Paying for their negligence

Background: In December 2006, an Eastern Michigan University student was murdered in her dorm room. For several months, EMU administrators claimed there was no foul play even though the victim was found with a pillow on her face and naked from the waist down. Not to mention that police were investigating it as a homicide. These administrators endangered the lives of every student at the college by failing to notify them that a murderer was in their midst. The administrators responsible for this "lapse" in judgment no longer work for the university but received severance and full retirement, a travesty I wrote about in July 2007. A U.S. Department of Education investigation found that EMU committed 7 violations of federal law and faces the possibility of multiple fines.

According to recent reports, the U.S. Department of Education found Eastern Michigan University committed seven violations of federal law in the Laura Dickinson murder cover-up. Each violation could cost overburdened Michigan taxpayers $27,500. I suggest the fines be extracted from the lucrative severance and retirement packages given to the 3 administrators responsible for the violations.

[Letter to the Editor - The Detroit News. Submitted 11/21/2007.]