Suspended student files appeal with UND

UND official has 10 days to change sanctions

By Stephen J. Lee

Herald Staff Writer

The UND student suspended Friday by a faculty/student committee filed an appeal Monday with Bob Boyd, UND's vice president of student and outreach services.

Glenda Miskin, a senior in religious studies, was suspended indefinitely, effective the beginning of the fall semester in August. The action was taken after a lengthy hearing before the student relations committee. The 10-member committee determined Miskin had stalked and harassed Associate Professor John Wagner, disrupted UND activities and misused UND's computer system.

Miskin's appeal means Boyd will decide within 10 days whether to change the suspension, said M.C. Diop, director of multicultural student services

During the 10 days, the sanctions on Miskin are lifted, which means, for example, she could contact Wagner, Diop acknowledged. "But that would not be advisable," he said.

Miskin said she won't do that.

She must leave UND student housing by June 17, but can complete the 12 credits she needs to graduate, Diop said.

The matter won't necessarily be over when Miskin's appeal process is complete, Diop said.

Questions still remain about Wagner's behavior in this, Diop said. For example, did Wagner act correctly toward Miskin, and did he change grading practices because of Miskin, Diop said.

In the hearing, Wagner testified that he and a graduate teaching assistant ended up giving Miskin better grades than she deserved in a physics class in the fall 1998 semester as a result of what he called her harassing behavior. He also testified that he tended to grade the rest of the class higher than he normally would have done because of Miskin's inflated grade.

"People getting free grades, that's not acceptable," Diop said. "Those issues I will address with the provost," (John Ettling, vice president of academic affairs).