U.S. Department of Education investigating the University of Michigan

Submitted by gebe659 on

 

The U.S. Department of Education is gathering information on whether University of Michigan violated a federal crime reporting law when it waited six months to disclose the discovery of child pornography in an employee area of University Hospital.

"We are looking into this," said Justin Hamilton, DOE press secretary.

http://www.annarbor.com/news/department-of-education-looking-into-six-month-lapse-in-reporting-child-porn/

BlueAggie

February 3rd, 2012 at 2:21 PM ^

Per the article, it sounds like this was dead until a University employee followed-up on Nov. 18th to see why nothing had been done. That's 10 days after the Paterno thing blew up. Coincidence? Either way, glad to see that somebody stayed on it.

Lutha

February 3rd, 2012 at 2:25 PM ^

I won't draw any conclusions until the investigation is complete, but if the University did anything wrong, I hope the responsible parties are held fully accountable.  No place for that shit here.

ish

February 3rd, 2012 at 2:29 PM ^

frankly, i don't understand the "i can't believe you posted this" response.  this is legitimate news and reflects a mistake that our university made.  UM is not infallible. 

bluebyyou

February 3rd, 2012 at 2:44 PM ^

At least it was reported and the suspect arrested and, so far at least, nothing about any children being hurt....bit different than a certain school in PA.

snoopblue

February 3rd, 2012 at 2:53 PM ^

Pretty unbelievable. I feel like the University and people in charge did the right thing. They made sure they had a solid case against the guy, made sure they had the RIGHT guy and did an entire investigation before making an arrest. I know it seems wrong in retrospect, but can you imagine if they got the wrong guy? Like someone else who used that same computer? How people would have hung that guy out to dry? Even if it comes to fruition that it was the wrong guy, damage is already done to that guys life.

Thanks annarbor.com

w2j2

February 3rd, 2012 at 2:54 PM ^

Child pornography / abuse is a universal problem, and if you think it is not happening in your neighborhood, your school, or your workplace, you are mistaken.

French West Indian

February 3rd, 2012 at 2:59 PM ^

...it's always the coverup that causes heads to roll.  It will be interesting to see if it reaches all the way up the President.

triangle_M

February 3rd, 2012 at 3:06 PM ^

lets compare the differences here (superficially) to Penn State

1) This perp is arrested after 6 months (not a decade +)

2) Someone did an end around to make sure the perp was arrested

3) The guy possessed child porn, which is despicable, but hasn't been accused of making it or raping kids.  The problem with this is that buying child porn creates the demand, so you can't really wash your hands of it with this rationale.

 

It will all come out in the wash.  This sort of thing happens everywhere.  I'm glad to see it in the sunlight.

 

Victors21

February 3rd, 2012 at 3:20 PM ^

The hospital CEO, Dr. Pescovitz,  recently sent out an email detailing the delay and vowing to investigate fully.  Although i am not a university insider, I got the sense from the tone of the email that they will explpore the investigation to the fullest and I can only assume the US Dept of Education is getting involved to make sure that everything is done appropriately.

ppToilet

February 3rd, 2012 at 7:13 PM ^

Probably has no jurisdiction over the issue.  The UM Health System is a separate entity from U of M and the perpetrator in question was a physician, not medical student.  Funding for medial resident education comes from the System and Medicare dollars but not the US Dept of Education.

Happyshooter

February 3rd, 2012 at 8:19 PM ^

Michigan dodges a lot of bullets. When I was in the law school the very gay very liberal clinic director wouldn't let veterans join the clinc. I filed a civil rights complaint and the DOE said she was allowed to choose who she wanted to be a clinic student because they had to work closely with her. Looks like M ran out of luck, kiddie porn was the bridge too far.