave them an opportunity to respond to alleged malfeasance prior to general release of the article to the public. The email message (5 Feb 08) contained this admonition: This notice is sent as a courtesy to people mentioned. The articles remain "live" in that they are subject to continual update when new information surfaces. As works in progress, they will link to personal case studies as time or relevance permits. An unlawful pattern or practice already exists among named University of Washington administrators and faculty members who have attempted to flood this web site, destroy databases, damage computer servers, or otherwise interfere with publication of Contra Cabal. Any attempt to continue that practice, or indulge in prior restraint by other means, will immediately become subject to reports to Federal Bureau of Investigation. Laws preclude public officials from interfering with dissemination of information. Contra Cabal uses secure servers and detection software to expose malfeasance - Mark Emmert, take notice and be warned! [Full Text PDF PT-08-0205-1725]
Instead of responding to the issues, Emmert apparently tried to kill the messenger. He has allowed his technical staff to censor email by randomly deleting text from personal email messages and crashing computers to try to prevent publication of content protected under First Amendment to US Constitution. Although Emmert has received repeated warnings about this violation of federal law, UW computer technicians continue to sabotage Contra Cabal systems and web sites on a regular schedule. The Editor will request Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to investigate malicious violation of federal law which forms part of a twelve-year pattern or practice of similar behavior initiated by Emmert's predecessor Richard L McCormick, Ronald A Johnson and Carol S Niccolls now Special Counsel to President Emmert. Johnson, a university employee, has for more than twelve years instructed or allowed his technicians to: crack into computer systems; flood web sites; destroy academic databases; censor incoming and outgoing email; sabotage operating systems; deny access to paid accounts; coerce commercial internet providers to restrict service; and used taxpayer funds to cause damage to private computer systems and databases in excess of $50,000.00. [Computer Crackers - University of Washington] [Internet Denial-of-Service Attacks] Niccolls, colluded with Johnson to destroy academic research databases, denied access to paid accounts, and has participated in multiple other frauds. A former assistant attorney general (AG) under Governor Christine O Gregoire (former Attorney General), Niccolls will eventually have to answer a Washington State Bar Association, Rules for Professional Conduct (WSBA) complaint in company with other AG and UW lawyers. They intercepted or diverted US mail and email addressed to UW regents and other top echelon administrators allegedly to keep them in ignorance of crimes committed by lower echelon employees. Emmert inherited both Johnson and Niccolls from McCormick and promoted Niccolls to Special Counsel to the President. Despite their malfeasance, Emmert has increased Johnson's salary from $252,000.00/pa to $321,684.00/pa, an increase of $69,684.00 (27.65%/4), and increased Niccolls's salary from $138,000.00/pa to $190,560.00, an increase of $52,560.00 (38.08%/4). [Roll of Dishonor Case Studies] Faculty members who receive comparatively meager remuneration, also students and parents who pay exorbitant tuition or fees, should remember these excesses when they consider reelection of a governor who has condoned criminal behavior by successive UW presidents. [Nothing Succeeds Like Excess]
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Governor Christine O Gregoire, President Mark A Emmert, Provost Phyllis M Wise, and Graduate Dean Suzanne T Ortega in consort with Education Dean Patricia A Wasley and Engineering Dean Matthew O'Donnell continue to ignore serious charges of criminality by people for whom they ultimately hold responsibility. [Incompetence and Willful Blindness]
Paul Trummel moved to University of Washington (UW) to complete a PhD program as agreed among professors Mark P Haselkorn, College of Engineering; William D Winn, College of Education; Stephen T Kerr, College of Education; ratified by James I Doi, Dean Emeritus (then dean), College of Education. That agreement resulted from a meeting at an IEEE conference with Haselkorn, telephone interviews with Haselkorn and Winn, and a campus interview with Winn and Kerr prior to Trummel moving from San Jose to Seattle to study in the College of Education, PhD program.
The Introduction
University officials, faculty members, and attorneys general have broken laws, framed evidence to support sham disciplinary proceedings, and covered up kangaroo court findings. Only an independent investigator can fairly examine the voluminous documents which support these contentions.
Under university regulations, expulsion of a doctoral candidate requires written notice and preliminary hearings with an opportunity to file a defense and to present witnesses. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) denied basic rights in law by disallowing a hearing, oral testimony, and written affidavits by defense witnesses. University of Washington (UW) used the same modus operandi in consort with Rensselaer. Both universities conspired to use railroading techniques to deny due process of law and constitutional and human rights.
Frequently, accused individuals, whose only transgression probably relates to exercise of freedom of expression, do not have access to oral recordings or written transcripts of testimony that would enable them to appeal findings held in absentia. Yet administrators willingly disclose the content of kangaroo court documents ex parte for blackmail purposes.
