Another UNH Foreign Language Department Scandal - Granite Grok

Another UNH Foreign Language Department Scandal

New unh-logo_emblemLast time it was the German Professor, this time it is the Spanish and the French.

In December of 2012, (UNH Associate Spanish Language Professes Marco) Dorfsman altered the student evaluations of his colleague, French lecturer Emilie Taplin, by lowering her student evaluation scores. Court documents state that Dorfsman changed the average scores for every class Taplin taught that semester, as well as her overall average awarded by students. The tampering made it appear that her performance fell below acceptable limits for her department, court documents state.

Long story short, Dorfsman’s alterations could have prevented her contract renewal–so he was trying to get her fired.

The Professional Standards Committee of the Faculty Senate terminated Dorfsman in May 2013 due to “moral turpitude” after an investigation. An independent arbitrator, who overturned the termination of Dorfsman in November 2013, stated that his actions put Taplin’s visa to remain in the country in jeopardy. UNH filed an appeal of the arbitrator’s decision in Strafford County Superior Court in December 2013.

And why did he want Emilie sent packing?

“Last December I had what I can only say was an emotional breakdown and I did a terrible thing,” Dorfsman said in an email sent to colleagues on April 19, 2013. “I lost my judgment and in a moment of great stress I tampered with a colleague’s student evaluations.”

PTSD.  Professorial Traumatic Stress Disorder has become a recurring excuse theme in the perro-eat-chien world of the UNH language professor.

Not long before Señor Marco broke down and lost his judgement Herr Larkin, a UNH German professor (That’s Ed ‘Flash’ Larkin to our readers) exposed himself to a minor and her mother in a supermarket parking lot.   He was broken too.

To the credit of the UNH administration they tried to fire both Larkin and Dorfsman, but the Union stepped in and saved their jobs.

In the case of Marco Dorfsman the arbitrator’s magic was appealed to state superior court where the Judge overturned the decision.   Marco is out.  But Flash not only got to keep his job, he got paid to “work” (at least 18 months on paid leave through the arbitration process and three years on probation) collecting his full salary while forbidden to interact with students.

So the moral of the story is that there is none.  If you are a UNH language professor and you drop the scores of another language teacher you may eventually get fired for moral turpitude– “conduct that is considered contrary to community standards of justice, honesty or good morals.”  But if you drop your pants in a Market Basket parking lot in front of a 17 year old girl and her mom you get paid leave plus three years paid probation and your teaching job back.

It’s all rather nonsensical but what is important to understand here is that these are not an expression of the University’s morals so much as that of a union that will defend immoral professors at any cost.

The Union has no moral standards.  If the union has no moral standards with regard to the employees they represent why should the professors?

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