Northwestern U. Says Journalism Professor Altered E-Mails

April 7, 2011, 10:00 am

Northwestern University officials said Wednesday that a journalism professor known for helping those wrongly convicted of crimes had lied to university officials and doctored e-mails, according to the Chicago Tribune. The university had previously said the professor, David Protess, the founder of the Medill Innocence Project, was on leave in the wake of an investigation prompted when local prosecutors began seeking records related to one prisoner’s case. Wednesday’s statement by a university spokesman followed a two-hour, closed-door meeting between journalism-school faculty members and the school’s dean.

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http://www.facebook.com/people/Nicholas-Stix/721916225 Nicholas Stix

I recently noticed that the “Innocence Project” lists the five men, all of whom had in 1989 admitted to beating Trisha Meili (the “Central Park Jogger”) within an inch of her life, four of whom who had made videotaped confessions (the three minors did so in a parent or guardian’s presence), as having been wrongfully convicted. They were not wrongfully convicted, and although the corrupt, racist former district attorney, Robert Morgenthau, got the convictions vacated, that was a purely political move that involved a conspiracy to obstruct justice.

http://www.vdare.com/stix/090624_sotomayor.htm

At Protess’ blog, he is calling the attackers “exonerees.” That is a lie. It will be interesting to see how many lies he has told, on behalf of the guilty.

http://www.innocenceproject.org/Content/New_York_Exoneree_Talks_about_Starting_Over.php
johnng

Oh my, the right-birds are out early. The earlier commenter has it all wrong and should know that. DNA evidence exonerated these wrongfully convicted. There seems to be no end to the attempts to smear Protess for his years of courageous work, both as an outstanding educator (breaking the mold of what good teachers do) and his role as an investigative journalist and champion of justice. The story didn’t include the explanation from Professor Protess to the charge that he altered e-mail, not even the one included in the original Chicago Tribune story. Did you bother to interview the professor or any of his students?
anonytrans

Well, good thing you were there to set the record straight – this changes everything. If the man has worked to exonerate people who Nicholas Stix says are guilty, well, that certainly determines what I think about the charge of doctoring emails!

Incidentally, perhaps you could provide us – or at least the Innocence Project – with your personal list of guilty and innocent convicts so we know ahead of time in the future. (Or are they all guilty, having been convicted?).
rlevine

Me thinks he doth Protess too much.
Leroy_Mouchelette

Who is the victim of such a “violation”?
smith22

Indeed. Show the usage stats on these scholarly orphans in 3-5 years and your question will be even more pertinent.
mlisaacs

At least now there is an open and honest discussion about the student debt problem. I personally
know a number of people in their 40s who are still only half way through large student debts. These
are people with doctorate degrees who are tenured university professors. Their debt/income ratios
were high. I suspect this is not uncommon. It would interesting to hear how adjunct faculty are managing their student debts as well.
Has anyone done a study about the costs to the economy when young people cannot
purchase houses, afford to marry, start a family or contribute to the overall economy?
I write this because it is not just the people who do not finish degrees or drop out of for-profit
programs carrying large unpaid student debts.
Then there are those who have lost jobs in the past four or five years, who have defaulted and
cannot get any relief. I write this because serious, excellent students who have graduated,
ready to serve society are burdened with student debts. It is not simply the “losers” who
have dropped out or were “hood-winked” into some for-profit institution’s trap.
I do not think that the so-called “debt addiction” will continue. Students simply will choose not
to go to college. Fewer students will not bring down the tuition costs, as Dr. Vedder suggests.
However it will force colleges to cut programs and perhaps close their doors.
Why doesn’t anyone suggest better pay for people who are working in jobs that require college
degrees? If people were paid more, then they could afford to pay back their debts. How
about affordable healthcare? How about more public support for education?
Oh, my goodness, I must be a lefty radical!
icedgreentea

You lost me at your last paragraph. Under your system, as an independent student, I would have fallen into your category of “most needy.” I would still be able to borrow large sums of money, which I don’t see as “debt addiction” but rather trying to finance one’s education using the means available. I would still have crushing debt that I would not be allowed to include in a bankruptcy.

How about changing that particular law, which was only passed in the early Eighties, and seems to be a major reason things have gotten so out of hand? It is incredibly ironic that a person can blow hundreds of thousands of dollars on consumer goods and be able to include that debt in a bankruptcy, but when it comes to investing in an education, the person who has chosen the nobler path is stuck for life, no matter their other circumstances.
http://twitter.com/annalaurabrown annalaurabrown

yep that’s me. My student loans exceed my annual income and I know I am not alone. 5 years after graduation, I still owe the same amount I did when I graduated due to interest. Paying them all off will probably never happen.
gavin_moodie

The author’s proposal to restrict eligibility for borrowing to the most needy would increase the problem of unpaid debts that he complains of since higher education is socially selective and thus ‘the most needy’ don’t get admitted to the best colleges and they don’t get the highest paying jobs after graduation.

As other posters have pointed out, solving the problem posed by the author needs a broader ideological frame than the one he uses.
studentteacher

As a sailor, an added observation: those boats tied most tightly to the dock don’t rise, they become damaged; they sink.
studentteacher

When I was a full-time non-tenure-track Instructor at a large state institution, I thanked my lucky stars every day that it took me well into my 30′s to finish my BA, and into my mid 40′s to finish my terminal degree, because I paid cash as I went. I watched my colleagues with student debt, even those with dual income households, struggle and fall with any major financial event. Many have multiple bankruptcies behind them, while all the while they’ve been working not only at one institution, but very often adjuncting almost full-time at the local community college. Dreadful.
raeran

The tuition to employment system is creating a population of serfs, indentured servants for whom a lifetime of work will not be sufficient to pay off debts.

In addition to the brilliant comments by “unemployed-northeastern” I’m wondering why banks get to borrow at an interest rate that’s (as of this writing) less than 1% but student loans are 7-8%?

But of course the financial institutions are making policy rather than our politicians and those CEOs are making record salaries so it’s unlikely student loan interest rates will come down anytime soon regardless of the impact on individuals, the economy, or society in general.
alanhenderson

The student loan bubble is redefining the term “Greek life.”
rock_in_the_road

Everybody is right. The system is totally f****** up.