The Tribute
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Under the circumstances, it may sound oxymoronic to give tribute to a UW PhD advisor; however, people who have suffered under the UW regime deserve recognition, even if it sadly takes the form of an obituary. I knew and worked closely with William D Winn for almost two decades both as a colleague and friend. He worked with me to form an educational foundation and for the last nine years of his life acted as my executor and trustee. At University of Washington, he always considered me a visiting professor, not a student, and treated me accordingly.
We had a common upbringing in UK and our experiences complemented each other. As an associate editor for IEEE/PCS, I had occasion to review his current work and publish it. Reciprocally, he peer reviewed the PhD dissertations that I wrote and from his classical education (as opposed to my technical background) he gave me valuable pointers and advice.
His advice as an SPhD advisor became invaluable when other professors and administrators consistently tried to discredit me by altering my credentials and destroying my research databases. As a professor and adjunct in both Education and Engineering, Winn had inside knowledge of devious practices by: Allen D Glenn, now Dean Emeritus, College of Education; Richard S Neel, then Associate Dean, College of Education; and Judith A Ramey, Professor and Chair, Technical Communication.
A man of integrity, Winn neither took part in university machination nor betrayed faculty confidences. However, in working with him I sensed the frustration that he experienced with official malfeasance and watched him dissemble over several years. Unethical pressures applied to him by university administrators sapped his emotional strength. Winn died in 2006 at the age of fifty-nine, a relatively young man.
Winn helped me to handle the repeated and outrageous attacks upon me by university administrators at both University of Washington and Rensselaer. When it came time for me to file complaints with US Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights (OCR), he filed affidavits in support of my contentions. In sworn testimony, he stated that I had made satisfactory progress and completed all the course work for my SPhD and written several dissertations on which he had signed off.
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Winn showed utter disgust with Olswang when he thwarted the OCR grievance procedure in consort with Gary D Jackson, Director, Seattle Office, Western Division, OCR. Jackson allegedly destroyed affidavits and other records so that Washington DC could quash the complaint. Winn promptly replaced the affidavits. Reasonable people must ask how much McCormick (then UW president) paid Olswang and Jackson for their extracurricular activity.
In his last message to me Winn wrote:
I have resigned from UW and left Seattle. This is all rather unexpected and the reasons are largely personal (though the prospects there are pretty grim). Go get 'em! Bill.
A source in College of Education informed me that the dean persuaded Winn to return to UW three months later, much to his chagrin.
I will respect Winn’s wish and continue my efforts to obtain due process of law. I find it very difficult to believe that he would write anything negative about my SPhD program or my dissertations after spending eight years supervising the writing, editing and international presentation of them.
Repeated claims by Ramey that she has negative reports about academic progress written by Winn (without providing copies of them) leads me to treat them as more of her politically expedient fiction. Obviously, she does not understand the cultural bond that exists among “straddlers” who move from blue- to white-collar then suffer a lifetime of alienation by family and the middle class - academic limbo. [Xenophobia and Bigotry]
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William D Winn (UW) and Philip Rubens (RPI), PhD advisors, wrote this joint statement and filed it with each university. |
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Paul, previously an associate professor of communication with California State University, an assistant professor with Massachusetts State University, a lecturer at Rensselaer and a lecturer and administrator at other institutions, commenced his doctoral work at RPI in 1985 and has been studying at the University of Washington since Sept. 1989. In our opinion, during the period 1985-1993 he has made satisfactory progress toward his doctoral degree by working steadily in graduate courses, independent study and research projects that have enabled him to develop an extensive research program. This program draws together graphic design, rhetoric, visible language and verbal language in innovative ways. From it have emerged many articles and papers and several chapters of a doctoral dissertation. |
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Their reward included promotion to full professor for Ramey and Spyridakis with Ramey as department chair. They both received exorbitant salary increases way above the campus average. Mark A Emmert and Shirley Ann Jackson, presidents of UW and RPI respectively, now hold ultimate responsibility for multiple violation of civil and human rights. Their neglect to investigate and mitigate the damage caused by malicious faculty members makes them accessories after the fact. |
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Winn learned about a Ramey and Jan H Spyridakis, Professor, Technical Communication plan to destroy credentials to gain favor with Landolt and Olswang. Evidently, the deal included promotion to full professor for both of them with Ramey as department chair. Ramey and Spyridakis had ignored positive SPhD recommendations written over several years. This caused Winn and Rubens to file statements on doctoral progress with both Rensselaer and University of Washington; however, officials at each university either destroyed them or refused to allow first party access to them. [Rubens and Winn]
Consequently, Winn and Rubens wrote a joint statement. This excerpt derives from a document filed with each university based upon content of fax communications between them withheld from publication pending litigation:
I have prepared this report on the progress of Paul Trummel in my capacity as his academic advisor at the University of Washington and in consort with his former doctoral advisor, Dr. Philip Rubens at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Paul, previously an associate professor of communication with California State University, an assistant professor with Massachusetts State University, a lecturer at Rensselaer and a lecturer and administrator at other institutions, commenced his doctoral work at RPI in 1985 and has been studying at the University of Washington since September 1989. In our opinion, during the period 1985-1993 he has made satisfactory progress toward his doctoral degree by working steadily in graduate courses, independent study and research projects that have enabled him to develop an extensive research program. This program draws together graphic design, rhetoric, visible language and verbal language in innovative ways. From it have emerged many articles and papers and several chapters of a doctoral dissertation.
