Academic Harassment

C. Lee Odell (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) and Richard S. Neel (University of Washington)
choreographed a pattern or practice of harassment
similar to that used by S. Michael Halloran.

Odell and Neel ignored credential verification obtained from an agency
approved by US Department of Education and validated by
Gary Judd, Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Registrars at both universities withheld records and destroyed or forged documents
despite repeated requests to successive presidents for due process of law.

Steven G. Olswang, a UW lawyer, deliberately frustrated investigations by
American Civil Liberties Union and US Department of Education.


Contra Cabal Foundation

Contra Cabal web sites have achieved an extraordinary readership. If Paul Trummel dies before he completes his work, then trustees have authority to continue publication as an educational project through the newly formed Contra Cabal Foundation, London which will own all publication rights. The Foundation will publish Contra Cabal in perpetuity in the way that Sonia Orwell posthumously published the collected works of George Orwell.

Foundation trustees and directors (professional people, lawyers, and academicians in UK and US connected directly and indirectly with the International Federation of Journalists) will supervise editorial and design functions using young investigative reporters and graphic designers who wish to further their education in journalism. They will receive trade union freelance rates of payment for their work.

The Foundation will respect former trustee the late William D Winn's last admonition "Go get 'em!" by continuing to report academic malfeasance and to expose morally repugnant academicians and public officials.

Readers should consider the articles and case studies as a work in progress. More information about academic or government fraud and deceit frequently surfaces after victims or their associates read Contra Cabal. That information becomes part of a relevant case study after verification and validation. Students and current faculty members write letters to the editor on politically sensitive issues. Some correspondents request name withholding to avoid retaliation.

Contra Cabal electronic magazine contains expose and satire. Probably one of the first to appear on the web, it has now published since 1992. The hits/month range between 100,000 and 150,000 with more than 1.5 million hits by about 60,000 unique visitors during the past twelve months. The "New Releases" menu lists new, updated, or revised articles on the four Contra Cabal sites.

[Site Navigation Plan] [Letters to the Editor]

Repeated Harassment

Concerted xenophobia by Odell (RPI) and Neel (UW) increased over the years as they repeatedly committed criminal acts, engaged in agism, and denied constitutional and human rights - a continuation of previous harassment by a consort of LL&C faculty members. Repeated harassment by apparent pathological liars and professional manipulators, many of whom had no valid credentials for the positions they held, construed as criminal activity. Instead of adhering to academic procedures and maintaining the integrity and ethics of academic standards, they used their perceived authority or power to intimidate, humiliate, and coerce which in an academic environment classifies as unlawful harassment.

Academic harassment defines as behavior that: intends to unreasonably interfere with an individual’s educational performance both on or off campus; distributes verbal, written or electronic communication with intent to annoy; causes unlawful arrest; creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive classroom environment; directs personally offensive remarks with intent to demean, belittle, or cause personal humiliation or embarrassment in public; and, threatens, intimidates, or coerces. The case studies will show a pattern or practice of harassment by faculty members and administrators that includes all of these dysfunctional or abusive behaviors.

At a first and only meeting, Neel employed deliberate humiliation by using a secretary as a go-between while only ten yards away himself. He called across the room: “You must jump through my hoops” as though the author ranked as a circus animal with him as the ringmaster. Neel then cancelled registration for doctoral work.

Two doctoral advisors (Haselkorn and Winn) arranged a meeting with former UW Graduate Dean Gene L. Woodruff to discuss the situation that Neel had created. Woodruff asked the author to obtain an evaluation affirmation from IERF. When the IERF affirmation arrived, Woodruff wrote a letter of approval for admission which contained deliberate ambiguities. Instead of giving a directive to Neel, he wrote a letter to him in which he played the “I will if you will” game. This allowed Neel to continue his unlawful tactics and harassment.

Steven G. Olswang, a UW attorney, arranged for admission to the Special PhD (SPhD) program now renamed Individual PhD (IPhD); however, Neel and his assistant Stephen T. Kerr continued the harassment and blackballing by convening an education department kangaroo court then withheld and falsified records.


