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St. Cloud State University
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Former dean sues SCSU
By Adam Hammer
Published:
Thursday, March 25, 2004
In addition to filing a federal age discrimination suit against SCSU, former dean Richard Lewis added charges of libel against the university and the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU) system early last week.
The libel charges stem from the article "
Past actions haunt Lewis
" from the Oct. 27 issue of University Chronicle wherein Lewis alleged errors were printed.
The suit seeks damages in excess of $50,000.
"Why can't people just get along?" said Michael Vadnie, adviser for the University Chronicle.
Lewis alleged the article contained false statements of fact taken from an attributed source.
"We feel that the article was an example of very poor journalism, which had several serious inaccuracies that have hurt the fine reputation of Dr. Lewis," Marshall Tanick, attorney for Lewis, said.
Tanick, of the law firm Mansfield, Tanick and Cohen P.A., also said the journalistic integrity of the article was lacking and that no effort was made to contact Lewis to hear his side of the story.
University Chronicle, nor any of its staff including the author of the article in question were named as defendants.
After the Chronicle received a letter of complaint from Lewis concerning the article, a retraction was printed.
According to the complaint, the demanded retraction did not comply with Minn. Statute 548.06 regarding "Damages for Libel."
The statute states that requirements for a retraction include: being published in a regular issue of publication on the same page and in the same type as the specified statements with the heading printed in 18-point type or larger, "RETRACTION," within one week of service.
"We complied with the statute to the best of our ability," University Chronicle editor-in-chief Eric O'Link said.
Holding SCSU and MnSCU liable for actions of University Chronicle are ascribed in the complaint to MnSCU's service as a government body that owns and operates SCSU and is the publisher of the "official" newspaper of SCSU.
"We think the University Chronicle is a student newspaper and independent in all respects," Vadnie said. "We don't think anything the University Chronicle does reflects the university or the state."
Vadnie said the publication, Unews, is the "official" newspaper for SCSU.
"I think it's very telling about motives," O'Link said.
Vadnie and O'Link said they do not speak on behalf of SCSU or the state of Minnesota.
Assistant Attorney General Scott Goings, council for SCSU, declined to comment.
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