The research in which Paul is engaged is enriched by the unique circumstance of his entering the academic world after a productive 35-year career in the technical communication business. Usually students have their academic experiences before embarking on their professional careers. However, Paul has brought a lifetime of professional experience in printing, graphics and computing to his academic program. Not only has this experience enriched the lives of the many university students and faculty who have come to know him, but it has significantly shaped his research agenda. For example, his study of verbal and visible language, within traditional and innovative rhetorical frameworks, arises from his observation that many recent developments in desktop publishing are seriously misguided when compared with the criteria traditionally established by the printing industry. His graduate study has led him to find solid evidence, from perceptual and cognitive research, as well as from his extensive reading in rhetoric, in support of his position.
Ramey has never supplied copies of any documents despite repeated requests under the Public Disclosure Act. She has refused to accept and open several official registered letters; instead, she returned them to sender.
In addition, Ramey has neglected to send the documents that relate to her consultations (JAR/04.07.97/14:47) with both Spyridakis and Winn. I requested copies of these documents (recommendations of unsatisfactory progress) in my letter to her (PT/04.21.97). I also explained to her that recommendations from two members of the faculty do not comprise most of the graduate faculty members or supervisory committees involved.
Now, I need copies of the Spyridakis, Winn, and graduate faculty recommendations that she cites. I formerly request that you [Landolt] order Ramey to provide them to me immediately. By documents, I mean those written and notarized by faculty members before you [Landolt] took the first action. I do not mean documents that she [Ramey] may now try to persuade unsuspecting faculty members to write retroactively to support her claims: all this pursuant to GSM 16.
Otto Enger CPA had a conversation with Olswang (26 Feb 92) with respect to an IRS inquiry. Olswang confirmed that Trummel attended University of Washington for PhD work and that he could deduct PhD expenses for tax purposes. Enger wrote to IRS as a result of the conversation during which Olswang confirmed SPhD study:
IRS regulation 1.162-5 is the primary authority setting forth the conditions required in order for educational expenses to be deductible. To summarize, the education must maintain or improve skills required in the individual's current employment, or be required by the employer or by law in order for him to keep his job.
. . . It is clear that his [Trummel's] pursuit of a doctoral degree meets both requirements. . . . He has been employed in the field of graphic arts since 1947. He worked for several years as a graphic designer in the printing and publishing industry in England and the USA. Later, he became a lecturer and finally, a college professor. . . .
We contacted Mr. Stephen Olswang who is Vice-Provost at the University of Washington in regard to the requirements for obtaining a faculty position at a college or university. He informed us that . . . in general, most state universities require their faculty members to possess the "terminal" or highest degree in their field . . . Mr. Olswang went on to say that the field of graphic design is quite new relative to traditional fields such as English literature or history, etc. Currently, few colleges, including the University of Washington, offer a degree beyond the master's in this area.
At the time Mr. Trummel received his master's degree, this was the terminal degree in his field and thus, he would have met the minimum requirements at that time. Now, however, since most universities are requiring doctoral degrees, students in the graphics field are pursuing doctoral degrees in a related area such as art or communications. He told us that Mr. Trummel's situation was similar to other fields in which university professors who obtained faculty positions many years ago based upon master's degrees, in order to keep their positions had to later pursue doctorates as the doctoral degrees became available in their fields.
Based upon these facts, we conclude that in 1983, when Paul Trummel was appointed to the faculty of Fitchburg State College in Massachusetts, he had met the minimum requirements for qualification in his field. He possessed a master's degree and there was no higher degree in his field at that time. Subsequently, he has needed to pursue his doctoral degree because the requirements in his field have changed. Under regulation 1.162-5(b)(2), as underlined above, his 1989 and 1990 [University of Washington] educational expenses should not be disallowed as meeting the minimum requirements in his field because he had already met the minimum requirements. The doctoral degree requirement was imposed subsequent to his qualification.
Five months later, Graduate School, University of Washington confirmed receipt of twelve documents signed by professors required for admission into UW Special Individual PhD Program (SPhD). Another three professors certified their willingness to serve on the PhD committee. The letter to IRS from Enger and fifteen affirmations by full professors with tenure belie the statements later made by Landolt, Feetham, Haselkorn, Ramey, Spyridakis, and Olswang who falsely claimed that Trummel registered in a master's program in Technical Communication and denied that he ever registered for two PhD programs at UW.
In particular, Haselkorn, Feetham and Olswang know the truth. Haselkorn signed the PhD committee document and had access to doctoral work. Feetham conducted the initial interview and designated herself as "Head, SPhD Program". Olswang instructed Feetham and supervised a "bait and switch" operation.
