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 | | Central Michigan University is using strong-arm tactics and testing the First Amendment with its treatment of conservative student, Dennis G. Lennox II (pictured), who opposes the hiring of a Congressional candidate as a professor. |
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Somewhere between First Amendment rights and University policies lies a bitter conflict between Dennis Lennox, a 23-year-old political science student, and the administration of his university, Central Michigan University.
What should be a harmonious relationship has turned into a public feud because of Lennox’s opposition to the hiring of Gary Peters, a candidate for Congress, as a university professor. Lennox takes issue with Peters’ commitment to students and wonders how he can campaign over 100 miles away while still serving CMU effectively. Peters’ contract with CMU is through the 2010/11 academic year, and Lennox raises genuine concerns of where Peters’ commitment may lie if he is a member of Congress at that time – with his students, or with his constituents?
To display his displeasure with Gary Peters and the university, Lennox has used some persistent – some would say annoying – tactics. He’s been known to wait outside campus buildings, waiting to follow Peters to his vehicle wielding a camcorder. He started a blog, The Peters Report, which is regularly read, and tracks the professor’s every move. He has also sent the university numerous FOIA requests in order to dig deeper into Peters’ hiring.
What has everyone buzzing, however, isn’t Peters and the practices used to hire him, or even Lennox and his persistent tactics. It’s how the university has reacted to what has happened, and instead of fostering political debate and encouraging intelligent discussion, CMU has put on an entirely different face in this matter. In short, CMU has turned into a bully.
Ironically, the chairman of CMU’s board of trustees is Jeffrey Caponigro, one of the nation’s leading public relations gurus. The university hasn’t exactly kept a clean image as a result of the Lennox-Peters mess. While serving a FOIA request to Pam Gates, the interim Dean of the Humanities and Social & Behavioral Sciences College, Lennox had out his trusty camcorder. Gates, seemingly startled by being recorded, swung her hand toward Lennox and the camera, and the picture violently shook. There are dueling claims as to whether or not Gates struck Lennox or the camera, however under Michigan law, if the camera was attached to Lennox, there is no distinction.
The Associated Press soon picked up the story, and by the next day Lennox found his cause on the New York Times’ web site, the Drudge Report, and ABC and CBS news – the whole country saw a CMU dean attack a student.
After the assault, the chairpersons in the departments within CMU's College of Humanities and Social & Behavorial Sciences wrote a letter to the student newspaper, Central Michigan Life, claiming that Gates performed an "appropriate defense." The letter also said that there were “three frightened eyewitnesses” to the incident. The eyewitnesses were frightened of Lennox, who stands around 5’3”, and who was the victim, not the perpetrator, of the assault.
The university then banned video recording on campus without permission, however the ACLU of Michigan sent CMU’s president Michael Rao a letter warning that such a ban is unconstitutional.
Central Michigan University is now using strong-arm tactics to finally rid itself of Lennox altogether. The university is using student hearings to discipline Lennox for trite offenses such as distributing an anti-Peters newsletter. The hearings do not allow Lennox to exercise certain constitutional rights. Lennox tried to video record his latest hearing, however the school disallowed it, saying it was against the policies and procedures of the hearing. The hearing was cancelled and a new one held while Lennox was not able to attend. Local news station WNEM TV5 has noted that they checked the hearing rules online and found no provisions banning video recording.
If Central Michigan University finally rids itself of Dennis Lennox, will the strong-arm tactics and bullying give it a solid reputation to stand upon, one that keeps crumbling from one news story to the next? No one knows, but until then, the university will keep sending out vice presidents, lobbyists, and spin-masters to try and deflect this current PR crisis. How about saving some time – and tax-payer money – by firing Gary Peters.
On the Web: Students Against Gary Peters
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