Comments on: UPDATED: Mysterious RSU Incident Coming to Light

By: ABOUT TRIO PROGRAMS

ABOUT TRIO PROGRAMS — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 20:11:00 +0000

It may be of interest to the public to know that an important component of both Upward Bound Programs and Student Support Programs include opportunities for students with disabilities (both psychological and physical) and there are important matters involved with confidentiality here.

Also, an important component of the programs involves taking the students on trips away from campus (over-night and week-long stays.) Tywone Parks often participated in these events and was even a mentor to other students under Mr. Hernandez direction.

By: ABOUT TRIO PROGRAMS

ABOUT TRIO PROGRAMS — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 20:06:19 +0000

Mr. Tim Hernandez, the former Director of Student Support Services, warned members of his staff about “very concerning behaviors exhibited by Tywone Parks” for years. Ms. Dorothy Mullis of the staff, gave a discrete word of this to the current Director but said she feels it’s not really her business, so would go no further about it…

Mr. Tim Kreps, currently Director of Student Support Services at OSU/Okmulgee and formerly a Director of Upward Programs at Bacone, has warned current Student Support Staff of “FRIGHTENING, CHILLING behaviors” that he saw from Tywone when he was a student of his in earlier years.

Mr. Kreps has stated that he feels it would be appropriate to share this information with the proper authorities…however…nobody seems to care and he is unsure who may be interested, to this point.

By: ABOUT TRIO PROGRAMS

ABOUT TRIO PROGRAMS — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 19:54:28 +0000

There is a settlement involved here that included “confidentiality” … in other words, the person bringing the complaint, as part of the settlement is not to “continue” the matter… and Ms. Hukill has, per her own statement, terminated Ms. Goff’s employment for discussing the matter with OU’s legal counsel.

Tywone Parks was a student worker in both Upward Bound AND in Student Support Services. Student Support Services staff members were accused of sexual harassment (and other things) by a group of the fraternity men students (all over the age of 30), including Dean Elwell’s son-in-law, David Berglund, Daniel Hardt, and others. (In the end, only one of these students went forward with a claim and this was thrown out, eventually). For more than one year, the staff went through pure Hades! I cannot say if Tywone directly signed on to this, but I can say that Tywone was reportedly involved in perceived threats to certain staff members and this was reported to both Claremore and Campus Police and, as I understand it, was left as “off the record” for fear of retaliation from Hukill. There is a breath of “fear of being called culturaly insensitive” about Hukill and Michael Turner. Nothing was done to the students, who were defended by Hukill and Michael Turner. There was a settlement paid to the Student Support Services Staff member who retained counsel, and the matter is considered closed.

By: Lene

Lene — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 15:57:39 +0000

I’m a little confused. How was “Tywone …involved in the law suit that was the connection…”? Are you saying that the administration knew about Tywone’s behavior via this other lawsuit? That would have been a lot of notice. This other lawsuit — is it public information or available to be seen? If so, how would a person get a copy? It would be worth reading.

By: to horrified

to horrified — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 03:49:30 +0000

There are many, many things going on at RSU that need review. People are being hurt and morale is in the tank.

Ms. Sheree Hukill (calls herself a Doctor) and the people she has bullied, threatened, fired and lied about is only one example of Wiley’s noxious curiosities.

The Trio Department was not notified at all of anything concerning Tywone until it came out in the newspaper. The TRiO Department is in the basement of Prep Hall, the building that was supposedly locked down. TYWONE has been a student worker in at least 2 of the departments there and was involved in the law suit that was the connection to Ms. Goff’s termination. Confusing?… in a word…what a mess…If someone is not hurt or worse at this school, it will be a miracle. Only by the grace of God …

By: Concerned GrandMother

Concerned GrandMother — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 01:53:14 +0000

I am horriefied that this can happen.
This is horrible
I will pray for this young man

By: Paul

Paul — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 21:04:29 +0000

I was on campus the Tuesday in question and never even knew that a lock down had been set into place. Of course i was off campus by 2 p.m. so that could be why I hadn’t heard anything about it then, but nothing was even mentioned when I went to my classes on Thurs. Personally, privacy issues or not I would like to know what kind of threat was made. I guess the main concern that I want to be addressed is that I would like to know what I should be looking for before any trouble occurs, and think that is reasonable to let students know what activity if any we should be concerned about.

By: Happy Mom

Happy Mom — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 03:47:32 +0000

Gracious! Looks like the administration might be the biggest threat to the students! Haven’t they learned anything from the other university tragedies recently? Good Grief. This seems to be totally irresponsible on the part of the administration. Could this be another “threatening” student like the Fellman incident where the only threat was TO the student! Remember SUP YO!!!???

By: Tyson

Tyson — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 02:54:28 +0000

Here’s an interesting little wrinkle. While searching the http://openbooks.ok.gov site for Peeples’ salary info, I see that her only payment this FY was for $4,041.67 July 31, 2007, which would make her annual salary $48,500 (nice work if you can get it). However, if she is still employed by the university, as the meta data on Wiley’s memo suggests, her salary data is not showing up in the database. Two plausible answers are either she is no longer there and someone was simply using her old computer to compose the document or someone somewhere is not filing all their data so that the state website can index it. Frankly, it wouldn’t surprise me if the latter were the case. Oh, just thought of one other thing. She could have married or divorced (of had a name change by some other means).

We’ll report more as it becomes available.

By: Ray

Ray — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 02:43:15 +0000

Oh my gosh!!
1. If any behavior caused concern “for their safety and others on campus” then obviously it should be a high priority to get the info out to the students and their parents. Secrecy is irresponsible.
2. Who the heck is the “RSU leadership team that reviews such matters”? So Mr. Wiley has a “leadership team” to review such serious issues as imminent student safety?
3. How does Mr. Wiley “know” that the student in question has not been on campus? Unless he is locked up somewhere, he can sneak on campus! If he is in jail, an arrest has been made and I believe that is public knowledge.
4. Keeping critical information like this from the public is slightly suspicious – “federal privacy laws” have no bearing upon actions or threats by anyone. A name might be withheld while accusations are verified, but the action itself is not a privacy issue. I would suspect that this is either a sham, diversionary tactic of some sort or there is some other suspicious reason Mr. Wiley is not being forthright with this information.
5. Could someone from RSU explain exactly what steps the “RSU leadership team” took that was “swift and appropriate to ensure the safety of all individuals on campus” when the alleged student was not on campus as alleged by Mr. Wiley? Since they didn’t notify students of possible danger, what did they do that so gallantly ensured our safety?
6. Maybe this is being too picky, but I also have a problem when a secretary for a university president who earns nearly $200,000/year makes silly errors like, “additional details will not available for release.” The little word, “be” is missing; it might look more professional if someone proofed the memo before it went out to everyone on campus.