michigandaily.com
Thursday, August 3, 2018

INDEX

Vol. CXXVII, No. 125 © 2018 The Michigan Daily 
michigandaily.com

NEWS ....................................
OPINION ............................... 
ARTS/NEWS..........................
MiC.........................................
SPORTS................................

MICHIGAN IN COLOR
Why I write

MiC columnist reflects on 

experiences with the craft 

 
 >> SEE PAGE 9

NEWS
Water safety 

After almost drowning U-M 

prof advocates for water 

safety in the Great Lakes.

>> SEE PAGE 3

OPINION

On traveling 

Part one of a two part 

series of an experience 

abroad in Chile

 
 >> SEE PAGE 4

ARTS

Mo Pop’s lineup a 
success

The Detroit music festival a 

strong collection of talents
 >> SEE PAGE 6

SPORTS
Man Utd. vs. 
Liverpool

Liverpool and Manchester 

United duked it out only to 

see one club dominate with 

a near-strength crew.

>> SEE PAGE 12

inside

2
4
6
9
10

Award-winning lecturer fired 
amid misconduct allegations

LEO VP says 
John Rubadeau is 
filing a grievance 
against U-M

By GRACE KAY

Summer Managing News Editor

On Tuesday, July 24, John 
Rubadeau, a University of Michigan 
senior lecturer, sent out an email to 
his colleagues within the English 
department informing them the 
University was terminating his 
employment before the remaining 
four years of his contract had 
expired.
According to his email, the 
University removed the 78-year-old 
lecturer from his position without 
benefits, effective Aug. 3. Motives 
behind the University’s action 
against Rubadeau, an instructor 
in the English department for 
33 years, remain unclear. Some 
of Rubadeau’s former students 
point to potential allegations of 

misconduct.
English department chair David 
Porter, as well as department 
undergraduate director Andrea 
Zemgulys declined to comment, 
and directed all questions to 
University 
spokesman 
Rick 
Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald wrote the 
University cannot comment on 
personnel matters.
“Our 
approach 
is 
designed 
to respect the privacy of our 
employees,” Fitzgerald wrote in an 
email interview with The Daily. “I 
can tell you that the university takes 
the termination of any employee 
very seriously and in each case these 
matters are carefully considered.”
Rubadeau 
also 
declined 
to 
comment due to legal concerns.
“Sadly, on the advice of my 
lawyer, I can not respond to any 
direct questions,” Rubadeau wrote 
in an email to The Daily. “I have 
much to say, and I should certainly 
like to say it to you, but my tongue is 
legally tied.”
University 
protocol 
directs 
complaints against faculty and staff 

through the Office for Institutional 
Equity, which operates under the 
authority of Title IX to investigate 
claims of misconduct. OIE is headed 
by Pamela Heatlie, who came 
under fire recently by students for 
mishandling bias cases.
Less 
than 
48 
hours 
after 
Rubadeau 
received 
news 
of 
the University’s final decision, 
University alum Parker Procida, 
who works as Rubadeau’s typist, 
sent out a mass email to more than 
4,000 former students informing 
them of the University’s decision 
and calling on them to contact 
University president Mark Schlissel 
on Rubadeau’s behalf.
“Most of you know and love 
John,” Procida wrote. “Three of 
John’s favorite words are ‘Quid pro 
quo.’ The man that has taught us 
all and given so much of his life to 
educating young people deserves a 
little quid pro quo-ing from those 
that he has impacted.”

Details emerge 
in prof’s death

Robert Sharp was 
stabbed 28 times, 
burned by ex-convict

By ALICE TRACEY

Summer Daily News Editor

Isom 
Hamilton, 
an 
ex-convict 
charged with the murder of Robert 
Sharp, a retired University of Michigan 
professor 
emeritus, 
underwent 
preliminary examination July 19 and 
has been scheduled for an August 30 
pretrial hearing before Judge Darlene 
O’Brien.
Sharp, who was 76 years old, taught 
in the U-M chemistry department for 
39 years before retiring in 2008. He 
held a doctorate from Case Western 
Reserve studying multidimensional and 
multiquantum NMR of paramagnetic 
systems, and completed his postdoc 
education at Oxford University.
Sharp was found dead in his home at 
3200 Alpine Drive on Monday, June 11. 
Police believe Hamilton killed Sharp on 
June 10 or 11, attempting to cover his 
tracks after breaking in for the second 
time in a week and discovering Sharp 
was home.
The AAPD entered Sharp’s home 
after his neighbors expressed concern 
over Sharp’s failure to show up for 
a community meeting. Police found 
heavy smoke residue in the home as 
well as bloody drag marks leading to 
the basement, where they discovered 
Sharp’s body.
“I followed the blood trail down 
the stairs into the basement,” said Ann 
Arbor police officer Craig Lee. “At the 
very bottom of the stairs, we did find the 
victim.”
Pathologist Jeffrey Jentzen testified 
Sharp died after suffering 28 knife 
wounds. A one-inch piece of knife blade, 
which investigators think Hamilton 
took from Sharp’s kitchen, was found 
lodged in Sharp’s neck vertebra.

FILE PHOTO / DAILY

ONE-HUNDRED-TWENTY SEVEN YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM

Crime

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