The Credentials
Trummel possesses a US MS degree in communication and rhetoric earned at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) and completed PhD work at that institution. He also holds certified UK BS and MS equivalencies in verbal and visible communication. He has worked in the industry and taught technical communication for more than six decades and founded the first technical communication companies in London during the 1950s. He has held graduate teaching positions at several leading US universities.
A specialist opinion by Dean of Graphics and Vice President of Academic Affairs at Rochester Institute of Technology, New York concurred with previous findings by several US academic institutions which accepted UK credentials as equivalent to US degrees: Boston University, Danforth Museum School, Massachusetts Bay Community College, Northeastern University, Rochester Institute of Technology, and University of Massachusetts Boston. Later, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, San Jose State University, and University of Washington recognized them. He taught graduate courses in technical and graphic communication for many years and held a faculty position at most of those universities after completing 25 years as a technical communication executive and CEO. [Educational Qualifications]
Trummel moved to UW to complete a second PhD at the personal invitation of Haselkorn whom he met at an IEEE conference. They both served as IEEE/PCS associate editors. Haselkorn knew that Trummel had completed all the work for a PhD at Rensselaer and taught a Rensselaer graduate course for IBM executives at Kingston, NY. He offered Trummel a faculty position in UW Department of Technical Communication while he concurrently worked to complete a UW PhD in College of Education. Haselkorn knew that Trummel held European terminal letters, verified by US Department of Education agents as terminal degree equivalencies, and two international fellowships. [Teaching Experience] [Principal Clients]
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Glenn and Neel claimed that Trummel had not earned a baccalaureate degree. In ignorance or by design, they did not, or did not want to, understand international academic degree equivalencies established in cooperation with UK universities. Academic equivalencies predicate upon institute or guild criteria that evolved in Europe over several hundred years in parallel with development of university educational standards.
Equivalency certification allows academic transition by granting exemption from, or reciprocity with, either university degrees or institute examinations. In effect, the only difference between them relates to the suffixes used to denote qualification - BSc and MSc or a variety of institute letters. UK later replaced institute education and qualifications with university degrees.
Glenn and Neel maliciously challenged degree equivalencies researched and validated twice by IERF, a leading US agency certified by US Department of Education. IERF assists universities with interpretation of educational qualifications from outside the US. It also prepares certified US educational equivalency statements which, in this case, a string of US universities previously accepted for employment as a professor.
Evidently at the instigation of Glenn and Neel, a UW administrator using a pseudonym called the director of IERF to try to persuade her to change her evaluation. Instead of changing the evaluation, she reported the contact as an attempt to intimidate her to falsify documents and to misrepresent academic credentials. The IERF director later wrote: ". . . she [the UW administrator] tried to put words in my mouth". [Educational Qualifications]
Before the unlawful challenge, Trummel had previously taught technical and graphic communication at graduate level for many years at leading universities; reached the tenure-track rank of associate professor; incorporated (1957) the first and largest technical communication and graphic design companies in London; and earned a US MS degree while completing work toward a PhD (ABD) with 3.85 GPA at Rensselaer. However, Glen and Neel had ulterior motives. [Xenophobia and Bigotry] [Roll of Dishonor Case Studies - Glenn and Neel]
Gene L Woodruff, formerly Dean and Vice Provost, UW Graduate School, verified and validated the qualifications, after investigating a frivolous challenge to them by Glenn and Neel, then instructed College of Education to mitigate damage. Haselkorn attended a meeting convened by Woodruff to hear a complaint about academic harassment by Glenn and Neel which Winn, another doctoral advisor, also attended. In a letter confirming that meeting, Woodruff recommended action to mitigate the damage (albeit with an “I will if you will” letter) which both Glenn and Neel ignored.
Woodruff later wrote: “The admissions committee in the program of your choice has recommended your acceptance into the Graduate School at the University of Washington and I am pleased to notify you that I concur with their decision”; however, Glenn and Neel continued their sabotage. Since, Haselkorn and Emmert have maintained political silence which allegedly makes Haselkorn an accessory before and after the fact and Emmert an accessory after the fact of malfeasance and other serious crimes. [Conspiracy of Silence]
Enter Machiavelli
Glenn, Neel, and Stephen T Kerr, Professor, Education (evidently appointed as associate dean to act as a character assassin) consorted with administrators at Rensselaer in a further endeavor to destroy credentials. A theater of the absurd of this magnitude calls for mixed metaphors. When the campaign to destroy credentials failed, the ultimate Machiavelli, Olswang (a university lawyer now relegated to professor, higher education) took a kafkaesque tack by claiming unsatisfactory progress toward an MS degree for which the author never registered. One may ask, why a person with so many qualifications both academic and professional would enroll for a master’s degree when he already held two almost identical graduate degrees in the same discipline and had completed doctoral work at another university. He did not, he enrolled in a doctoral program.
