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I Am Suing UCLA

113 points by EvgeniyZh 5y ago

cratermoon 5y ago
Alternate headline: I am an irrelevant screeching nobody desperate for attention who is grifting my deluded fans
- staysafeanon 5y ago
  You: "SHUT IT DOWN! THE NARRATIVE MUST BE PRESERVED!"
brycelarkin 5y ago
The moment anyone emails me about diversity and inclusion, I’m forwarding that to my boss to deal with. Professor was walking through a minefield.
- addicted 5y ago
  This is a fact, but it still does not make his actions wrong. But what might be easily lost because of the strange way this article is written is that UCLA agreed with the professor. There was absolutely no disciplinary action taken against him. It sucks that he was suspended for 3 weeks, but colleges have to deal with a situation where young vulnerable barely adults are entering completely new environments without their parents protecting them for the first time in their lives and as a result have a disciplinary system that, rightfully, requires investigations of almost all complaints. That meant the professor got 3 weeks off with pay, while the college investigated and found nothing wrong with his actions. That’s how the system works, and it actually usually works well, as it did in this instance. The problem the professor has is not with UCLA that did everything right. The problem he has is with the private companies with whom he has at will/contractual terms of employment. These companies do not adhere to the rules that UCLA did which allowed them to have him continue as before after a reasonable investigation. They simply fired him. And American law allows companies to fire (non unionized) workers without cause (unless the reason is a protected category, such as race...for example, if he was fired for being white..but he wasn’t. They fired him for being suspended, as he states in the article). But suing a bunch of private companies in a lawsuit that was bound to fail would neither win him any money, would make him look worse, and would not allow him to get a right wing celebrity to feature his story as part of their deeply flawed cancel culture narrative.
  - anonuser123456 5y ago
    > but colleges have to deal with a situation where young vulnerable barely adults are entering completely new environments without their parents protecting them for the first time in their lives and as a result have a disciplinary system that, rightfully, requires investigations of almost all complaints My wife got pulled out of undergrad to go drive trucks in Ramadi during 2004/2005. To argue that college student need to be protected from words is the height of privilege.
    - CaliforniaKarl 5y ago
      Please pass on to your wife my thanks for her service. A diverse college population includes all sort of people, of all sorts of ages and backgrounds. Some will have gone already gone through hell in their lives, and come back stronger. Some will be trying to start a new life. For some, this will be their first time away from their hometown, at a university that has as many people as their hometown did. Does this mean that college students need to be protected? No. Instead, I make two suggestions/requests: 1. When starting from nothing, assume the best of intentions. 2. Assume your email will be read in the worst possible tone. Corollary: Don't be an asshole in your emails.
  - CaliforniaKarl 5y ago
    > … UCLA that did everything right. I disagree with that statement, based on the article's paragraph starting "Without any deliberation I was aware of…" The big question is, were the actions of and statements by Anderson made as part of a normal, documented procedure for this sort of occurrence? Were these actions taken in consultation with, or under the direction of, the relevant disciplinary authorities? If not, then I think Anderson does have a case to answer to.
  - LocalH 5y ago
    >but colleges have to deal with a situation where young vulnerable barely adults are entering completely new environments without their parents protecting them for the first time in their lives If that's truly the case, then the parents failed.
- rewma 5y ago