International Education Research Foundation (IERF)

Established in 1969 in State of California as a non-profit, public-benefit, credentials evaluation agency, IERF researches and disseminates information on world educational systems to facilitate the integration of individuals educated outside the United States into the US educational environment and work force. IERF provides assistance by interpreting the educational backgrounds of people who have studied outside the US and prepares US educational equivalency statements. Used by colleges and universities, professional organizations, state licensing boards, US government agencies, attorneys, and individuals, it ranks as one of the oldest and most respected foreign credentials evaluation agencies in US. [IERF]


Woodruff requested the author to obtain this letter in addition to the previous evaluation:

Credential Affirmation by International Education Research Foundation, Inc. (11 Oct 90).

This is with reference to our telephone conversation earlier today concerning the evaluation prepared by this Service on January 22, 1988.

As I had mentioned during out conversation, the system of education of the United Kingdom, especially the sector dominated by professional bodies has been and continues to be a puzzling area for many educators in the United States. The unique feature of the educational system of the United Kingdom is that people can obtain qualifications through professional bodies recognized by the educational authorities and establishments (in the United Kingdom) without attending a university or polytechnic. In the January 22, 1988 evaluation this Service did attempt to provide substantial information regarding this area.

Although the evaluation was based on professional qualifications awarded by various recognized professional bodies, the work completed for these awards did in fact include an educational element which is deemed comparable to tertiary level studies had you attended a university or polytechnic in the United Kingdom. The comparability of various professional awards to bachelor’s degrees and program contents in undergraduate studies is an agreed upon and understood fact amongst the universities and polytechnics in the United Kingdom.

In addition, for many years, certain programs of training were the responsibilities of the professional bodies since they were not offered at either the universities or polytechnics. This substantiates the acceptability of the status of professional qualifications and professional bodies by the traditional institutions, such as the universities and polytechnics and those in the business and industry in the U. K. and by many international experts in the United States.

I hope that this information will be of assistance to you. Should you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Jasmin Saidi
Associate Director

Credential Evaluation Service
International Education Research Foundation, Inc.
PO Box 66940, Los Angeles, CA 90066


Nothing Succeeds like Excess

Academic freedom, an absolute right not an abstract philosophy, should not subserve economic considerations.

Moreover, information technology remains a right not a privilege despite technocratic claims to the contrary.

Legislative and judicial decisions have determined the right of individuals to distribute information freely and the Bill of Rights documents the protection individuals should expect from the state.

However, laws do not provide much protection when despotic administrators interfere with computer resources because they disagree with the content of messages: a disagreement probably based upon disclosure of their own malfeasance.

They fear dissent and have an aversion to controversy. Their addiction to political correctness frequently causes them to invoke censorship of Internet activities.

They not only empower their systems administrators to handle frivolous email complaints by arbitrarily removing computer access but also allow them to censor incoming mail - an outrageous invasion of personal privacy.

They act upon an irrational expectation that certain categories of email may contain something that Big Mama would not wish others to read then arbitrarily reject it.

Interference with email transmission not specifically proscribed by federal law classifies as a federal offense which Rensselaer and University of Washington officials commit with impunity.


New Releases
September 2007

Shirley Ann Jackson, the latest arrival in a trio of uncaring Rensselaer presidents: Schmidt (1988), Pipes (1993), Jackson (1999), continued to employ Thomas Phelan, former H&SS Dean, as "university historian" and publicly adulated him at his death (2006), knowing that he had defrauded the university of millions of dollars by posing as a PhD when he did not hold a post-graduate degree.

Phelan's fraud trickled down to negatively affect students. Informed about denial of due process of law to untenured faculty and students, Jackson did nothing about it. She maintains a hypocritical political silence on issues that have had a devastating effect on many faculty and student lives while she unashamedly touts an ethical institution.

Phelan's deanship allowed him to employ a cabal of unqualified and inexperienced faculty that in turn short-changed hundreds of students who had paid one of the highest rates of tuition in the US. RPI breach of contract left them with a huge tuition debt and cost them millions of dollars in income through loss of their careers. Successive deans Duchin (1996) and Harrington (2002) covered up the criminal activity that they inherited which effectively made them accessories after the fact.

2007 has seen publication of a series of articles that expose academic and criminal fraud at Rensselaer and University of Washington (UW). They describe a cover-up of ongoing fraud that Jackson, Palazzo, and Harrington (RPI) also Emmert (UW) have neglected to address.

http://contracabal.us/

A list of fifteen articles published during September includes a new series entitled Roll of Dishonor which exposes alleged criminal activity by individual tenured faculty members and administrators. New case studies will continue to appear each month.

