I will put focus in terms of sex, so you can better understand it. Focus is like sex. You seek a target. You zero in on your subject. You move from side to side. You close in on the subject. You bracket the subject and center on it. Focus connects experience and language. You and the subject become one.
I used Little Egypt's definition of belly dancing to illustrate how a good definition combines a general classification (belly dancing) with concrete specifics in a metaphor (like jello shimmying on a plate) to bring home clearly the meaning to one who wishes to learn this form of ethnic dancing.
During the conversation I took notes and asked him the names of the two students. He gave me their names. One was one of the six that had come to my office. I did not tell him that I had already spoken with the students but I did voice my objections to his examples. I explained that using the word mechanical “vibrator” in a definition of a “belly dancer” definitely had sexual overtones and would be offensive to women students. I told him I felt the use of sexual intercourse as an[ ] example of any thing in a technical writing course was very offensive and crude. He said that the students write technical papers on animal breeding all the time and he's not offended. I expressed the understanding that technical papers with technical, not crude, terminology is another matter. I also suggested that he read the university literature on sexual harassment very carefully because he was “treading on very thin ice.”
In Don Silva's Technical Writing class we were discussing focusing on our target for our report. When Mr. Silva started talking in a sexual manner which I thought was very inappropriated [sic] and also very affending [sic]. He said to the class that he would put it in sexual terms so we could understand it. So he said it's like going in and out, side to side, and loosening up so you could find the best target area. I really think that was uncalled for, especially from a professor. He could have used other explanations, and if he couldn't then he was better off by saying nothing at all.
I felt degraded in his class on Wednesday, 26 Feb, and disgusted on 24 Feb. I had questions about our assignment on 26 Feb, but due to his use of sex as a “focus”, I walked away rather than asked [sic] him to clarify again. I didn't want any more strange explainations [sic].
As a non-traditional student and as a parent I am appalled at the statements made by Don Silva in the Technical Writing class on Wednesday 2/26/92. I feel that as a professor of English he could have illustrated the definition of “analysis” in a much more appropriate manner. He insinuated that every student present had first-hand knowledge of his illustration, and furthermore, that it was the only one we would understand.
As a student of Don Silva's COM 212 Technical Writing class I was very offended by his sexual refferals [sic]. I was brought up in a house where sex was not something to be discussed openly and freely and it certainly was not something to be taken lightly. There are a hundred different ways to give an example of something without being sexual about it.
At the March 3 meeting, I was given and confronted with, for the first time, written complaints of some of my students.... These Informal Complaints referred primarily to the two classroom statements described above, although there were references to matters that had gone on much earlier in the semester. (I had never received *303 any complaint, either orally or in writing, about these other matters before this time.) At the March 3 meeting, I was immediately asked to respond to the allegations contained in the Informal Complaints. Although there was some (albeit hardly complete) discussion of the two statements that I made in class, there was no discussion of the other statements that purportedly constituted sexual harassment. More importantly, I was given no time to consider my response, no opportunity to explain the context in which the statements had been made, and no opportunity to explain why the statements did not constitute sexual harassment under the University's policy. Of course, it would have been difficult for me to explain why my examples did not violate the University's sexual harassment policy at this meeting since I had not been given notice of the topic of this meeting, and had had no opportunity to examine the University's sexual harassment policy.
I was never given notice that allegations related to a “time management problem” that I gave as an assignment, the fact that I did not return this problem promptly, the “assignment” in which I asked my students to put down their home and school addresses and phone numbers, my alleged habit of standing too close to students when speaking, my alleged “confrontation” with Brenda Madonna after the Informal Complaints were filed, and my question to Kate Allen asking her if she wanted an A in the course, would be used against me during the formal proceedings. Similarly, the status of the allegations contained in Ms. Woodhouse's second letter (Ex. 19) was never made clear to me. All of these “facts” were, in fact, used by the complainants at the hearings and were relied upon by both panels.
highly chaotic at the beginning of the meeting. The students arrived with Italian sandwiches and sodas and Mary Clark opened the meeting and the students immediately began popping their sodas and unwrapping their sandwiches and sat there and proceeded to eat their lunch because the proceedings started at 12:00 noon.
A. ... And then there was another incident where a student who was ostensibly indisposed stood up in the middle of the hearing looking, you know, very ill, and disconcerted, at the same time that Roger Wadleigh, a student, a friend of hers was testifying, and she walked out of the room and as she walked out of the room she either collapsed and fell to the floor or was beginning to collapse to the floor and one of the other women ran to her and proceeded to hold on to her and they struggled out of the room together and they were gone from the hearing for a length of time. And I'll never forget the looks of the people on the panel. Because they looked at her and then they looked at me as if I had caused, you know, this effect.