  > The moment anyone emails me about diversity and inclusion, I’m forwarding that to my boss to deal with. Professor was walking through a minefield. The professor's point is that no professor should have to walk through mine fields when rejecting demands for special priviledges, specially if it's the school administration laying out said mines instead of actively doing their best to defuse them.
- SilasX 5y ago
  In other news, "Why do administrators eat up so much of the cost of running a university?" Probably navigating conflicts like this.
Rebelgecko 5y ago
I do wonder what would've happened if he just replied with a straightforward "no I won't treat students differently based on their race" instead of writing a fairly condescending email
- andreskytt 5y ago
  Yes, that girl should not have worn that short skirt.
  - anonuser123456 5y ago
    The email, like a skirt, didn’t do him any favors.
- addicted 5y ago
  Or, as faculty (and support for faculty, as I have been) are recommended to do in this case, you simply pass it onto people and departments that basically exist to deal with such situations. Or you don’t respond at all. That being said, I can’t fault the professor for his response. It’s natural and human to do so. And clearly UCLA also agreed because within 3 weeks all the complaints were dismissed despite the campus uproar the professor describes.
- twofort 5y ago
  Tho best response would have probably been to ignore it, initial request was equally condescending IMHO.
- nix23 5y ago
  I must wonder in what time we life if a skin color could/should? change a score...we are going back to separation pretty fast atm.
threatofrain 5y ago
> “The unjust murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, the life-threatening actions of Amy Cooper and the violent conduct of the [University of California Police Department] have led to fear and anxiety which is further compounded by the disproportionate effect of COVID-19 on the Black community. As we approach finals week, we recognize that these conditions place Black students at an unfair academic disadvantage due to traumatic circumstances out of their control.” > The student then requested that the final be a “no harm” exam — meaning it should be counted only if it boosted one’s grade. “This is not a joint effort to get finals canceled for non-Black students, but rather an ask that you exercise compassion and leniency with Black students in our major.” (As I noted in my legal complaint, the student clarified, in a subsequent conversation with a university investigator, that he “intended that the requested adjustments apply to Black students and not the class generally.”)
- skavi 5y ago
  The response email is given in the full complaint: > Thanks for your suggestion in your email below that I give black students special treatment, given the tragedy in Minnesota. > Do you know the names of the classmates that are black? How can I identify them since we’ve been having online classes only? Are there any students of mixed parentage, such as half black-half Asian? What do you suggest I do with respect to them? A full concession or just half? > Also, do you have any idea if any students are from Minneapolis? I assume that they probably are especially devastated as well. I am thinking that a white student from there might possibly be even more devastated by this, especially because some might think that they’re racist even if they are not. My TA is from Minneapolis, so if you don’t know, I can probably ask her. > Can you guide me on how I should achieve a “no-harm” outcome since our sole course grade is from a final exam only? > One last thing strikes me: Remember that MLK famously said that people should not be evaluated based on the “color of their skin.” Do you think that your request would run afoul of MLK’s admonition? Definitely a ridiculous response to a fairly well reasoned email. However, he definitely could have left out the sentence comparing the suffering of people experiencing racism to people who are afraid others might think them racist.
  - franga2000 5y ago
addicted 5y ago