Trummel at no time registered in a master’s degree program at University of Washington, the subject of the politically expedient hearing for non-performance organized by Ramey in consort with Landolt and Feetham who used forged transcripts to support a bait and switch operation choreographed by Olswang. A kangaroo court convened by Olswang and others decided that the author had not made satisfactory progress towards completion of a master's degree in the Department of Technical Communication (TC) - a program in which he had not enrolled - a blatant violation of law also constitutional and human rights. [TC Hearing] [TC Documents]
At the instigation of Olswang, who at that time wished to get Glenn, Neel, and Kerr “off the hook” to cover up their unlawful behavior, Trummel (who originally registered for the PhD program in the College of Education) agreed to register for a Special Doctor of Philosophy (SPhD) degree (now Independent PhD). After an interview with Feetham, whom Olswang introduced as “dean in charge of the SPhD program”, he registered for SPhD study, formed a doctoral committee, and completed courses and independent studies in four UW colleges before writing several dissertations. In the written opinion of his advisors, he qualified for a Special Doctor of Philosophy (SPhD) (now IPhD) degree having completed all the requirements with a 4.0 GPA.
The only connection that he had with College of Engineering related to administrative matters and with two members of his doctoral committee (Haselkorn and Winn) who respectively held professor and adjunct professor positions in that department. This met the requirement for SPhD (IPhD) candidates to have a departmental affiliation for administrative purposes.
SPhD committee chair Winn supervised all the author’s PhD work and Haselkorn signed as a doctoral committee member then received regular updates on progress. Winn frequently confirmed satisfactory doctoral progress in writing. His last affirmation occurred only a few weeks before the kangaroo court with a document suppressed by administrators.
Feetham had a personal stake in denying due process to evade exposure of her previous unlawful actions. Landolt tried to appoint her to chair the kangaroo court despite her position as director of SPhD programs (which she later denied). After a protest, Feetham recused herself and Landolt replaced her with James D Nason, Professor, Anthropology and Curator, New World Ethnology, Burke Museum who claimed in writing that he did not have to comply with Washington Administrative Code. Feetham then claimed in writing that the Rensselaer degree did not exist after removing that document from the file. Landolt and Feetham then destroyed university records and altered transcripts so that Lee L Huntsman, Provost could deny an appeal of a hearing held in absentia. [Elizabeth's Machination]
Ramey, an associate professor with equivalent academic rank to Trummel in the same discipline and far less professional and teaching experience, had no authority or qualifications to supervise PhD academic progress let alone to expel a mature SPhD doctoral candidate for nonperformance. An opportunist with very little academic merit and few publications and perceived to have even less intelligence, Ramey apparently "earned" her promotion to professor and an obscene increase in salary for her participation in this kangaroo court scam.
The only communication that Ramey, Glenn or Neel ever had with Trummel amounted to a single meeting with each of them at different times at which they all acted insolently and provocatively then discussed absolutely nothing. What transpired amounted to nothing more than a malicious attempt at destroying the credentials and career of an established professor and industry leader: classic Machiavellianism.
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Prior to the kangaroo court (1997), the university employed Judith A Ramey, Associate Professor to work under the auspices of Mark P Haselkorn, Professor and Chair, Technical Communication. Ramey received a salary of $70,536/pa, an increase of $2,964.00 (4.39%/2); Haselkorn $96,588.00/pa, an increase of $4,044.00 (4.37%/2); Spyridakis $65,664.00/pa, an increase of $1,908.00 (2.90%/2); all in line with campus-wide faculty salaries during that period. After the assassination, Ramey received instant promotion to full professor and chair at a salary of $113,616.00/pa, an increase of $43,080.00 (61.07%/4); Spyridakis received instant promotion to full professor at a salary of $89,712.00/pa, an increase of $22,140.00 (32.7%/4); Haselkorn returned to professor at a salary of $101,472.00/pa, an increase of $4,884.00 (5.06%/4). Haselkorn received salary increases of only $19,608.00/pa (20.30%/10), the campus average. In contrast, Ramey received salary increases of $75,396.00/pa (106.89%/10) and Spyridakis $46,068.00/pa (68.18%/10) over the same period. It seems that Haselkorn (Caspar Milquetoast) involved himself in malfeasance with virtually no financial reward. Perhaps the judge will go lightly on him for not enriching himself. He cannot receive a jail sentence for stupidity. All salaries annualized. |
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Judith A Ramey, Jan H Spyridakis, and Mark P Haselkorn claimed that they had the backing of their faculty when they took part in academic assassination. If they can do this to an established professor, then they can act in an even more repugnant manner toward graduate students. This professor's experience typically represents the behavior of some faculty members at University of Washington who act arbitrarily and maliciously for promotion and financial gain. They violated the Student Bill of Rights with impunity. They refuse to give legal warning of expulsion, define the term "satisfactory progress", provide the names of the "graduate committee" responsible for the expulsion, provide a copy of the minutes of their kangaroo courts, or, give a satisfactory reason for expulsion from the graduate school. UW frequently holds anarchic kangaroo courts - faculty committee meetings convened in absentia to evade established legal procedure and impose a totalitarian ideology. They discriminate against students because of age, gender, superior professional and academic experience, or whatever suits political expedience at any given time. |
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The Kangaroo Courts
Kangaroo courts conduct their business without regard for the rights of individuals. Decisions result from foregone conclusions made in secret and based upon political expedience or other bias. University administrators frequently convene them to deny due process, to cover up their own crimes, or to gain promotion. Due process of law would expose what they represent. The whole procedure characterizes dishonesty by violating established legal procedures.
