Felner search committee chair faces disciplinary action

All this Felner folderol at UW-Parkside. At least none of it affected the students, right?

Wrong!

The Kenosha News had an interesting story yesterday -- alas, not online -- that described the fallout to one group of students, the 106 enrolled in, of all things, a geology class. And now their professor -- not coincidentally the head of the search committee that recommended Felner -- faces disciplinary action.

Here's the start of reporter Gary Kunich's story:

The head of University of Wisconsin-Parkside's search committee faces disciplinary action for not teaching one of her classes during the search process and leaving 106 students in a lurch.

Professor Christine Evans, the department chair for geosciences, repeatedly did not show up for a Wednesday evening Geology 108 course, causing students to complain repeatedly to the dean, Don Cross.

Cross said he had no choice but to cancel the class a few weeks shy of the completion date and give most students an "S" for satisfactorily taking the class instead of a normal letter grade... "This is my 40th year working as a university teacher, and I've never seen anything like this," Cross said.

The complete name of the course, by the way, is "Geology 108: Dirt Appreciation," which seems appropriate as the Felner scandal unfolds.

We're told that there may be some mitigating circumstances -- a broken leg. But other teachers have hobbled to class on crutches (as have some students).

Keep in mind that the search committee was aware of Felner's receiving a "no confidence" vote taken by the majority of his staff at the University of Louisville, but didn't bother passing that information on to UW President Kevin Reilly.