Northwest Indiana Comical Politics

PUC vs IUN in Federal Court

Recently, I have become familiar with a system called PACER, which is a means of accessing, electronically, court documents associated with the federal courts.  So I decided to do a little compare and contrast.  Just how many Federal lawsuits have been filed against PUC (either the University itself or University administrative individuals) while Howard Cohen has been Chancellor versus the number filed while Bruce Bergland has been Chancellor of IUN.

I'm ecstatically proud to announce that Purdue University Calumet wins hands down with a 10 to 1 score!  And since Bergland came to IUN in 1999 and Cohen came to PUC in 2001 -- Cohen has managed to overtake Bergland in the alleged violation of rights in two less years! Gooooo TEAM Cohen!

All Hoosiers should be very proud of Team Cohen.  Achieving ten lawsuits is a great and difficult achievement.  And, if there were settlements before court filings, the list may even be more impressive.  Remember, this is all at the expense of Hoosier taxpayer monies and student tuition money -- all for the advancement of education.  Go Team Cohen!!!

Now, let me be clear, all I have done is a simple electronic search via the PACER system.  I have not looked either at the Lake County Court docket or any other docket. But if the record at the Federal level is consistent with any record at the county and State level, it sure is a proud day for those of us associated with PUC and its Chancellor Howard Cohen who is successfully most successful in the useful expenditure of tax payer money.

For the curious, here are the cases of which I was able to obtain some form of electronic document (be patient, some of these files may take a bit of time to load):

PUC - Chancellor Cohen (Score = 10)

  1. elgowainy_complaint.pdf

  2. adf_complaint.pdf

  3. defelice_complaint.pdf

  4. hentea_complaint.pdf

  5. jackson_complaint.pdf

  6. knight_complaint.pdf

  7. raoufi_complaint.pdf

  8. simonetta_complaint.pdf

  9. whitesell_complaint.pdf

10. eisenstein_complaint.pdf

IUN - Chancellor Bergland (Score = 1)

1. iun_case_1.pdf

Purdue University Shows its "Political Correctness"

It is one of the most cataclysmic events of our nation's history, but it went completely un-noticed by one of our State's publically supported institutions of higher learning, Purdue University.  The best that I can tell, system wide, no official or University organized effort was made to remember the events of September 11, 2001.  There was certainly nothing done at the Calumet campus.  I cannot even say if the flags were flown at half-mast.  There were no ceremonies, no speeches, no discussion, no prayers for the victims, absolutely nothing. 

While Purdue was actively ignoring 9/11, real Hoosiers, like the high school students in Chesterton placed 2,977 American flags in front of their school to memorialize the victims, saying we remember.  In NWI, Valparaiso, Schererville, Indiana University Northwest, and others had ceremonies honoring the fallen and the brave of 9/11.

But not Purdue.  Nothing at all from the new President or the University at large.  The only "event" that happened was an e-mail sent to everyone by an individual faculty member on his own initiative.  This is the email with my response to all the faculty and staff: Remembering_9_11.mht

This was the sum total of all the "memorializing" of the victims of September 11, 2001 by Purdue University.  I am surprised that the University administration did not quote some rule saying that this was an "inappropriate" use of the University's email system.

Maybe it just was not viewed as "politically correct" to remember 9/11 and to honor its victims, so Purdue just didn't bother. 

The Indiana Legislature has a law that University faculty in Indiana, whether they are citizens or not, must sign a commitment of allegiance to the United States and Indiana Constitution.  The law is clearly stated in: Indiana_code_20120_6_faculty_oath.htm. 

The oath is a basic affirmation of American citizenship:

"I solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support the constitution of the United States of America, the constitution of Indiana and the laws of the United States and of Indiana, and will, by precept and example, promote respect for the flag and the institutions of the United States and of Indiana, reverence for law and order and undivided allegiance to the government of the United States."

Everyone should be honored to agree to this.  Maybe if Indiana enforced its own laws and required every faculty member and administrator to sign this oath, Purdue would have had individuals with enough pride, courage, and respect for the United States to have actually done something to commemorate the anniversary of 9/11.