I suspect the problem lay with the professor’s response to the student, as opposed to anything else (and that’s actually what the UCLA statement mentioned says), but as described here, the response, as a ill advised as it was, hardly merits any action. This is an unfortunate situation where largely things worked the way they were supposed to. Somebody raised a stink. The administration took time to investigate it. Found nothing and within 3 weeks dismissed the complaints. It sucks, but sometimes shit happens. Especially in academia. The problem appears to be that the 3 week suspension led to the professor’s income from unrelated work being affected. I highly doubt that this lawsuit will succeed. This is the process everyone in academia (and if they are lucky in private companies as well...private companies don’t even promise an investigation...their at will contracts mean they can simply terminate your position) agrees to and it works well, as it did in this case. The issue lies with the private companies the professor makes money from outside the university, who he has at will and temporary contracts with, which allow him to be terminated for no reason. Of course, the irony is that contrary to the professor’s claims, the entity he is suing completely protected him. It’s the at will contracts with the private companies that are the cause of his loss of income. If UCLA operated like a private company he wouldn’t have had a suspension with an investigation. His contract would simply have been terminated.
- anonuser123456 5y ago
  Depends on the public statements by the university and whether they followed established policy. If the slandered him or unfairly harmed his reputation, they could very well be liable for economic loss.
  - MerelyMortal 5y ago
    IANAL, but it seems like from the PDF copy of the complaint, the university did not follow policy, in fact they disregarded a warning not to take action against the professor. The copy-and-pasted emails contained in the complaint also sound like slander to me.
    - filmgirlcw 5y ago
hresvelgr 5y ago
My view is that the professor was looking to ruffle feathers and try to convince the student that their request was absurd. I think trying to sway someone over to a particular side nowadays when it comes to morals or ethics is asking for a figurative belting, and I don't think he was blind to this possibility. It is despicable that he was made an example of in the way he was, that being said, while the professor's response was not in any egregious moral violation as far as my standards go, I would not have responded like that at all. The real issue here was that some students were affected emotionally by something significant before an exam and this particular student was asking that leniency be shown towards them, if you strip away demographic descriptors. My response to this would have been to ask the student to refer _any_ students affected by the events to contact me to determine leniency on an individual basis. It puts onus on that student to refer people. If they were only looking to stir the pot, they likely wouldn't have referred anyone and that would have been the end of it. If there were students referred who were not in the right headspace to handle the exam at 100%, then that's fine. At my university, we had exemptions for exams based on personal circumstances. I wouldn't see this as any different from that. With that aside, I do believe this particular student was being an ideological charlatan and that their request was not sincere. The excerpts in the post read like bait imo. This seems congruent with immediacy of the outrage that followed, and the petition. edit: grammar mistake
- jollybean 5y ago
  The only response one could reasonably make in 2021 would be to defer to the administration and otherwise say nothing.
pacetherace 5y ago
Some people just don't get it.
marstall 5y ago
This email really challenged the way Professor Klein did his thing, which can make it hard to muster one's best self. Curiosity would have been a better response: What's going on for the student who's sending it? How about for the students of color? Really get a personal understanding without an agenda. Find out what you're missing. That attitude by itself could really settle things down. In a school of management, he obviously mismanaged the situation, because the end result was loss of income for himself. I'm guessing that his preconceived notions prevented him from seeing the considerable power that demands for racial equity carry in organizations nowadays, even when they come from people low on the totem pole.

