The summary disposition for
the civil lawsuit against former
University of Michigan lecturer
Bruce Conforth was held in Detroit
on Wednesday. The lawsuit, which
was filed in the Michigan Court of
Claims, names the University, the
Board of Regents and Conforth as
defendants. The plaintiffs, who are
eight survivors of Conforth’s sexual
assault, allege that the University is
liable for the abuse.
The summary judgment hearing
was held on a motion from the
defendants to dismiss the case
against the University and the
Board of Regents.
In
January,
the
survivors
first took legal action by filing a
complaint with the Washtenaw
County Circuit Court, alleging that
the University failed to protect
its students from a predatory
University employee. Sexual assault
allegations against Conforth, a
former American culture lecturer,
first publicly surfaced in 2021, four
years after his retirement in 2017.
Brian Schwartz, the attorney
representing
the
defendants,
argued
for
the
dismissal
of
complaints
filed
against
the
University.
The
center
of
Schwartz’s argument was against
the fraudulent concealment claims
brought by the plaintiffs who allege
that the University intentionally
failed to disclose previous assault
allegations against Conforth to
prevent future cases. Schwartz
said no fraudulent concealment
was committed by the University
because the victims would have
known that they were assaulted as
soon as the assault occurred.
“There
is
no
(concealment)
because plaintiffs knew they were
abused by Bruce Conforth when
they described those allegations,”
Schwartz
said.
“They
had
everything they knew to file that
claim the instant it happened.”
Schwartz said the University
was not liable for a lack of action
taken against Conforth because
only three of the victims reported
to the University prior to the
lawsuit and thus failed to provide
proper notice.
“It’s an element of (the plaintiffs’)
claim, they have to prove that they
provided notice to the University
and the University failed to take
responsive action,” Schwartz said.
“If they don’t provide notice to the
University … the University is not
going to be liable.”
Daniel Barnett, the attorney
representing
the
plaintiffs,
countered by saying victims are
not always immediately aware
that they have been assaulted.
Barnett cited a previous ruling by
Judge Timothy Connors in a suit
filed with the Washtenaw County
Circuit Court that denied the
defendants’ motion for summary
disposition. Barnett also cited
prior knowledge that Conforth
would send anonymous emails to
female students encouraging them
to engage with Conforth’s sexual
advances.
“(The plaintiffs) knew that they
had sexual relations with Bruce
Conforth, they didn’t know they
were sexually assaulted,” Barnett
said. “What Judge Conners held
is, it doesn’t seem like (plaintiffs)
knew they were sexually assaulted,
because they didn’t know that it
was defendant Conforth forcing
them to go have sex with himself as
part of this religious organization
under threat of harm.”
Schwartz said he believed the
claims against the University in
the Court of Claims should be
dismissed.
“We believe all the claims should
be
dismissed,”
Schwartz
said.
“(Plaintiffs) can proceed with their
claims in front of Judge Connors
… but we believe the claims
against the University should be
dismissed.”
Conforth survivor and plaintiff
Isabelle Brourman spoke with
The Michigan Daily following
the hearing and said she was
disheartened by the defendants’
claims that the University was
not liable for Conforth abusing
students, citing the “Last Chance”
agreement in which the University
had outlined requirements for
Conforth in order to avoid being
terminated.
“The thing that I’m not surprised
about but most disappointed in
is the University’s argument that
they are not tied to Conforth’s
actions even though they did know
of prior assault (allegations) against
him and even though they did issue
a Last Chance agreement, which
concedes that they did know that
he was a dangerous character,”
Brourman said. “I’m hoping that
that foreseeability is strong enough
to carry us successfully with the
judge.”
Jon Vaughn, survivor of former
athletics doctor Robert Anderson
and former U-M football player, was
also in attendance at the hearing.
In an interview with The Daily,
Vaughn said the University has a
pattern of protecting perpetrators.
“If you look at (the University’s)
history of leadership, at the Board of
Regents’, as well as the presidents’,
they continually speak about and
announce all of the programs that
they say have been put in place to
empower survivors to come forth
to speak out,” Vaughn said. “But
it’s a black hole. There’s usually no
progress, and you have to then …
fight an uphill battle.”
In an email to The Daily,
University
spokesperson
Kim
Broekhuizen said the University
will wait for a ruling.
Around 170 students, faculty
and
staff
gathered
in
the
Robertson Auditorium at the Ross
School of Business Wednesday
evening for the event “Forging a
Career at the Heart of the Climate
Challenge: Perspectives from the
Front Lines” with Gerry Anderson,
former chairman and CEO of DTE
Energy. Some members of the
University of Michigan and Ann
Arbor communities attended the
event in protest of Anderson’s
tenure as CEO.