Information about academic fraud and deceit frequently surfaces after alumni and former faculty members read Contra Cabal. That information becomes part of a relevant case study after verification and validation. Students and current faculty members also write letters to the editor on politically sensitive issues. Some correspondents request name withholding to avoid retaliation which the editor, a professional journalist, honors.

Send letters to the editor at:

[Letters to the Editor]

Case studies explain in detail the nature of alleged crimes.

Letters to the Editor

Letters should not exceed 250 words, with preference given to those letters responding to articles published in Contra Cabal.

Letters must include the author's name, city, and state, email address, and a phone number for contact and verification.

The Editor reserves the right to edit letters for length and clarity and not to publish all letters.

By submission of a letter, the author agrees that Contra Cabal may publish and/or license the publication of letters in print, electronically, and for archival purposes.


About the Author

Paul Trummel (Nmesis)

Paul Trummel, published since 1944, uses the pseudonym Nmesis and openly declares personal or conflicting interests.

These conflicts may relate to topics or to opinion, especially when the content draws upon advocacy, experience, conclusion, or interpretation.

As an accredited journalist, he conforms with the code of conduct and ethics of the journalism profession, tested by courts in both Great Britain and the USA.

Since 1947, he has worked as a journalist, an editor (commercial and academic peer-review), a technical communicator, an associate professor (visual communi-cation and rhetoric), and as an administrator at several leading universities.

He has held international press credentials since 1959 and holds two elected international graphic arts fellowships.

He earned professional letters in the UK that translated into two baccalaureate degrees and a terminal graduate degree in the US.

He has also earned a Rensselaer graduate degree and two US PhD degrees (now ABD).

[Sherking Responsibility]

He taught graduate level students at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Northeastern University, Fitchburg State College,
San Jose State University, Massachusetts Bay Community College, and a private institute of graphic design.

He held an administrative post at University of Massachusetts, Boston, and has lectured at universities in US, Europe, and Japan.

In 1957 (London), he founded and operated the first full-service technical communication organization, a group of publishing and technical/graphic communication companies where he held the position of chief executive officer.

In 1973 (Connecticut), he designed and marketed the first typesetting system driven by a minicomputer, the precursor for today's desktop publishing systems.

He has won an international silver medal for his satire and a US city award for his educational programs for disadvantaged people.

Since 1992, he has investigated and written several hundred articles on bureaucratic and elder abuse.

He founded Contra Cabal, one of the first electronic magazines to appear on the web, for which he develops the site, writes articles, designs pages, and produces graphics.

http://ContraCabal.org

Contra Cabal has now published for almost fifteen years.

Earlier, it published as email for six years. The hits/month now range between 100,000 and 150,000 with more than a million hits during the past twelve months.

Articles cover ongoing criminal activity by bureaucrats and elder abuse.

They describe the actions of corrupt judges and gross misconduct by lawyers who file frivolous law suits against tenants in government financially-assisted housing.

They outline how managers use unlawful retaliatory measures and propaganda to destroy the reputations of people who report illegal activity and racism.

Washington Supreme Court unanimously reversed a lower court decision that effectively allowed prior restraint and defined journalism inquiry as surveillance and harassment.

Repeatedly, lawyers who could find no fault with content instead personally attacked the author or his genre.

A corrupt judge imposed prior restraint and jailed him for contempt when he challenged the court decisions as a basic violation of constitutional and human rights.

To further coerce him, in consort with other jurists, the judge then arbitrarily transferred him to solitary confinement among murderers and rapists.

His published work in the print media for more than sixty years has received no challenge relating to accuracy.

People, among them elected judges and lawyers upon whom the public should be able to rely, have tried to stop him publishing information on politically sensitive issues.

That prior restraint, and restrictions on personal mobility, has now become a matter of international concern.

American Civil Liberties Union
(ACLU - Seattle),
International Federation of Journalists
(IFJ- Brussels),
National Union of Journalists
(NUJ - London),
American Society of Authors and Editors
(ASAE - New York),
and Seattle Weekly
have all filed amicus curiae briefs with Washington Supreme Court in support of his successful First Amendment stance.

Credential validation upon request by journalists and other responsible parties from:


ContraCabal.org
ContraCabal.net
ContraCabal.com
ContraCabal.us