CMU VS. Dennis Lennox: The Administration Has Spoken

Dennis Lennox was right and the administration did use the opportunity of the university's spring break to hold a secret closed door meeting to reprimand him. He was found guilty of all three charges against him and he was formally reprimanded, though not expelled. Here is a copy of the press release from Students Against Gary Peters, the group Lennox heads up...

A student who has raised questions about Gary Peters teaching at Central Michigan University while he runs for Congress was convicted by school administrators for student code violations during a secret, closed-door disciplinary hearing held over spring break in violation of the state Open Meetings Act.

Students Against Gary Peters spokesman Dennis Lennox was notified Tuesday afternoon by e-mail that a tribunal decided he was guilty of three charges for distributing copies of The Peters Report, a student newsletter with editorial content critical of Peters.

He will receive a formal reprimand, which will be placed in his academic record and could affect his academic future. An appeal will be filed immediately and action will be taken to ensure his rights are respected.

It has been widely reported that administrators were considering expulsion for the CMU junior when the charges were announced on Nov. 27 -- the same day the ACLU threatened CMU with legal action for banning videotaping on campus.

While CMU didn't expel a student for exercising his First Amendment rights, it's unfortunate he was denied the opportunity to defend himself against these charges -- which were part of an effort to silence students for criticizing Peters. This has not been an open, honest and transparent process. These out-of-control friends of Gary Peters are ruining the reputation of CMU in their quest to silence students raising legitimate questions.

A secret, closed-door hearing was held after CMU administrators refused to participate in a Feb. 27 hearing when Lennox tried to videotape the proceeding. The school claims they are the only ones who can record proceedings -- a stance that violates provisions of the Open Meetings Act (http://legislature.mi.gov/doc.aspx?mcl-15-268), which says that "a public body MAY [emphasis added] meet in a closed session … to consider the dismissal, suspension, or disciplining of a student … IF [emphasis added] the student or the student's parent or guardian REQUESTS [emphasis] a closed hearing."

CMU spokesman Steve Smith claimed the student code forbids students from recording hearings, though WNEM TV-5 revealed there was no such provision in the school's regulations (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLGpxrfPPSc).

The Open Meetings Act (http://legislature.mi.gov/doc.aspx?mcl-15-263), as well as the First Amendment to the Constitution, clearly allows videotaping of public hearings. The statute says "meetings of a public body shall be open to the public and shall be held in a place available to the general public. All persons shall be permitted to attend any meeting except as otherwise provided in this act. The right of a person to attend a meeting of a public body includes the right to tape-record, to videotape, to broadcast live on radio, and to telecast live on television the proceedings of a public body at a public meeting."

Peters is challenging Congressman Joe Knollenberg despite a contract requiring his "full-time … primary commitment" as a professor through the 2009/10 academic year. He is paid $65,000-a-year to teach a political science class once a week for three hours.

While this story continues to be largely ignored by the MSM, the right blogosphere, both in Michigan and beyond, is now abuzz. Here is Michigan conservative blogging powerhouse Right Michigan. Here is the story cross posted on national conservative heavy weight Red State. Chet Zarko, at Outside Lansing, also picks up the story.


Last week, I hypothesized that the momentum wasn't enough to drive this story forward. The story continues to be driven by the blogosphere and usually that isn't enough however with the introduction of Red State there may be new legs to the story.