I Am Suing UCLA

113 points by EvgeniyZh 5y ago

cratermoon 5y ago

Alternate headline: I am an irrelevant screeching nobody desperate for attention who is grifting my deluded fans

staysafeanon 5y ago
You: "SHUT IT DOWN! THE NARRATIVE MUST BE PRESERVED!"

brycelarkin 5y ago

The moment anyone emails me about diversity and inclusion, I’m forwarding that to my boss to deal with. Professor was walking through a minefield.

addicted 5y ago
This is a fact, but it still does not make his actions wrong. But what might be easily lost because of the strange way this article is written is that UCLA agreed with the professor. There was absolutely no disciplinary action taken against him. It sucks that he was suspended for 3 weeks, but colleges have to deal with a situation where young vulnerable barely adults are entering completely new environments without their parents protecting them for the first time in their lives and as a result have a disciplinary system that, rightfully, requires investigations of almost all complaints. That meant the professor got 3 weeks off with pay, while the college investigated and found nothing wrong with his actions. That’s how the system works, and it actually usually works well, as it did in this instance. The problem the professor has is not with UCLA that did everything right. The problem he has is with the private companies with whom he has at will/contractual terms of employment. These companies do not adhere to the rules that UCLA did which allowed them to have him continue as before after a reasonable investigation. They simply fired him. And American law allows companies to fire (non unionized) workers without cause (unless the reason is a protected category, such as race...for example, if he was fired for being white..but he wasn’t. They fired him for being suspended, as he states in the article). But suing a bunch of private companies in a lawsuit that was bound to fail would neither win him any money, would make him look worse, and would not allow him to get a right wing celebrity to feature his story as part of their deeply flawed cancel culture narrative.
- anonuser123456 5y ago
  > but colleges have to deal with a situation where young vulnerable barely adults are entering completely new environments without their parents protecting them for the first time in their lives and as a result have a disciplinary system that, rightfully, requires investigations of almost all complaints My wife got pulled out of undergrad to go drive trucks in Ramadi during 2004/2005. To argue that college student need to be protected from words is the height of privilege.
  - CaliforniaKarl 5y ago
    Please pass on to your wife my thanks for her service. A diverse college population includes all sort of people, of all sorts of ages and backgrounds. Some will have gone already gone through hell in their lives, and come back stronger. Some will be trying to start a new life. For some, this will be their first time away from their hometown, at a university that has as many people as their hometown did. Does this mean that college students need to be protected? No. Instead, I make two suggestions/requests: 1. When starting from nothing, assume the best of intentions. 2. Assume your email will be read in the worst possible tone. Corollary: Don't be an asshole in your emails.
- CaliforniaKarl 5y ago
  > … UCLA that did everything right. I disagree with that statement, based on the article's paragraph starting "Without any deliberation I was aware of…" The big question is, were the actions of and statements by Anderson made as part of a normal, documented procedure for this sort of occurrence? Were these actions taken in consultation with, or under the direction of, the relevant disciplinary authorities? If not, then I think Anderson does have a case to answer to.
- LocalH 5y ago
  >but colleges have to deal with a situation where young vulnerable barely adults are entering completely new environments without their parents protecting them for the first time in their lives If that's truly the case, then the parents failed.
rewma 5y ago
> The moment anyone emails me about diversity and inclusion, I’m forwarding that to my boss to deal with. Professor was walking through a minefield. The professor's point is that no professor should have to walk through mine fields when rejecting demands for special priviledges, specially if it's the school administration laying out said mines instead of actively doing their best to defuse them.
SilasX 5y ago
In other news, "Why do administrators eat up so much of the cost of running a university?" Probably navigating conflicts like this.

Rebelgecko 5y ago

I do wonder what would've happened if he just replied with a straightforward "no I won't treat students differently based on their race" instead of writing a fairly condescending email

andreskytt 5y ago
Yes, that girl should not have worn that short skirt.
- anonuser123456 5y ago
  The email, like a skirt, didn’t do him any favors.
addicted 5y ago
Or, as faculty (and support for faculty, as I have been) are recommended to do in this case, you simply pass it onto people and departments that basically exist to deal with such situations. Or you don’t respond at all. That being said, I can’t fault the professor for his response. It’s natural and human to do so. And clearly UCLA also agreed because within 3 weeks all the complaints were dismissed despite the campus uproar the professor describes.
twofort 5y ago
Tho best response would have probably been to ignore it, initial request was equally condescending IMHO.
nix23 5y ago
I must wonder in what time we life if a skin color could/should? change a score...we are going back to separation pretty fast atm.

threatofrain 5y ago

> “The unjust murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, the life-threatening actions of Amy Cooper and the violent conduct of the [University of California Police Department] have led to fear and anxiety which is further compounded by the disproportionate effect of COVID-19 on the Black community. As we approach finals week, we recognize that these conditions place Black students at an unfair academic disadvantage due to traumatic circumstances out of their control.” > The student then requested that the final be a “no harm” exam — meaning it should be counted only if it boosted one’s grade. “This is not a joint effort to get finals canceled for non-Black students, but rather an ask that you exercise compassion and leniency with Black students in our major.” (As I noted in my legal complaint, the student clarified, in a subsequent conversation with a university investigator, that he “intended that the requested adjustments apply to Black students and not the class generally.”)

