Posted on 10/30/2004 3:57:26 PM PDT by LesbianThespianGymnasticMidget
DURANGO, Colo. Oct 30, 2004 — A part-time college instructor has apologized for kicking a student because he was wearing a Republican shirt.
Fort Lewis College student Mark O'Donnell said he was showing people his College Republicans sweat shirt, which said "Work for us now … or work for us later," when Maria Spero kicked him in the leg at an off-campus restaurant.
Spero then said "she should have kicked me harder and higher," said O'Donnell. "To physically take that out on someone because you disagree with them, that is completely wrong."
Spero, a visiting instructor of modern languages, apologized to O'Donnell in a letter dated Oct. 29.
"I acted entirely inappropriately by kicking you, giving vent to a thoughtless knee-jerk political reaction that should never have happened," she wrote. "Before the incident, I did not know you and that you are a Fort Lewis student."
The college also formally apologized, said David Eppich, assistant to the school's president.
O'Donnell said the apology wasn't enough and he plans to file a complaint with the college.
The only phone number listed in Durango for the surname Spero was constantly busy Saturday.
Durango police did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
I guarantee that if roles were reversed and it was a Republican teacher, the teacher would be gone already.
So are you in favor of wife beating, or have you 'organized to end it?
Mom? Where did John Lenin get your picture?
Sounds like assault from a rabid left-wing nutjob.
"a thoughtless knee-jerk political reaction" -- and a ping to an pre-election topic.
some comments by some bloggers (many more):
http://rcbeeson.com/kilabe/index.php?m=20041102
and some GOOD NEWS about this violent partisan nutjob:
http://elvallehispanicnews.com/news.php?nid=146
Posted on 11-22-2004
El Valle translator, columnist
to replace Fort Lewis College Spanish professor Maria Spero
Spero says she was forced to resign
Shirena Trujillo Long
Celia Villa Guillen, a columnist and translator for El Valle Hispanic News, has been named as the replacement for Fort Lewis College Spanish Professor Maria Spero.
Spero resigned – or, according to her, was "forced to resign" – from her position as part-time visiting instructor for the college last month the mist of controversy surrounding an off-campus incident with FLC student Mark O'Donnell.
"You may say I was forced to resign," Spero told El Valle. "And, my resignation reads: 'Upon your request.'"
The professor of Italian-American descent declined to comment about the incident leading up to her resignation, but several news reports in the local newspaper as well as CNN, ABC, and other Associated Press affiliates say that Spero kicked O'Donnell after becoming upset over his Republican T-shirt with the phrase: "Join us now ... or work for us later."
None of the accounts tell Spero's side of the story, but her friend and FLC colleague Don Gordon allowed El Valle to read Spero's letter that she sent to all faculty a few days after incident – which took place Oct. 21 at Gazpacho’s Mexican Food Restaurant in Durango, Colo.
Spero wrote: "Dear Colleagues, Sorry about the incident that caused FLC to be cast in the limelight in an unfortunate way. I want you to know the other side of the story. I did not walk across the room at Gazpacho's restaurant to kick Mr. O'Donnell, unbeknownst to me, an FLC student and a Young Republican. I was seated at a table when he was showing off his shirt, and he backed up to me with his rear end in my face. That is when the kick occurred. ... I was advised not to speak to reporters about my side of the story."
Gordon said her friend was disappointed because she was asked to keep quiet about the incident and still lost her job at the college.
"She's been fired, her job is over, it's finished, she's not going to get it back," he said.
FLC president Brad Bartel issued a statement after the kicking incident that explained neither O'Donnell nor Spero knew of each other's relationship to the school.
"Fort Lewis College will not condone any action by its employees that interfere with a person's free speech whether it occurs on or off campus," Bartel said. He also said in a news release that Spero offered her resignation.
When asked if the college requested Spero’s resignation, assistant to the president for external affairs Dave Eppich said: "We’ve answered this repeatedly, and I’ve answered it the same. Mrs. Spero offered her resignation and the President on Monday accepted that resignation."
Soon after Bartel accepted Spero’s resignation, he met with about 15 of her students at their request, and offered the students the ability to withdraw from their Tuesday/Thursday class without penalty, Eppich said.
"He did tell them they can withdraw without prejudice," Eppich said. As the second week of November, only one student has accepted that offer, he said.
For tuition to be reimbursed after a student dropped this four-credit course, the number of total credit hours must drop below 12, said Richard Sax, dean of arts, humanities and social sciences.
"It's pretty complicated because the president has committed to offer 100 percent of tuition back, but for 10 to 18 hours, it's the same amount," Sax said.
Sax said that Spanish Department Chair Catalina Aguilar recommended Celia Villa-Guillen to replace Spero, and the changeover is going smoothly.
"Anytime you replace faculty in the middle of the term, it's difficult," he said. "But we have a wonderful chair and she was able to find an adequate replacement quickly."
Villa-Guillen is from Cuauhtémoc, Mexico and moved to Durango five years ago with then-husband FLC Spanish professor Reinaldo Alcazar. She also teaches Spanish at the Adult Education Center, writes a monthly advice column in this newspaper and recently earned permanent residency in the United States.
Spero said she feels sorry for "la pobrecita" Villa-Guillen because taking over a class in the middle of the semester is not easy. But, the two women negotiated grades and discussed the syllabus earlier to help the students with the switchover. Spero’s Spanish-language course planned for Honduras this summer is cancelled.
"Me being dismissed in the middle of the semester has done a lot of damage to my students and it's completely out of proportion to what happened to me," Spero said.
But, she wants her students, colleagues and friends to know that she is doing OK ... spending lots of time at her home and yard in Hermosa, Colo.
"I don't know what I'm going to do exactly," she said. "I'm just going to go with the flow and figure out a game plan. I now who I am, people know who I am, and I'm not dead."
Attempts to reach FLC student Mark O’Donnell for comment on this article were unsuccessful.
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