Thanks for posting.

1. I met Howard at the NCAA Tournament Bobcat Bash. He came on a little strong with the business cards, but I guess networking and soliciting donors was his occupation as Director of Advancement.

2. Did he replace Len Raley when Len went to the UMD system? Len was a solid solid guy, so he was never going to escape that large shadow imo.

3. I had actually emailed a friend of mine upon learning of Lipman's departure saying that something didn't sit right with me. Just had one of those weird feelings.

4. $232k? Good god. Did he come from Florida Atlantic or Lazard?

5. The guy can't handle his own MS Outlook calendar? I find this to be ridiculous for someone in that position. Let me put it clearly - He aint that important that he needs a $54k a year Admin to punch in his out of office message. If you aren't organized enough to handle your own calendar in this day and age - you have problems.

6. He doesn't really look like the kind of guy that subordinates would kill to have make-up sex with...but to each their own.

7. Maybe I'm wrong, but nothing in the article is juicy enough for me to think Howard L was guilty of sexual harassment. There just isn't enough meat there to go forward with those claims.

8. This kind of nepotism is a big problem imo. I would say that Elkins should just subpoena emails between Lipman's office (he probably can't even write his own email) and the COB/Sports Ad admissions people to get an understanding of why her son was accepted then rejected. Normally you would assume there is a paper trail. However in this case, Elkins subsequent rejection was probably just pillow talk at the Lipman boudoir...completely free of email or paper tracing.

9. I know OU is kind of in a small town, but why are the business dealings so downright shady there? I'm sure it's nothing unique to University life, but we always seem to have the craziest people doing things. The dude that had the shotgun in his office, the carving into arms, Howie Lipman...I mean jesus, who the hell are we hiring at this place?? Maybe conference affiliation doesn't affect the reputation of my degree, but this kind of stuff does.  Arm Carvings. Just read that again. Arm carvings.

Not to mention this kind of general weirdness has been going on for years. See the Roger Watson / Mel Helitzer (RIP) case back in 2000. I think Watson was actually moonlighting as a Pastor in Meigs or Vinton County at the time. Just general goofiness and oddities. Seriously Rod, Clean this place up already!

10. Obviously this is one side of the story, and Elkins should have documented everything a lot more thoroughly. However, there is enough general, factual goofiness going on at that place - that someone needs to implement some changes. Maybe psyche evaluations would be a start for all new hires? Maybe a class on setting up your MS Outlook Calendar? Maybe an org chart for Elkins to know who Lipman did / did not report to. 

Court of public opinion won't look favorably on Howard Lipman in this case, but I do think OU did a decent job handling everything. They just need to do some general housekeeping on all the nut jobs making a bloated paycheck at the asylum..I mean University.

I agree.  BTW, regarding the J-school professor who was allegedly threatening co-workers and had proudly displayed past examples of self-mutilation, I got caught in the guy's cross-hairs when I responded to a blog post about the case by a KSU professor. The Kent professor essentially said OU was slandering a great instructor in order to deny him tenure.  When I responded with a few facts about the man's behavior (self-mutilation, multiple harassment claims  by co-workers, documented cases of him calling students "a-holes," "dicks," etc.), the KSU prof informed the OU guy and I received several nasty emails from his supporters.

Thank God I don't have to work in higher ed.




   

The case for bullying also lies in the eye of the beholder.  Last year we to defend a similar case.  We subpoenaed text messages(all time/date stamped) from the accuser.  Once her attorney reviewed the files, the accuser had a mysterious change of heart.