Hearing-impaired students file suit
BERKELEY, Calif. Several hearing-impaired University of California at Berkeley and University of California at Davis students have filed a lawsuit against the University of California system, saying they have not been provided adequate services.
The university has denied the allegations included in the lawsuit filed earlier this month. UC maintains it is in full compliance with state regulations.
“We are very proud of the panoply of services the university offers to all of its disabled students,” said Jeff Blair, UC”s attorney.
UC-Berkeley student Lexin Ka said the university”s policies for its Disabled Students” Program are “unfair and unnecessary,” pointing out during testimony that interpreters for hearing-impaired students would leave if they were more than 10 minutes late to class.
Ka, who is hearing-impaired, said if he did not show up to class within the first 10 minutes, he would be written up as a “no show,” and his services would be suspended until he provided the program an explanation.
Disabled students are required to explain why they are late to or absent from a class. Plaintiffs in the lawsuit say that rule is “burdensome” and “intrusive.”
NYU files suit for court anonymity
NEW YORK Lawyers for New York University filed a motion earlier this month requesting that the university”s name be stricken from public legal documents naming it in a $20 million sex assault lawsuit, court records showed.
NYU”s attorneys filed a motion two weeks ago arguing that the university should be referred to as “Anonymous” in all public court documents to shield it from negative publicity surrounding the suit, according to the motion.
The motion stated that because a judge allowed the plaintiff, a female student who was sexually assaulted in a dormitory bathroom, to proceed anonymously for privacy reasons, the university should be able to do so as well.
If a judge grants NYU”s motion, all public court records will refer to the lawsuit as “Anonymous v. Anonymous.”
Neither university brass nor NYU”s attorneys would comment on the motion. However, Thomas Engel, the student”s attorney and a partner in the firm of Engel and McCarney, said NYU”s request was unorthodox and that it seemed to indicate NYU is clearly liable in the case.
Florida prof. killed in her apartment
GAINESVILLE, Fla. A University of Florida adjunct professor was found dead Friday in her Gainesville apartment, apparently beaten to death with a baseball bat.
Her 18-year-old adopted son, Gainesville High senior Tavares Eugene Williams, was arrested late Friday and charged with the murder of Barbara Roth, a member of the Political Science Department and a research analyst at The Center for Studies in Humanities and Social Studies.
“She didn”t show up for work and we were all concerned about her,” said Diane Craig, Roth”s supervisor and a research analyst at The Center.
Gainesville Police spokesman Keith Kameg said Roth”s colleagues called the apartment manager, who then called maintenance. When maintenance workers received no response from inside the apartment, they proceeded to enter the home and found Roth lying on the floor.
According to an arrest report, Roth was dead on arrival and appeared to have trauma to her head and side of her face.
Compiled from U-WIRE reports by Daily Staff Reporter Jordan Schrader.