Kangaroo courts, or using the pseudonym “risk management protocols”, amount to nothing more than denial of due process of law by using a system of self-regulation that amounts to no regulation at all. Administrators investigate themselves and find themselves not guilty. They use procrastination and kill-the-messenger techniques to delay justice which effectively denies it. Reminiscent of Star Chamber proceedings used with increasing arbitrariness to enforce royal prerogative in the seventeenth century, truly democratic institutions have since outlawed them.
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Risk management creates serious obstacles for victims of abuse. Lawyers paid to reduce financial risk do not perform the same duties as lawyers paid to resolve problems through due process of law. These incompatible functions serve opposing purposes and create a conflict of interest. Risk management allows university officials to circle their wagons and cover up their wrongdoing by denying access to promulgated university grievance procedures. Although University of Washington publishes independent judicial procedures along lines generally accepted in law, a closer look at those protocols shows that administrators absolutely control them by simultaneously assuming the roles of prosecution, defense, judge, and jury. They use the term "risk management" to hide kangaroo court disingenuousness.
The Protection Racket
UW has repeatedly convened kangaroo courts then convicted victims in absentia when forced to address issues. Deans of colleges arbitrarily deny due process then collaborate with deans of other colleges on appeal using quid pro quo. This results in a no-win situation for appellants and denies legal rights to both faculty members and students. A source within Arts and Sciences claimed that the Dean, College of Arts and Sciences had an iron-clad reciprocal agreement with the Dean, College of Education to adjudicate and quash appeals.
When university administrators agree on policies of willful blindness then consensus does not have validity. In consort, they try to coerce thinking people not to think to further a totalitarian regime. They serve themselves not the public; they have low ethical standards; they obstruct justice; they deny due process and judicial hearings; they convene or condone kangaroo courts, all of which subvert the legal process.
The Appeal
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In an attempt to cover up gross malfeasance that resulted from the kangaroo court, Huntsman conspired with Olswang and Landolt to write the denial of a formal appeal. Silent withholding of documents played a large part in that enigma. Gregoire later stonewalled an appeal of the decision made by Huntsman. She has denied due process of law for more than a decade as both Attorney General and Governor.
[Silent Withholding]
Huntsman wrote to confirm a finding of the kangaroo court after Landolt had removed evidence from personal files, forged transcripts, and “bought” classified staff to do her dirty work. At Landolt's direction, a classified staff member filed false and misleading documents. Landolt retroactively promoted her to professional status to cover her tracks and gave her a substantial salary increase. Huntsman then used fiction (allegedly composed by Olswang) to deny any appeal against removal from two doctoral programs:
The University records show you were not admitted to any Doctoral program at the University of Washington and that all issues related to these denials of admission were long since resolved from the University's perspective. You were admitted, in 1991, to the master's Degree Program in Technical Communication in the College of Engineering. As a master's student, you were to meet the requirements of that degree within the six year time-frame required by normal Graduate School rules. Despite your enrolling for many credits over these last six years, you failed to meet virtually any of the stated course requirements for the master's Degree in Technical Communication. You were duly notified of these academic deficiencies. You were given an opportunity to have a hearing to consider your reasons for failing to complete your degree in a timely manner, however, you personally elected not to attend the hearing.
Olswang tried to introduce an inapplicable six year time-frame after the fact. Huntsman in consort with Olswang, choreographed a massive cover up of multiple malfeasance by UW officials and denied due process of law. They qualify as the highest paid, taxpayer-funded, liars and hypocrites on the UW campus.
Although Landolt and Feetham destroyed and altered records to support their false contentions, archived copies of the original documents still exist pending independent investigation. They support claims of academic harassment and criminal activity by at least five kangaroo courts allegedly convened by Olswang in response to legitimate grievances filed with College of Education and College of Engineering.
[Academic Harassment] [Sherking Responsibility]
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Academic Assassination |
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The Superior Court could call a grand jury if so requested by a public attorney on a showing of good cause. Also, the Organized Crime Advisory Board may petition the Supreme Court for an order appointing a special inquiry judge. If a special inquiry judge is appointed, the organized crime advisory board shall, with the consent of the Governor, name a special prosecutor. Anarchy results from a failure of government to control lawlessness and disorder. It manifests in an absence of political authority and cohesive principles that predicate upon a common standard or purpose. In Washington state, that condition stems from Christine O Gregoire who has tentacles spreading through a multicultural society consisting of special interest groups with Seattle Jewish Mafia (SJM) and University of Washington (UW) predominant among them.
