JUDGE RULES: UMichigan Violated Professor’s Right to Cross-Examine Accusers
Pamela Smock, a tenured sociologist who studies “family, fertility, gender, demography, and sexuality,” was initially accused of inappropriate sexual speech by three graduate students under her supervision. They only accused Smock after the professor “gently confronted” one of them about her apparent plagiarism. Judge Tarnow ruled that only Smock’s due process claim against her dean, Andrew Martin, and Provost Martin Philbert would move forward. He made clear that UMich violated the precedent of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals by not letting Smock cross-examine her accusers. “The Sixth Circuit very recently emphasized the importance of cross examination to university disciplinary proceedings,” the judge said, citing another ruling against the University of Michigan, albeit in the context of a student disciplinary proceeding. “Plaintiff’s inability to challenge her accusers’ credibility was complete: their identities were undisclosed.”
thecollegefix By Greg Piper.
