The Ypsilanti Courier
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Report: EMU officials violated act
By Dan DuChene, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: June 14, 2007
A report issued Friday determined Eastern Michigan University violated the federal Clery Act, which requires public institutions to appropriately disclose information to protect its members and its community.
Advertisement
In March, the university's board of regents hired Butzel Long, a Detroit-based law firm, to investigate the university's response to the death of Laura Dickinson, an EMU student who was found dead in her Hill Hall dorm room.
Dickinson, 22, was discovered on Dec. 15 lying on the floor with a pillow over her head and shoulders. She was partially clothed, wearing only a tank top, which had been pushed up to her chest. Presumed to have died days earlier, her body was decomposing and blood was found on the side of the pillow touching her face.
The Butzel Long investigation was conducted to establish EMU's compliance with the act, including whether a timely warning was issued to the EMU community.
The day after Dickinson was found, the university issued a statement that said foul play was not suspected. Several months later, on Feb. 23, Orange Amir Taylor III, a 20-year-old EMU student, was arrested for his alleged involvement. Taylor, who maintains his innocence, faces charges of open murder, two counts of criminal sexual conduct, home invasion and larceny.
"The university failed in multiple respects to properly comply with the various policy and reporting requirements under the Clery Act," the report said.
Calling it a "systematic failure to comply," Board President Tom Sidlik said, "The findings are clear, the university got it wrong."
During a press conference held Friday, attorneys for the firm cited lack of a policy, training and knowledge about the act for the university's violations.
The university has been under investigation by the U.S. Department of Education since April for allegedly violating the law.
Stephanie Babyak, a spokeswoman for the department, said the law provides imposing a $27,500 fine for every violation. She said violations can also effect an institution's involvement in federal financial aid programs.
In the past three years, 70 schools have been investigated and three have been fined, Babyak said.
Mitch Cary, an institutional review specialist with the U.S. Department of Education said the majority of federal investigation into EMU is near completion. On Monday, he said the findings should be released in a couple weeks.
"We're still in the process of formalizing the report," Cary said.
Dickinson Discovered
Ward Mullens, a university spokesman, Cindy Hall, the university's chief of police and Jim Vick, EMU's former vice president of student affairs, are among those the report said knew of the potential for violence involved in Dickinson's death the day her body was discovered.
Vick was placed on paid administrative leave on March 5.
Upon discovering Dickinson's body, EMU police called on agencies from the city of Ypsilanti, Washtenaw County and the state of Michigan for help. The Michigan State Police Crime Lab and the Washtenaw County Medical Examiner arrived on the scene the same day.
A report issued by Roger Simpson, assistant medical examiner for Washtenaw County, was included in the Butzel Long report.
Issued at 9:30 p.m. the day of the discovery, Simpson's report said, "foul play suspected."
In the Butzel Long report, Hall said she did not know of the medical examiner's findings. However, she said she was in Dickinson's room and did believe there was a possibility she could have been murdered. She said that she did not talk to John Fallon, EMU president, about the case. Instead, she said she communicated with Vick, who supervises EMU's Department of Public Safety.
"Chief Hall believes that by the end of Dec. 15, Mr. Vick knew there was a reasonable possibility Ms. Dickinson's death was the result of a homicide," the report said.
EMU Lieutenant Jeffrey Nesmith was one of the first officers on the scene when Dickinson's body had been discovered. In the report he said he had been treating the situation as a crime scene from the very beginning. The lead officer on the case, Nesmith said there was a possibility of homicide from the very start. In the report, He said he communicated his findings with Hall, who also witnessed the body.
"Based on their statements, it is certain that DPS, including Chief Hall and Lt. Nesmith, believed by the end of Dec. 15 and early morning of Dec. 16 that homicide was a reasonable possibility," the report said.
However, in the report Vick said DPS officials had not given all of the information to him. He said he did not know a pillow was over Dickinson's face, semen was found on her leg or a tampon had been discovered until February, or later.