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The Academic Harassment
Academic harassment defines as behavior that: intends to unreasonably interfere with an individual’s educational performance both on or off campus; distributes verbal, written or electronic communication with intent to annoy; causes unlawful arrest; creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive classroom environment; directs personally offensive remarks with intent to demean, belittle, or cause personal humiliation or embarrassment in public; and, threatens, intimidates, or coerces. Case studies show a pattern or practice of harassment by faculty members and administrators that includes all of these dysfunctional or abusive behaviors which have resulted in depravation of civil and human rights.
Emily S Hill, Public Records Officer, University of Washington furnished a barely audible cassette tape entitled:
"Academic Grievance, P. Trummel (29 Apr 97)" in response to a Public Disclosure Act (PDA) request. She claimed that no transcript existed and presumed that one could listen to the tape then understand the dialog that took place during the hearing - an unlawful kangaroo court.
Nason chaired the hearing and violated the intent and purpose of Graduate School Memorandum #33 (GSM #33) by not keeping an audible tape and a written summary of the proceedings. Danya Tomlinson, Assistant to the Dean, UW Graduate School claimed: “that there exists no transcript of the taped proceeding”. [Audio Recording] [Transcript]
Hill rightly asserted that she only had an obligation to provide records/data/media as maintained by the University of Washington (UW) and that she had met her responsibility to furnish records in the manner required by the Public Disclosure Act. Upon a supplementary request for copies of all “the documentation, transcripts or tape recordings of testimony” and other relevant information furnished to Huntsman by Landolt and Olswang, Hill provided a tape of the hearing but claimed that no written summary of the proceedings or other documents existed.
Hill claimed to have no knowledge of the medical report filed with Nason the day before the hearing to show that the subject had “walking pneumonia” so that he could not attend the hearing for medical reasons. Nason did not enter the medical certificate into testimony; instead, he tried to return it as undeliverable email several weeks later - a violation of federal law. He tried to cover up the fact that he had withheld evidence to give the appearance of an attendance default and held an unlawful hearing in absentia.
The Stooge
The repeated demand by administrators for Hill to withhold public records placed her in an unethical, untenable situation. She appointed a private attorney who negotiated a settlement and she resigned. The university replaced her with Eliza A Saunders, Director, Office of Public Records and Open Public Meetings who has since acted as a willing stooge by unlawfully withholding hundreds of public records associated with Olswang’s machination - in particular, documents related to a College of Education faculty kangaroo court. In retrospect, it seems that Hill had integrity and refused to allow administrators to suck her into an illegal network woven by Glenn, Kerr, Neel and Olswang that they later extended ito other colleges.
A reasonable person must ask: If no transcript existed, and the inaudible tape represented “the only memorialization of the proceeding”, then which documents allowed Huntsman to determine that “no procedural irregularities existed” and gave him authority arbitrarily to terminate an almost two-decade career as a professor then deny an appeal of his finding?
Olswang previously served as Vice Provost for International Education for all three campuses of the University of Washington; Professor in the College of Education in the Area of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies; Adjunct Professor, School of Law; and, Interim Chancellor of UW Bothell (2005-2007). The Prince has now relegated him to “Professor, Higher Education” in the same way that a new government deprived Machiavelli of office and imprisoned him. Unfortunately, Olswang has not yet gone to jail and both Machiavelli and Olswang managed to keep the money. Moreover, Emmert has made no attempt to mitigate the damage that Olswang caused over two decades.
Niccolò Machiavelli 1469-1527, an Italian political theorist, wrote about the achievement and maintenance of power by a determined ruler indifferent to moral considerations. A historian, statesman, and political philosopher, his amoral but influential writings on statecraft became a synonym for cunning and duplicity. His most famous work, The Prince (1532), describes the method by which a prince (or university president) can acquire and maintain political power based upon Machiavelli's belief that a ruler has impunity from following traditional ethical norms. In his view, a prince must only concern himself with power and rules that lead to political success - shades of Emmert. [The Prince]
Born in Florence, Machiavelli entered government service as a clerk and rose to prominence with the proclamation of the Florentine Republic in 1498. As secretary of the ten-man council that conducted diplomatic negotiations and supervised military operations, he became acquainted with many of the Italian rulers and studied their political tactics. In 1512, when the republic was dissolved, a new government deprived him of his office and briefly imprisoned him. After his release he retired to his estate near Florence.
Olswang, known among US Department of Education officials as "Dr. Bait and Switch", described by a leading Seattle attorney as the "University of Washington Hit Man", and by others as the "UW Hatchet Man", certainly has a reputation for Machiavellian idealism. He probably ranks as the most corrupt and devious professor/lawyer on campus - The Ultimate Machiavelli - prime choreographer of farcical disciplinary hearings and administrative dishonesty.
