Sending Kenneth Kitts & David Shields Down the Swamp Drain?

Before we present today's guest editorial, we have to ask where is the TimesDaily coverage of this devastating lawsuit against the University of North Alabama? Oh, well, we probably missed it. Wait, we see it now...seven sentences. Now a reader/UNA insider writes:

I wonder if the Jane Doe lawsuit against UNA will finally blow the top off an institution that has more cover-ups than layers of paint on an old house. I don’t want to write a lot here. However, I need to point out some interesting things:

1.       No matter what UNA has tried to do, the Audrey Mitchell lawsuit ain’t going away. Here, you have mainly two, powerful white guys (Drs. Shields and Jacques) who have done everything to intimidate this poor woman. Yet, she will not back down. I think when the court hears all the evidence, it will be clear that Ms. Mitchell was discriminated against.

2.       In the Jane Doe issue, you have a woman who has made a claim that UNA did not adequately follow procedures when she claimed she had been raped by one of their professors. Normally an institution would claim that they can’t comment on a pending case. However, in this instance, they have attacked this poor student. Rather than state that they are looking into the matter, they have raped her again with insults. Again, UNA is clearly trying to intimidate.

3.       I guess my most obvious question is this – What the heck is a professor doing going in a pool or hot tub with his students anyway? I don’t teach, but that seems a little weird and awkward to me. Does UNA condone this behavior?

4.       As to the official statement from UNA, I find it suspicious that there is no name attached to it. While it comes from UNA’s department of communication, there is no signature from Drs. Kitts, Shields, or Amber Fite-Morgan (who, as the diversity officer,  has taken the Elizabeth Warren tactic to use her partial American Indian heritage to prove to people that she a minority – yeah right!). Normally people tend to stand by their strong statements. Kitts is not.  I wonder if someone will be thrown under the bus for writing the response once UNA loses the lawsuit.

5.       UNA claims that there is no evidence of a criminal charge against the professor and that Jane Doe waited “years” before she filed a complaint. UNA, use simple math. According to Jane Doe, the rape happened in 2015. That is a couple of years not “years.” Also, don’t you think if UNA had helped this student and not dismissed her, this scared little girl would have been more likely to have gone to the police? Instead, they tell her to not come to class and not show up in the downtown area. That is intimidation again.

6.       I’ve heard through my colleagues that a big report was done over a year ago on UNA’s minority students and why so many of them are leaving. But the report has never been shared with anybody. Is UNA trying to cover something else up by showing that they intimidate Black students along with Black administrators?

Now, this lawsuit is happening when a ton of people, good people, are leaving or mysteriously disappearing from UNA. Dr. Gafford left. Dr. Thomas Calhoun was fired from his enrollment management position shortly after record fall enrollment. Dr. Hendricks and Clinton Carter left after doing many good things for UNA. The library dean is going. And the registrar, who only worked for UNA for a year, left town to get a job at a two-year school in the state. There are others too numerous to mention.  I wonder if they know something I don’t. I wonder if I need to look elsewhere for a job! Forget Washington. Someone needs to get rid of Kitts, Shields, and others and drain this swamp right here!

*****

There you have it from a UNA insider. Not pretty, is it? Rape, corruption, and cover-ups never are.