Whittier College Professors and Child, 10, Terrorized by Students, Cheating Scandal Turns Violent

Whittier College Professor Tony Barnstone did what professors are supposed to do when a student engages in academic cheating, he reported that misconduct. What has happened, since that one would think sad if routine obligation was discharged, is that the widely-respected Barnstone has been discredited by students to they imagine justify the threats and violence directed, first, at Barnstone, then against Prof. Caroline Heldman, and then still more outrageously against Heldman’s 10 year old child, all in retaliation for Barnstone’s reporting of academic misconduct.

Barnstone represents a literary tradition, deeply values language and the honest labor involved in grappling with, mastering English. Recognizing the plagiarism “plague” for the true threat it is to students and civil society, Barnstone impartially checked all class assignments for plagiarism, which is increasingly common using computer programs distributed for this express purpose. “Once I started doing that, I found plagiarism all over the place.” Barnstone’s statement reminds us of a federal judge who recently said of corruption, the more we look, the more we find.

Students sought to discredit Barnstone, defaced poetry sculptures bearing the works of Barnstone, his father and sister, published a live journal online that sought to amplify not only insults to but also threats against Barnstone. Acts of violence against Barnstone, and then Heldman for objecting to the offending students not only unethical but criminal conduct, ensued, including repeated extensive keying of both Barnstone’s and Heldman’s cars, and liquid substances and bricks being thrown at the on campus Faculty Master residence, Johnson House, in which the Professors and Heldman’s child were living. The situation took a more sinister turn with threats against Barnstone’s life and of rape for Heldman, and then underwear was left on Heldman’s windshield.

Offending students were identified and Whittier College claims they were disciplined. But, after that alleged discipline, two shots were fired through Prof. Heldman’s child’s bedroom window on campus. At that point, Profs. Barnstone and Heldman turned to the Whittier P. D. Clearly, Whittier College is guilty of criminal negligence in failing to protect residents on campus from individuals who have made repeated terrorist threats and repeatedly carried them out, and of misconduct in shielding the offending students, raising serious questions about the Whittier College student discipline process as a means, not to changing student behavior, but of facilitating student misconduct and crimes, endangering the entire community – all to continue the public illusion that Whittier College is a safe place to obtain a quality higher education, in the best interest exclusively of the College’s short-term bottom line – and serious questions about the character or lack thereof of the principal day-to-day decision-makers who are the face of Whittier College.

Not surprisingly, neither the Whittier College Safety office nor the Whittier P. D. have arrested anyone for these serious crimes, even though the offenders’ identities are known. Students guilty of violent crimes are allowed on or back on campus. Students guilty of DUI are escorted to their dorms, which are awash in underage alcohol consumption, illegal drug use, assault and sexual assault. Female undergraduates passed out unconscious on campus sidewalks and lawns in broad daylight as well as at night are simply taken to their dorms. No big deal?

The probability of being sexually assaulted on the Whittier College campus with a little over 1,000 students, is more than 25 times greater than at UCSB with its tens of thousands of students and tens of thousands of visitors, and UCSB being consistently ranked among the top party schools in the country. UCSB is so dangerous that http://www.thedarksideofucsb.com/ is published online with the purpose of making UCSB a safer place, but according to crime statistics UCSB is and has been dramatically safer than Whittier College.

The Barnstone, Heldman and Jagessar v. Brown cheating scandals turned violent not only overlap in time, but more, eerily parallel one another. Court records reveal that the pet dog of Brown was stabbed to death by an intruder who took nothing. This website has learned that two pet cats were ‘disappeared’ from Johnson House, in which Barnstone and the Heldman’s resided. From harassing phone calls to shots being fired, these outrageous cases resonate with overlaps.

Obviously, the same Whittier College Attorney and Trustee Ernie Park, and the same Whittier College administrators, were willfully criminally negligent and engaged in misconduct to shield students committing serious crimes against those who properly reported academic misconduct in both cheating scandals, and appear to have actually engaged in criminal conspiracy in Jagessar v. Brown.

Quaker Campus failed to recognize the critical importance of academic integrity or to stand up for the good guys in either the Barnstone, Heldman scandal or in re Jagessar v. Brown, indeed let themselves be manipulated into treating sympathetically with cowardly bullies hiding behind, not anonymity, the offenders are known, but rather the skirts of Whittier College, even as they terrorize their own professors and a child - because they’re professors and a child.