The event, which was hosted by
Net Impact Undergrad, consisted
of a 50-minute presentation by
Anderson about his journey from
an undergraduate engineering and
physics student to working with
DTE to promote renewable energy
usage.
Business junior Trevor Wallace,
vice president of sustainability
for Net Impact Undergrad, said
this talk is the largest event the
student
organization
has
put
on this semester. Wallace spoke
about the reasoning behind this
discussion with Gerry Anderson.
“I think that overall we really
want to be able to foster an open
dialogue,” Wallace said. “This sort
of event really gives us a unique
perspective and (gives us an
opportunity to) talk to someone
who has a lot of knowledge in
energy space. I think it’s a good
way
to
foster
communication
between what sustainable efforts
are and how we can do that
through this event.”
The event was co-sponsored by
the Gerald R. Ford School of Public
Policy, the Business+Impact at
Michigan Ross, Vertex Coffee
Roasters and the BBA Council.
Anderson began by speaking
about his education background
at
the
Business
School
and
his
experience
working
as
a
consultant
at
McKinsey
&
Company. As he discussed his
passion for sustainability and
nature, Anderson said he never
would have thought he would
work with a corporation like DTE
Energy when he was entering the
workforce.
“(I wanted) to make my career
focus on promoting the health
of the natural world,” Anderson
said. “I … began to think that my
best chance to change the energy
system perhaps was from within
it, right at the very heart of an
operation like DTE’s.”
Following
Anderson’s
discussion of his experience, seven
protesters took the stage, standing
behind Anderson and holding
signs that said “No to Fossil Fuel,”
“58% Coal No Thx” and “People
Not Profit.”
All
students
who
wish
to
major in computer science at the
University
of
Michigan
must
now
submit
a
major-specific
application, according to a new
policy from the University of
Michigan’s Computer Science and
Engineering Department.
Prior to the policy, which
will go into effect during the
fall 2023 admissions cycle, any
undergraduate
student
at
the
University could declare a CS
major given they had completed
the
prerequisite
courses.
The
policy does not impact students
who wish to enroll in the CS minor.
The
CSE
Enrollment
and
Admission Team was created in
2021 and consisted of engineering
faculty and staff members. The
team proposed the new policy as a
part of the College of Engineering’s
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Strategic Action Plan to design an
admissions model that balances
needs to control enrollment and
increase diversity in the major.
The Enrollment and Admissions
Team is co-chaired by engineering
professor Brian Noble and Donna
Bender,
Director
of
Strategic
Initiatives. CSE chair Michael
Wellman, said the changes were
prompted by high student demand
for
computer
science
courses
relative to classroom capacity.
“For the past decade or more,
maybe even 15 years, there’s been
a steady and very steep growth
in student demand for (the CSE)
major,” Wellman said. “We have
been working hard to grow our
capacity to meet that demand. It’s
been a struggle at times, and we
finally realized that we are unable
to stay ahead of this continuing
explosive growth in demand.”
Nationally,
student
demand
for enrolling in computer science
majors
has
tripled
between
2006 and 2015. The University
of Michigan’s computer science
major has seen its enrollment
nearly quadruple since 2010 for
undergraduate students in both
LSA and COE. Other universities,
such as the University of Illinois
Urbana-Champaign,
and
University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill have had similar issues
meeting high demand for computer
science courses among students,
resulting in limited enrollment and
restrictions for those students.
Wellman said his team sought
out multiple solutions before they
settled on the new restrictions.
“I
think
it’s
important
to
emphasize that this is really
a last resort kind of action,”
Wellman said. “As I mentioned,
our faculty would very much
prefer to serve anyone who’s
interested in computer science.
We explore(d) because we are very
late to this game. Many of our peer
institutions already have had…
restrictions on CS enrollments
(for some time), and we reluctantly
concluded that this was necessary
for us as well.”
In a Piazza post, Westley
Weimer, CSE DEI Committee
Chair, explained some of the
considerations
that
lead
to
restricting enrollment. The Piazza
post was public to the Electrical
Engineering
and
Computer
Science 481 Piazza forum as a
personal opinion of Weimer’s in
response to the policy.
“There is very high demand
for the service of ‘taking this CS
class,’ and it is challenging for us
to supply more of it (i.e., to offer
more seats),” Weimer wrote. “I’m
not going to claim CSE’s decision-
making process is perfect, but
compared to some well-publicized
‘hasty’ actions CSE has taken,
this one really did involve a huge
amount of thought, deliberation
and discussion.”