"Mr. Vick acknowledged that from the beginning he understood Ms. Dickinson's death as a homicide," the report said. "Although Mr. Vick said it didn't register with him immediately that the things he learned on Dec. 15 constituted a crime scene, he said certain things he learned that day suggested to him that foul play was possible."
The report said Fallon had only used Vick as his source of information regarding Dickinson's death. Fallon had been told foul play was not suspected.
"Mr. Vick said he gave all of the information that he knew that night to Mr. Fallon," the report said. "However, Mr. Vick acknowledged he did not tell Mr. Fallon that night there was a possibility that Ms. Dickinson's death was homicide."
Mullens was EMU's only communications officer on the scene on Dec. 15. Both Pam Young, director of university communications, and Rhonda DeLong, director of web communications, were not in the office that day. Though he said he was never in the room, Mullens was on the scene for most of the day.
At 10:30 p.m. the day Dickinson was discovered, Mullens prepared a draft press release. The statement did not rule out foul play, but was never issued.
"Mr. Mullens did not recall that he did anything with the draft press release and he did not think it was actually distributed to the media," the report said. "Mr. Mullens also said he was told that someone higher up than he would draft a statement and that either a vice president or the President would issue it."
The report said Hall had approved Mullens' statement, and she thought it served as a warning for the campus community. She said she had thought Mullens' statement was the statement issued until Taylor's arrest, and was unaware of the official statement, which had ruled out foul play.
Aside from Mullen's statement never being issued, the report said it might not have served as a proper warning anyway.
"It is debatable whether the text of the draft press release would be sufficient to constitute an adequate timely warning," the report said. "At a minimum, it should include an advisement to take safety precautions."
No Foul Play Statement
The statement that was put out on Dec. 16, which said foul play was not suspected, was drafted by DeLong.
In the report, DeLong said she received her information from Mullens and Fallon, as she was out of town. The statement had been initiated and approved by Fallon.
The report contains an e-mail exchange between Fallon and DeLong. In the exchange, Fallon asks DeLong to draft a statement, approves the statement, and then asks it to be posted on the university's Web site. The report said no one other than Fallon and DeLong read the statement before it was published.
Vick said in the report he may have seen the statement, but it was Hall's responsibility to approve releases.
Hall said she was unaware of the release until after Taylor was arrested. Before that she said she had thought Mullens' draft statement was posted.
Minutes before approving the statement, the report said two phone conversations took place between Vick and Fallon. However, both said the statement was not discussed.
"It is clear that law enforcement's recognition that homicide was a reasonable possibility was not effectively communicated to the people who prepared and issued the Dec. 16 statement," The report said. "It is also clear that those persons preparing the Dec. 16 statement did not adequately confirm the accuracy of the statement."
Statement Remains
In the days following the initial release, the report said several opportunities came up to change the university's statement.
On Dec. 18, Young created a communications plan, which would have assembled officials to discuss how to handle Dickinson's death. The plan called for consideration of foul play in the press release. The meeting was never held.
The report said Mullens became aware of the statement on or about Dec. 18.
"(Mullens) raised questions within the University Communications about it," the report said, "but no other initiative or corrective actions was taken by him or anyone else in his department."
Fallon conducted a meeting on Dec. 18 with his direct reports. The report said he had informed everyone at the meeting that no cause of death had been determined by the medical examiner.
"Mr. Vick did not inform this group that he considered homicide a reasonable possibility or that DPS was investigating homicide as one possibility," the report said.
On Dec. 19, media outlets had quoted Bader Cassin, the Washtenaw County medical examiner, saying his autopsy results suggested some violence. The report contains an e-mail Vick had sent upon reading the news.
"This doesn't help at all," Vick said in an e-mail to communications officers and Hall, "in fact it makes the PR situation worse than it was before."
The report said during that same period of time, Young had followed up with the medical examiner and told media outlets there was no evidence of violence. However, her notes, which were in the report, said she may have been aware of the possibility of homicide.
"Trying to determine if sex assault-investigation as a possible homicide," her notes said.
Under that, an arrow pointed to the words "Death investigation-no specifics-protocol-no reason to release."