skavi 5y ago
The response email is given in the full complaint: > Thanks for your suggestion in your email below that I give black students special treatment, given the tragedy in Minnesota. > Do you know the names of the classmates that are black? How can I identify them since we’ve been having online classes only? Are there any students of mixed parentage, such as half black-half Asian? What do you suggest I do with respect to them? A full concession or just half? > Also, do you have any idea if any students are from Minneapolis? I assume that they probably are especially devastated as well. I am thinking that a white student from there might possibly be even more devastated by this, especially because some might think that they’re racist even if they are not. My TA is from Minneapolis, so if you don’t know, I can probably ask her. > Can you guide me on how I should achieve a “no-harm” outcome since our sole course grade is from a final exam only? > One last thing strikes me: Remember that MLK famously said that people should not be evaluated based on the “color of their skin.” Do you think that your request would run afoul of MLK’s admonition? Definitely a ridiculous response to a fairly well reasoned email. However, he definitely could have left out the sentence comparing the suffering of people experiencing racism to people who are afraid others might think them racist.
- franga2000 5y ago

addicted 5y ago

I suspect the problem lay with the professor’s response to the student, as opposed to anything else (and that’s actually what the UCLA statement mentioned says), but as described here, the response, as a ill advised as it was, hardly merits any action. This is an unfortunate situation where largely things worked the way they were supposed to. Somebody raised a stink. The administration took time to investigate it. Found nothing and within 3 weeks dismissed the complaints. It sucks, but sometimes shit happens. Especially in academia. The problem appears to be that the 3 week suspension led to the professor’s income from unrelated work being affected. I highly doubt that this lawsuit will succeed. This is the process everyone in academia (and if they are lucky in private companies as well...private companies don’t even promise an investigation...their at will contracts mean they can simply terminate your position) agrees to and it works well, as it did in this case. The issue lies with the private companies the professor makes money from outside the university, who he has at will and temporary contracts with, which allow him to be terminated for no reason. Of course, the irony is that contrary to the professor’s claims, the entity he is suing completely protected him. It’s the at will contracts with the private companies that are the cause of his loss of income. If UCLA operated like a private company he wouldn’t have had a suspension with an investigation. His contract would simply have been terminated.

anonuser123456 5y ago
Depends on the public statements by the university and whether they followed established policy. If the slandered him or unfairly harmed his reputation, they could very well be liable for economic loss.
- MerelyMortal 5y ago
  IANAL, but it seems like from the PDF copy of the complaint, the university did not follow policy, in fact they disregarded a warning not to take action against the professor. The copy-and-pasted emails contained in the complaint also sound like slander to me.
  - filmgirlcw 5y ago

hresvelgr 5y ago

My view is that the professor was looking to ruffle feathers and try to convince the student that their request was absurd. I think trying to sway someone over to a particular side nowadays when it comes to morals or ethics is asking for a figurative belting, and I don't think he was blind to this possibility. It is despicable that he was made an example of in the way he was, that being said, while the professor's response was not in any egregious moral violation as far as my standards go, I would not have responded like that at all. The real issue here was that some students were affected emotionally by something significant before an exam and this particular student was asking that leniency be shown towards them, if you strip away demographic descriptors. My response to this would have been to ask the student to refer _any_ students affected by the events to contact me to determine leniency on an individual basis. It puts onus on that student to refer people. If they were only looking to stir the pot, they likely wouldn't have referred anyone and that would have been the end of it. If there were students referred who were not in the right headspace to handle the exam at 100%, then that's fine. At my university, we had exemptions for exams based on personal circumstances. I wouldn't see this as any different from that. With that aside, I do believe this particular student was being an ideological charlatan and that their request was not sincere. The excerpts in the post read like bait imo. This seems congruent with immediacy of the outrage that followed, and the petition. edit: grammar mistake

jollybean 5y ago
The only response one could reasonably make in 2021 would be to defer to the administration and otherwise say nothing.

pacetherace 5y ago

Some people just don't get it.

marstall 5y ago

This email really challenged the way Professor Klein did his thing, which can make it hard to muster one's best self. Curiosity would have been a better response: What's going on for the student who's sending it? How about for the students of color? Really get a personal understanding without an agenda. Find out what you're missing. That attitude by itself could really settle things down. In a school of management, he obviously mismanaged the situation, because the end result was loss of income for himself. I'm guessing that his preconceived notions prevented him from seeing the considerable power that demands for racial equity carry in organizations nowadays, even when they come from people low on the totem pole.