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September 1, 2011 Issue 8, Volume 77
HILTON COLLEGE
Court rules on whistleblower appeal Judgment in UH v. Barth case decides in favor of hotel management prof Erica Quiroz
THE DAILY COUGAR The Texas Court of Appeals ruled on Aug. 25 that UH retaliated against a tenured Conrad Hilton College of Hotel Management professor, violating the Whistleblower Act.
Stephen Barth had reported the mishandling of funds by past UH dean Allen Stutts, who was Barth’s supervisor. In the appeal case, UH said that Barth did not file his grievances of retaliation by Stutts and UH in a timely manner, or to a law enforcing authority under the UH System Administrative Memorandum. UH contested that the SAM is not a law that can be used under the Whistleblower Act. Chief Audit
Executive Don Guyton, who was present when Barth originally reported Stutts, testified that policies are set by UH which are then enforced by the Board of Regents. With Guyton’s testimony taken into account, the court found that because UH is a legislatively-created university governed by a Board of Regents, UH has the power to enforce laws adopted from the SAM. Guyton also testified that Barth had reported Stutts’ conduct to
Randy Harris, then the chief financial officer for UH. At the time, Harris would have been authorized to take action if the rules were violated under the SAM. “The rules for whistleblowers here on campus or for making a complaint are pretty ambiguous and difficult to follow,” Barth said. “UH, in my case, uses that ambiguity to try to preclude people from bringing their claim forward.” Under the Whistleblower Act,
employees must “file a grievance no later than the 90th day after the date on which the adverse personnel action occurred or when the employee discovered through reasonable diligence that the action taken was because of the report.” The Appeals Court found that Barth did not file his first grievance of retaliation in a timely manner, but he did the second time. UH also appealed that HILTON continues on page 3
SPORTS
ACADEMICS
Cougars take on Bruins for football season opener
To click or not to click Faculty embrace teaching technology for classrooms; students frustrated with high costs, inconvenience
The UH football team will host the season-opening game against UCLA at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Robertson Stadium. The game marks the sixth time the two teams meet, with UCLA leading the series overall 3-2. Students that bring a valid Cougar Card ID get in free. — Cougar News Staff
Monica Coleman
THE DAILY COUGAR
EVENT
Moores School of Music kicks off 2011-2012 concert season
CORRECTIONS On the front page of Wednesday’s edition of the newspaper, we mistakenly attributed a student quote to Eric Otto. The student’s actual name is John Beall.
■ Meat ■ Beer ■ Ice
Campus crime declines
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ecord enrollment and parking concerns because of the construction of the garage at Robertson Stadium have raised concerns about crime on campus. After the first two weeks of classes, however, faculty and student’s expectations for the rest of the semester have become more optimistic. Read more about this on Page 3. | Pedro Crevantes/The Daily Cougar
■ A smack-talkin’ ■ Football pregame sports g ■ Shrine to Keenum preg magazine ■ Extra beer
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The Moores School of Music will begin the 2011-2012 concert season with a performance titled “Collage” at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 8 in the Moores Opera House. The event is free for all members of the UH community. Tickets can be reserved at the Moores ticket house by calling 713-743-3313. For more information about the concert or future events, go online to http:// www.music.uh.edu/. — Cougar News Staff
Professor Long S. Le learned a major lesson about students and ethics, thanks to the use of clicker response systems or classroom clickers in his courses. Le, who also serves as the Director of International Initiatives for Global Studies, said that in one of his classes, the majority of students expressed disregard for ethics. “It seems that a number of them don’t actually believe in it yet to a point that they would practice ethics,” Le said. “What this means to me is that we have to teach in a different way so that students really believe in ethics and not that it’s forced upon them.” He said that if he had not used the clickers for his classes, he may have never received such an honest response from his business students. “I use the clicker to ask questions that would be hard to ask students individually, like ethics,”
Le said. “Using the clickers, they can be honest because I have no idea who says what. If you raise your hand, I would know who you are.” Classroom clickers allow students to answer questions through an electronic response system, which has allowed UH instructors to use them to to take attendance as well as administer polls and quizzes. Le received training to use the device and participates in a faculty group that shares ideas on using the classroom clickers. He will use the clickers to administer his version of “Deal or No Deal,” which allows the class to earn extra points on the midterm. Licensed Psychologist Carolyn Miller was pleased to learn of the use of classroom clickers. The UH alumna said the anonymity provided through the technology may lead to increased participation, especially from students who are introvert or shy. “Some classes at UH are massive — 300 to 400 students,” she said. “Sometimes people are very apprehensive. This gives people a chance to interact in class without the social pressure.” CLICKERS continues on page 3
At Saturday’s game, look for
wherever tailgating occurs. Find out more at thedailycougar.com/overtime