No felons, period
UA defers potential summer reading selection because of author's criminal history
Mike Hixenbaugh
Issue date: 1/30/07 Section: News
"A few committee members and, from what I understand, administration, felt the book was too gritty and graphic," he said. "As one committee member told me confidentially, administration did not want to invite 'a person like Baca' to our campus."
Associate provost Karla Mugler defended the administration's decision in a memo to Reinbolt.
"Due to the publicity, which the university received this fall regarding individuals with criminal records residing in UA residence halls, I would not support the recommendation to bring Jimmy Santiago Baca to campus in fall 2007," she said in the memo. "However, I think that he could be scheduled in fall 2008. Clearly, he turned his life around and those who have heard him speak were impressed with him.
"In conferring with some other administrators, they also feel that it would be prudent to delay our invitation to Mr. Baca until 2008."
Regardless of whether the idea of using the book was denied, or simply deferred, Thelin believes the decision to intervene in the committee's selection process is bad for UA. It's a symptom of a greater problem, he said.
"It's a denial of what our campus is," Thelin said. "We are a working class, urban university. There's no shame in that. It's one of our strengths. But we're not the Ivy League or Big Ten that perhaps our administration would like us to be."
Deborah Johanyak's book "Behind the Veil" is now being considered along with Rusabagina's "An Ordinary Man." Johanyak is an English professor at the Wayne campus and her book is published by the University of Akron Press.
Reinbolt, whose job is to oversee the selection process, tried to put things in perspective.
"I think that it is important to note that there are two sides to every story," she said. "You have been provided information about the selection process from one side, the side that favors the Baca book. From this perspective, you believe that the administration is trying to dictate the selection.
"However, there were several members of the selection committee that had serious concerns about 'A Place to Stand.' There were also concerns raised about 'An Ordinary Man.' "
Thelin admits that Johanyak's book, at first glance, appears to be a good read. He, along with several of his colleagues, still admonishes the administration's intervention in the matter.
"The university's priority is image. Unfortunately, the ethos that invaded Student Judicial Affairs maintained a conservative, hard-line stance. Why else would a clearly innocent person be found responsible for possession of drugs?" Thelin said, in regard to Charles Plinton.
"The university was more concerned with presenting an image of the ivory tower than it was with justice. Truth took a back seat. Reality took a back seat. So it is with the so-called deferring of Baca."
The committee will make a final decision regarding the selection of the book in the coming weeks, Mugler said.
Associate provost Karla Mugler defended the administration's decision in a memo to Reinbolt.
"Due to the publicity, which the university received this fall regarding individuals with criminal records residing in UA residence halls, I would not support the recommendation to bring Jimmy Santiago Baca to campus in fall 2007," she said in the memo. "However, I think that he could be scheduled in fall 2008. Clearly, he turned his life around and those who have heard him speak were impressed with him.
"In conferring with some other administrators, they also feel that it would be prudent to delay our invitation to Mr. Baca until 2008."
Regardless of whether the idea of using the book was denied, or simply deferred, Thelin believes the decision to intervene in the committee's selection process is bad for UA. It's a symptom of a greater problem, he said.
"It's a denial of what our campus is," Thelin said. "We are a working class, urban university. There's no shame in that. It's one of our strengths. But we're not the Ivy League or Big Ten that perhaps our administration would like us to be."
Deborah Johanyak's book "Behind the Veil" is now being considered along with Rusabagina's "An Ordinary Man." Johanyak is an English professor at the Wayne campus and her book is published by the University of Akron Press.
Reinbolt, whose job is to oversee the selection process, tried to put things in perspective.
"I think that it is important to note that there are two sides to every story," she said. "You have been provided information about the selection process from one side, the side that favors the Baca book. From this perspective, you believe that the administration is trying to dictate the selection.
"However, there were several members of the selection committee that had serious concerns about 'A Place to Stand.' There were also concerns raised about 'An Ordinary Man.' "
Thelin admits that Johanyak's book, at first glance, appears to be a good read. He, along with several of his colleagues, still admonishes the administration's intervention in the matter.
"The university's priority is image. Unfortunately, the ethos that invaded Student Judicial Affairs maintained a conservative, hard-line stance. Why else would a clearly innocent person be found responsible for possession of drugs?" Thelin said, in regard to Charles Plinton.
"The university was more concerned with presenting an image of the ivory tower than it was with justice. Truth took a back seat. Reality took a back seat. So it is with the so-called deferring of Baca."
The committee will make a final decision regarding the selection of the book in the coming weeks, Mugler said.
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