The report said, "Events were occurring the week of Dec. 18 that gave further credence to homicide as a possibility that were inconsistent with or contrary to the 'no foul play' statement and yet no correction was made."
Vick Shreds Document
The report said Vick had shredded a document that would have informed people of Dickinson's death.
Called an initial draft report, a copy of the document had landed in Vick's office with a stack of other incident reports.
Nesmith and Candice Dorsey, an EMU police officer, had authored the report. The report gave detailed circumstances about Dickinson's death, including much of what is now known about the scene. The report said the officers did not retain the initial document when changes were made.
Teri Papp, Vick's administrative assistant found the IDR and reviewed it, as was her common practice.
"(Papp) found the IDR to be graphic and disturbing because it disclosed details regarding the condition of the body of which she was not aware," the report said. "Ms. Papp was concerned because student workers in the student affairs office typically circulated the mail and she did not think the student workers should see the IDR."
Vick then walked in on a conversation she had been having with Greg Peoples, who had also read the IDR, about her findings.
"Ms. Papp recalled that she and Mr. Peoples described the details contained in the IDR to Mr. Vick and he did not seem surprised by any of it," the report said.
Vick denies reviewing the IDR, or having prior knowledge of many of the details in it. He said he had never been in the room or witnessed a pillow over Dickinson's face.
In report, no one else was made aware of the IDR after it was shredded. Vick said he directed that the document be shredded. The report is unclear as to weather Papp or Peoples actually shredded the IDR. Vick said the purpose of the shredding was because the investigation was on going.
Vick said he was directed by Hall to destroy the inadvertently circulated report. He said the IDR was graphic and would have disturbed students.
Hall denies Vick's account of the situation, and said she never instructed Vick to destroy the document.
Officials Push Issue
The report said several EMU officials raised concerns about the lack of information and the claim of no foul play.
Peoples said he had asked if the statement should be reconsidered at two separate student affairs meetings attended by Vick and Hall in January and February. He said both had said nothing could be done until the medical examiner's report was issued.
While Hall said she did not recall the discussions, Vick said he referred to Hall, who replied that it was an open investigation.
Every communications officer said they had periodically asked about the status of the investigation. They each said the university was waiting for the results of the medical examiner.
The report said Young had conducted an interview with Vick and Hall in January. Behaving like a journalist, Young said she call the meeting to prepare the university if the death had been determined a homicide.
"Ms. Young said Mr. Vick and Chief Hall were upset with her questions and did not want to tell her anything about the investigation," the report said. "They told her it was an ongoing investigation and they could not get into the details."
Young's notes of the meeting are included in the report. The phrase "Big Brother vs. freedom" is written and circled in her notes.
By late January, Fallon had also grown tired of the wait for new information. He had sent an e-mail to Vick on Jan. 23 asking for guidance.
"I don't know when its time to raise holy hell with the Medical Examiner's office about the delay in addressing the cause of Laura Dickinson's death but, for my money's worth, we're well past it," Fallon said in the email. "This doesn't smell right to me at all."
The report said Vick told Fallon to be patient and allow Cassin to finish his work.
"Mr. Fallon said he did nothing further to pursue the issue, relying on Mr. Vick's longtime experience and trust at the university," the report said.
Though Nesmith said he didn't recall the conversation, the report said he had told Hall in February that he felt strongly that Dickinson's death was the result of a homicide. Hall said she had asked if additional information could be released.
Hall said Nesmith had concerns and said he would bring it up with other investigators. Hall said she had told Vick about the situation. Vick denied the discussion took place.
The report said no one had followed up with Nesmith, who said he was aware of EMU's statement of no foul play.
"Lt. Nesmith... said a press release indicating that Ms. Dickinson's death was being investigated as a homicide would not have jeopardized the investigation," the report said.
Nesmith said he brought up the issue with Hall, but could not remember her response.
Not all stories are guaranteed to appear
online. The Web edition contains a reasonable
sampling of the print edition stories.
For the most complete news coverage, we invite you to
subscribe
to the print edition of the paper.
TOP JOBS