The staff of the student newspaper made themselves part of misconduct and crimes, and libel and defamation, by surrendering the freedom of the press they’re to uphold for the entire student body and community, knowingly shielded criminals, and not only stood by ineffectively while good people were openly threatened and attacked, but also failed to publish open letters from victims and, still worse, participated in the preparation and publication of disinformation, libel and defamation further harming the good guys in these tales of woe.

A student newspaper worth its salt, worthy of respect, would’ve sunken its teeth into the critical issue of academic integrity, identified the offending students and called for their prosecution to the full extent of the law. Because the Whittier College administration was willing to resort to any Dirty Trick to snuff any discussion of the academic integrity crisis, and because their advocates, their student newspaper and student government, declined to stand up, students were discouraged from coming forward. This situation is not fundamentally different from witness intimidation and its dangerously debilitating effects in any criminal case in any corrupt community, is, if anything is, un-American.

This website has learned that Anthony Barnstone is on sabbatical and that Caroline Heldman and her child have left Whittier College (“…if I can’t protect my son, then [leaving] is a possibility…”), and that the students who engaged in academic misconduct and then committed crimes against those who reported misconduct and crimes have not been held to account in any meaningful way at all by Whittier College, nor by the local police.

The Jagessar v. Brown appeal had to be won by Bart Brown before he could reclaim his good reputation and rights, which took more than two years, and Nicola Jagessar has still not been held to account for her chronic academic misconduct and the crimes she committed against Brown trying to chill his protected speech and petition rights. As in the Barnstone, Heldman scandal, Whittier College preferred in Jagessar v. Brown to conspire with a rogue student against the proper reporting of academic misconduct rather than to act responsibly to ensure academic integrity and the safety of those properly reporting academic and other misconduct and crimes.

Clearly, the objective of Whittier College is not to be what it claims to be, a safe campus offering a quality higher education, but is rather to silence those who know better, who’ve learned what’s really going on at Whittier College. This website is committed to the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, to our protected speech and petition rights, to freedom of the press, to academic integrity, to a civil society worth standing up for – for as long as necessary, which, regarding Whittier College, will be at least until anyone and everyone at Whittier College can standup for their own and everyone’s best interest by reporting academic misconduct free from fear of threats, slander, defamation, libel, harassment, and violent retaliation. Students and student families have to decide whether Whittier College is what it says it is or is something else, and then act in the individual student’s best interest. Anthony Barnstone and Caroline Heldman are both highly competent and caring professors, and Heldman’s child is just a child.

The truth about Whittier College is that rogue students lie, cheat, and bully others, aided and abetted by the school administration, its Attorney, and its Safety office. Whittier College students and even professors are afraid to report academic and other misconduct, and even crimes. Good people are not safe on the Whittier College campus, and, until we are, this website will exert itself relentlessly toward that goal by telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth about Whittier College.

Further Reading

Excerpt from Addendum To Declaration Of Bart Brown In Re Letter From Nicola Jagessar To Joseph Lane, Filed 7 July 06 (‘Shots allegedly fired at a Johnson House window’ by Brycie Jones, Quaker Campus, Thursday, March 24, 2005, Issue 20 – Volume 91), California Court of Appeal Case No. B186366 CLICK HERE

See also

‘Poetic Justice League cover poetry forest with “classic” poems’ by Brycie Jones, Quaker Campus, Thursday, October 21, 2004, Issue 7 – Volume 91.

and

‘Letter’ to Quaker Campus by a student cavalier about the safety of others and the honor of his school, one Jesse Finley, who appears to know more than he’s telling, Quaker Campus, Thursday, November 11, 2004, Issue 10 – Volume 91, Page 3.

College Cheating Is Bad For Business http://knowledge.wpcarey.asu.edu/article.dfm?articleid=1679

"If a school becomes known as a place where you can cheat and get away with it and get a degree without working very hard, eventually that is the kind of students the school will attract." - Robert Mittelstaedt, Dean, W. P. Carey (Business) School

GMAT Cheating Scandal Starts A Frenzy http://www.collegeotr.com/Wesleyan_University/gmat_cheating_scandal_starts_a_frenzy_9765

U. S. District Court decision ends grad business school aspirations of 6,000 GMAT exam cheaters.

Truth And Consequences: A Navy Scandal http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/05/30/48hours/main510629.shtml

From Naval Academy Midshipman 30 days from graduation to Las Vegas bell hop.

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