Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Mills Endures
Readers with long memories might recall the illustrious theater arts professor unjustly suspended by Western Washington University for allegedly breaking the faculty code of ethics. Those who followed earlier reports and exposes discovered that the whole circus surrounding Professor Perry Mills' suspension consisted of trumped up charges by the administration in retaliation for his whistle-blowing about embezzlement of student fees by his department heads.
While the cover-up, as usual, took on a sordid life of its own, Professor Mills' lawsuit against the university for violating his civil rights to due process steamed ahead. Now that everyone knows he was railroaded to protect higher ups from scrutiny, Professor Mills has been reinstated, albeit in an office outside the theater arts complex, and without his inclusion in the theater arts web page.
Naturally, after being banished for three years, Mills has gone from a nationally-distinguished professor in his field to a relatively unknown entity, no doubt a consequence of great satisfaction to those who framed the professor in order to cover their own shenanigans. Life, as the professor surely understands, is not fair, but perhaps the powers of the judiciary will in time see things differently than the scoundrels of academia, and restore the good professor to financial health if not the prestige he once wielded.
While the cover-up, as usual, took on a sordid life of its own, Professor Mills' lawsuit against the university for violating his civil rights to due process steamed ahead. Now that everyone knows he was railroaded to protect higher ups from scrutiny, Professor Mills has been reinstated, albeit in an office outside the theater arts complex, and without his inclusion in the theater arts web page.
Naturally, after being banished for three years, Mills has gone from a nationally-distinguished professor in his field to a relatively unknown entity, no doubt a consequence of great satisfaction to those who framed the professor in order to cover their own shenanigans. Life, as the professor surely understands, is not fair, but perhaps the powers of the judiciary will in time see things differently than the scoundrels of academia, and restore the good professor to financial health if not the prestige he once wielded.
