YPSILANTI Mich.
Three Eastern Michigan
University administrators,
including the president, have been forced out, months after top school
officials were accused of covering up the rape and slaying of a student by
publicly ruling out foul play.
President John Fallon was fired, and Vice President of
Student Affairs Jim Vick and Public Safety Director Cindy Hall lost their jobs
at the 23,500-student public university, the chairman of the school’s governing
board said Monday.
Board of Regents Chairman Thomas Sidlik also said the board
would put a letter of discipline in the file of university attorney Kenneth
McKanders.
The body of the slain student, Laura Dickinson, 22, was
discovered Dec. 15 in her dorm room. At the time, university officials told her
parents and the media that she died of asphyxiation but that there was no sign
of foul play, despite evidence to the contrary.
It was not until another Eastern student, Orange Taylor III,
was arrested in late February and charged with murder that her family and
students learned she had been raped and killed. Taylor
has pleaded not guilty to murder and criminal sexual conduct charges in Dickinson’s
death, and is scheduled for trial Oct. 15.
An independent law firm investigation and U.S. Department of
Education report both found that the university violated the federal Clery Act,
which requires colleges and universities to disclose campus security
information.