The relevant inquiry is: based on existing regulations, policies, discussions, and other forms of communication between school administration and teachers, was it reasonable for the school to expect to the teacher to know that [his] conduct was prohibited?
First, the private interest that will be affected by the official action; second, the risk of an erroneous deprivation of such interest, through the procedures used, and the probable value, if any, of additional or substitute procedural safeguards; and finally, the government's interest, including the function involved and the fiscal and administrative burdens that the additional or substitute procedural requirement would entail.
At the outset of the meeting, photocopies of the students' handwritten complaints were presented to Professor Silva, Professor Watson and myself. As soon as all three of us had finished reading these complaints, Associate Vice President Lubow asked Professor Silva to respond to them. Professor Silva was not offered any time to consider his response or to confer with me or Professor Watson prior to responding.
I was never given notice that allegations related to a “time management problem” that I gave as an assignment, the fact that I did not return this problem promptly, the “assignment” in which I asked my students to put down their home and school addresses and phone numbers, my alleged habit of standing too close to students when speaking, my alleged “confrontation” with Brenda Madonna after the Informal Complaints were filed, and my question to Kate Allen asking her if she wanted an A in the course, would be used against me during the formal proceedings. Similarly, *322 the status of the allegations contained in Ms. Woodhouse's second letter (Ex. 19) was never made clear to me. All of these “facts” were, in fact, used by the complainants at the hearings and were relied upon by both panels.
I was very shocked first of all because he hadn't said anything the whole hearing and I would think that something like that wouldn't necessarily portray the image that he would want to be portraying at that time, you know. I think that it just clearly, it clearly reaffirmed what I thought he was hoping to disprove.
After our dinner break, because I felt uncomfortable sitting across from Professor Silva knowing that he knew that I had heard during the outburst that he knew that I had heard whatever I thought he had said, and because of the incident with the coke machine and the coke machine room I felt uncomfortable, and so Liz Dolan and I switched seats....
I feel that I was able to look at the information that we were being given in the best manner that I could. I don't feel—I don't feel that my decision or what happened to me influenced my decision. If what I had heard from him as well as the complainants had convinced me that this was not sexual harassment, yet this had still happened to me, I would have still felt it was not sexual harassment. So I feel like the actions, although they did not influence my decision, they would not have swayed me either way. It would not have swayed me either way, but it was yet another incident in my mind to simply something that confirmed what these women were saying, their feeling of intimidation.
a substantive due process claim implicates the essence of state action rather than its modalities; such a claim rests not on perceived procedural deficiencies but on the idea that the government's conduct, regardless of procedural swaddling, was in itself impermissible.
whether an official protected by qualified immunity may be held personally liable for an allegedly unlawful official action generally turns on the “objective legal reasonableness” of the action, Harlow, 457 U.S., at 819 [102 S.Ct., at 2739], assessed in light of the legal rules that were “clearly established” at the time it was taken, id., at 818 [102 S.Ct., at 2738].
Academic freedom in its teaching aspect is fundamental for the protection of the rights of the teacher in teaching and of the student to freedom in learning. It carries with it duties correlative with rights.... The teacher is entitled to freedom in the classroom in discussing his/her subject, but he/she should be careful not to introduce into his/her teaching controversial matter which has no relation to his/her subject.
Academic freedom, as it is generally understood in the University Community, encompasses rights of faculty to speak freely outside the classroom, to pursue research and to publish freely outside of the classroom, and to teach in the classroom without unreasonable interference.... At a minimum, this concept of academic freedom permits faculty members freedom to choose specific pedagogic techniques or examples to convey the lesson they are trying to impart to their students.
The University and the bargaining unit members will make every effort to maintain a professional academic environment that is free of intimidation and harassment of members of the University community. Allegations of sexual harassment will be addressed through the existing UNH sexual harassment policies and procedures or as modified by mutual agreement. Any disciplinary action resulting from this process may be appealed through the grievance procedure.
The appeals panel decision was accompanied by a letter dated April 14, 1993 in which the members of the appeals panel characterized their decision as the “final decision” on this complaint. It was clear to me that “final” meant, as stated in the procedures I had been given, that I would have to go outside the University to obtain relief.
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