Tuesday, November 3, 1998
The University Daily Kansan
Section A·Page 5
Fired professor continues lawsuit
By Jason Pearce
Kansan staff writer
Even though the University of Kansas and the Kansas Board of Regents prevailed in a recent court case against a former professor, the matter is not settled completely.
Last week, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Emil Tonkovich's rights to due process, free speech and equal protection were not violated because of the institutions' qualified immunity to the charges. Tonkovich was fired in 1993 by the University after a female student brought forward allegations of sexual harassment to administrators.
According to appellate court documents, a first-year law student complained that Tonkovich had engaged in a sexual act with her after discussing her grades
in July of 1988.
Tonkovich argued that while he was alone with the student that night, the incident did not take place as she stated.
Tonkovich's case, which asked for $10 million in damages stemming from the firing, will be sent back to the U.S. District Court that originally tried the case. At stake this time will be a few tort claims by Tonkovich not settled by the appellate court.
Victoria Thomas, general counsel for the University and one of the defendants, said the district court would have to determine how to handle the unsettled claims, which include an accusation of breach of contract by the University.
Thomas said that any rulings by District Court Judge G. Thomas Van Bebber could be appealed by Tonkovich or any of
"Cases typically can go through a long appeals process," she said.
the defendants.
Thomas said the parties would have to see what ruling Judge Van Bebber made before the case could be completely settled. A date for this phase of the chase, which is in its fifth year of deliberations, has not been set.
Tonkovich and Richard Hutchinson, a spokesperson for Tonkovich's legal team at Landmark Legal Foundation based in Kansas City, Mo., were not available for comment.
The appellate court's conclusion stated that most of Tonkovich's case — including the allegation that the defendants conspired to remove him from the University because of his outspoken conservative beliefs — were "simply not enough to meet a plaintiff's burden on qualified immunity."
But the court was critical of how the University dealt with the situation.
"We do not know if we would have reached the same result that the Hearing Committee reached, by a close 3-2 vote," the ruling stated. "However ... the Due Process Clause (of the Constitution) is not a guarantee against incorrect or ill-advised personnel decisions."
The committee, which was composed of University faculty, gave Tonkovich the opportunity to tell his side at weekly meetings between August of 1992 and May of 1993.
In July of 1993, the committee recommended that Tonkovich be fired because his actions constituted unethical conduct in violation of the Faculty Code. This sparked Tonkovich's appeal to the Regents and the subsequent court cases.
Supreme Court to hear case about legality of searches
By Keith Burner
Kansan staff writer
Police soon may have more freedom to search vehicles, depending upon what the U.S. Supreme Court decides in a Fourth Amendment case.
Today, the court will hear an Iowa man's argument about a police search of his vehicle without permission three years ago that found marijuana. The man claims the search was a violation of his Fourth Amendment constitutional protection against unreasonable searches.
After giving Patrick Knowles a speeding ticket in 1996, police searched Knowles' vehicle without his permission — legal under Iowa statutes — and found a bag of marijuana and a pipe underneath the front passenger seat.
Knowles was arrested.
Mike Able, Wichita junior, said police needed to be more respectful of individuals' rights.
"We believe there is an overwhelming privacy issue involved, that such a search is invasive, intrusive and, frankly, offensive," said Maria Ruhenberg, Knowles' lawyer.
"I don't think they should be able to search a person's private property without their permission," or probable cause," he said.
After hearing the Knowles' arguments, the court must decide if these types of searches are constitutional.
A representative from the Douglas County District Attorney's office did not know how the decision would affect the way local law enforcement agencies conducted searches.
Ana said that if the court considered it constitutional for police to conduct searches without the vehicle owner's permission, the decision could lead to biased and discriminatory behavior by police and allow officers to justify searches based on stereotypes.
"If they don't have to have probable cause, they could easily pick a person who looks suspicious to the cop just because of his race, and search that person," Abla said.
Lawrence Police Sgt. George Wheeler said
THE LAW
Lawrence Police Sgt. George Wheeler said police could search a vehicle in Lawrence if officers had probable cause, if an arrest had been made, if police were given permission or if police had a search warrant. Police are not required to have a search warrant to search a vehicle.
that in Lawrence, besides probable cause, there are only three situations in which a vehicle search is justified: after an arrest, with the individual's permission or with a search warrant.
Vehicle searches that occur after an arrest or with permission are straight-forward, but issues start to arise when the definition of probable cause comes into question. Wheeler said.
"Basically, with probable cause, officers can search a vehicle if they believe some kind of evidence in the car could be lost," he said.
Police said evidence in vehicles can be easily destroyed or lost because vehicles are mobile.
"If I look in your car and see a stereo in the dash and one in the back seat with wires hanging out the back, that's probable cause to search." Wheeler said.
Wheeler said there was not as much urgency to search a house for evidence if police do not believe the evidence will be removed soon, because houses are immobile.
Bridget Chambers, Iowa assistant attorney general, said the justifications for a search with a ticket were the same as the justifications a search after an arrest: to protect the officer and to stop evidence from being destroyed.
"If they can arrest and search anyway, how does it protect the person's privacy to require the arrest?" Chambers asked. "We're just saying it's a lesser intrusion, actually, than an arrest plus search."
She said that if Iowa police were forced to conduct searches only following an arrest, officers could choose to make more arrests.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Abused children may remain targets when they grow up
By Julie M. Sachs
Kansan staff writer
A University of Kansas professor has found through research that children who have been sexually abused continue to remain targets for abuse as adults.
Charlene Muehlenhard, assistant professor of psychology, said there were several hypotheses to explain why abuse victims continue to be victimized.
Dissociation, she said, is one explanation for why the adult remains vulnerable to victimization.
If individuals were abused as children, they may have adapted their minds to detach from their bodies in order to provide some relief from the abuse.
This ability to detach the mind from the body during harmful situations may remain with children into adulthood, making it difficult to resist effectively if they become victimized again, Muehlenhard said.
"It may make them more susceptible to rape," she said.
Muehlenhard also said that as children, abuse victims might have learned to see sex as a way to feel loved.
"If girls are sexually abused, they may become sexually active at a younger age and may have more sexual partners." Muehlenhard said.
She said the higher number of partners might leave the woman with a reputation as being easy, she said. This then would make her an easy target.
Although many sex-abuse victims are more likely to become victims as adults, Lisa Brenner said she discovered that victims also may become the sexual coercer.
Brenner, Muehlenhard's former KU student and now a licensed psychologist at Hopewell Center in St. Louis, wrote her dissertation on both the revictimization and coercing role of abuse victims.
Brenner said she studied both men and women who were abused as children and reported whether these victims had been coerced or had coerced another person into having sex.
"More women were coerced and more men coerive." Brenner said.
Brenner also said she discovered that past history of sexual abuse increased the chance of the individual being revictimized or coercing someone else into sex.
"I think this is a piece of a big puzzle," she said. "It helps us understand behavior better."
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