Former faculty members and students who have suffered under Olswang’s machination have contacted the editor to ask when Emmert will begin to mitigate the damage that Olswang caused. Emmert must follow former Governor Gary Locke’s recommendations. He must also have Olswang indicted for multiple crimes against faculty members and students in deliberate breach of federal and state laws for professional advancement and political expedience.
The Conclusion
State officials and university administrators know that if a university receives federal funding and wishes to punish an individual by word or deed then the Constitution requires that punishment must result from due process of law. The Constitution presupposes that university officials have a knowledge of the law and apply it equally.
Only those universities that function within the law preserve the individual freedoms granted by the Constitution despite the self-government privileges that university and state officials possess. Both Rensselaer (a private university) and University of Washington (a public institution) denied both faculty members and students the basic protection that courts provide as a constitutional right even to jaywalkers.
In the author’s experience, neither Rensselaer nor University of Washington made formal charges or presented evidence before convening kangaroo courts in absentia. They both took unlawful, arbitrary action and government agencies following suit. Hundreds of documents provide a clear-cut paper trail.
Under university regulations, expulsion of a doctoral candidate requires written notice and preliminary hearings with an opportunity to file a defense and to present witnesses. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) denied basic rights in law by disallowing a hearing, oral testimony, and written affidavits by defense witnesses. University of Washington (UW) used the same modus operandi in consort with Rensselaer. Both universities conspired to use railroading techniques to deny due process of law and constitutional and human rights
Frequently, accused individuals, whose only transgression probably relates to exercise of freedom of expression, do not have access to oral recordings or written transcripts of testimony that would enable them to appeal findings held in absentia. Yet administrators willingly disclose the content of kangaroo court documents ex parte for blackmail purposes.
Officials at both UW and RPI consistently used opinionated, self-serving dicta instead of formal resolution or determination of issues using promulgated procedures. This has resulted in blatant denial of civil rights and due process. Those denials have destroyed careers and precluded individuals from earning a livelihood. Legislators and judges have since recognized that unlawful and vague definitions and secret investigation without accountability or due process lead to extreme politicization and totalitarian control.
Attorneys General in New York and Washington State, with full knowledge of unlawful acts, have not charged the perpetrators with any crimes or even investigated them. Republication of a curriculum vitae and restoration of a body of academic work destroyed by administrators during their cover up represents a first step in making them accountable. [Curriculum Vitae]
The issues will not come to rest until both universities comply with law. The presidents of both institutions must arrange for independent investigation then discipline or indict the people responsible. Faculty and administration members clearly and deliberately participated in unlawful activities. They have consistently denied civil rights and livelihood.
University officials, faculty members, and attorneys general have broken laws, framed evidence to support sham disciplinary proceedings, and covered up kangaroo court findings. Only an independent investigator can fairly examine the voluminous documents which support these contentions.
In Washington state, the Attorney General must arrange for the Superior Court to call a grand jury or petition the Supreme Court for an order appointing a special inquiry judge as recommended by former Washington Governor Gary Locke. This could include the organized crime advisory board naming a special prosecutor to investigate both Rensselaer and University of Washington. Christine O Gregoire, Governor, State of Washington (formerly Attorney General) and Mark A Emmert, President, University of Washington continue to acquiesce to this situation and condone a laissez faire policy that has existed for more than a decade. [Sherking Responsibility]
Nmesis.
See Portable Document File (PDF) for citations.
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Contra Cabal web sites have achieved an extraordinary readership. If Paul Trummel dies before he completes his work, then trustees have authority to continue publication as an educational project through the newly formed Contra Cabal Foundation, London which will own all publication rights. The Foundation will publish Contra Cabal in perpetuity in the way that Sonia Orwell posthumously published the collected works of George Orwell. Foundation trustees and directors (professional people, lawyers, and academicians in UK and US connected directly and indirectly with the International Federation of Journalists) will supervise editorial and design functions using young investigative reporters and graphic designers who wish to further their education in journalism. They will receive trade union freelance rates of payment for their work. The Foundation will respect former trustee the late William D Winn's last admonition "Go get 'em!" by continuing to report academic malfeasance and to expose morally repugnant academicians and public officials. Readers should consider the articles and case studies as a work in progress. More information about academic or government fraud and deceit frequently surfaces after victims or their associates read Contra Cabal. That information becomes part of a relevant case study after verification and validation. Students and current faculty members write letters to the editor on politically sensitive issues. Some correspondents request name withholding to avoid retaliation. Contra Cabal electronic magazine contains expose and satire. Probably one of the first to appear on the web, it has now published since 1992. The hits/month range between 100,000 and 150,000 with more than 1.5 million hits by about 60,000 unique visitors during the past twelve months. The "New Releases" menu lists new, updated, or revised articles on the four Contra Cabal sites. |
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Paul Trummel PhD (RPI ABD), PhD (UW ABD), MS (RPI), MSc (UK), BSc (UK) Associate Professor, Communication and Rhetoric (Retired) International Federation of Journalists, Brussels (International Press Card)
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© Copyright 2008 by Paul Trummel |
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