Engineering
junior
Hassan
Kadiri reflected on the struggles
he faced due to high enrollment
when he was taking EECS 280 and
EECS 281.
“Based on what I remember,
it was a lot of students because
I
remember
when
we
were
submitting different projects to the
autograder, sometimes we would
get flooded in with 200 (or) 300
students at a time trying to submit
projects,” Kadiri said. “I took those
classes my freshman year, so you
can imagine that there’s a lot more
CS students now.”
Kadiri said he thinks the policy
will have an impact on diversity in
the CS major.
“If you don’t have CS experience,
you’re probably not going to major
or have the chance to major in CS,”
Kadiri said. “And even if you do, it’s
going to be a lot more competitive
in nature. So I feel like this (policy)
would impact (diversity) on that
end, at least.”
Diversity in Computer Science
On average, women are less
likely to pursue computer science
courses than men in high school
and at the undergraduate level
in
the
United
States.
While
the enrollment for women is
much lower than for men in the
computer science program at the
University, the enrollment for
women has increased from 2020 to
2021. A CSE DEI report found that
during the 2021 academic year, of
students enrolled in the beginning
of introductory computer science
courses (EECS 183, EECS 101,
ENGR 151), 59.76% were men and
39.45% were women. However,
by the time the cohort reached
the end of EECS 376 that year, it
was reported that 67.89% of the
enrolled students were men and
31.41% were women.
Wellman addressed concerns
about
the
impact
the
new
admissions
policy
could
have
on diversity, saying the new
enrollment policies will ensure
students from various backgrounds
have the opportunity to pursue
computer science at the University.
“It’s no secret that the field
of computer science currently
faces significant challenges with
diversity,” Wellman said. “Many
are put off from considering
computer
science
based
on
their earlier perceptions of the
major and of the topic and their
impression that succeeding in the
major requires extensive prior
experience. Our new enrollment
policies are designed to ensure that
there’s an access for students from
a range of experience backgrounds,
and who come to computer science
based on a variety of interests and
motivations.”
Wellman said the policy will
have a positive effect on the
diversity of those who pursue a
computer science degree.
“I think it will have a positive
effect on diversity mainly because
of this way that we’re making room
for those who merely discover CS,”
Wellman said. “I also want to
stress that we consider anybody
who was accepted to engineering
or LSA.”
LSA
senior
Mitchell
Kuppersmith, an instructional aide
for an upper level computer science
course, described the similarities
between the new policy and those
at other universities and reflected
on his opportunity to pursue
computer science at the University.
He said he initially thought there
would be less accessibility for
computer science education for
students.
“Coming to Michigan was my
only chance to really do computer
science,” Kuppersmith said. “I
… worry that other people who
apply to these programs have to
apply to a major. That immediately
makes things more competitive
and cuts off access to people who
wouldn’t have experience in this
field. And even as somebody who
has experience in this field, I just
don’t think that’s a fair thing to do
since it drastically reduces people’s
ability to explore different majors.”
Kuppersmith said while the
general
reasoning
from
the
computer science department to
restrict the major was to serve
computer
science
majors,
but
the restrictions will not limit
enrollment in the most full courses.
“But if you look at the enrollment
for computer science classes, the
most crowded classes are the intro
classes, and the intro classes aren’t
going to have any restrictions on
who can take them,” Kuppersmith
said. “These are the classes where
the kind of people who are just
getting into computer science are
going to struggle the most, (so)
I feel as though the restriction
on the major’s really pointless
because anybody who’s trying to
get in without experience is just
going to like suffer from a lack of
help there.”
News
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Survivors’, University attorneys spar over liability, fraud claims in summary disposition hearing
ADMINISTRATION
Eight women filed suit against Regents, former ‘U’ american culture lecturer Bruce Conforth over sexual assault allegations
LILA TURNER/Daily
Looking to join Computer Science? Expect new
application process aimed at reining in enrollment
EECS program overwhelmed by rapidly rising demand, chair
calls new process a “last resort”
RACHEL MINTZ
Daily News Reporter
NIRALI PATEL
Daily Staff Reporter
ACADEMICS
NEWS
Michigan Medicine announced
Thursday that the health data of
approximately 33,850 patients was
exposed
through
compromised
employee emails during a cyber
attack in August. The attack lasted
from Aug. 15 to Aug. 23 at which
point Michigan Medicine discovered
the breach.
The cyber attack took place
through a phishing scam, during
which a cyber attacker prompted
users to fill out their Michigan
Medicine login information in a
fake webpage. According to the
Michigan Medicine press release,
four Michigan Medicine employees
entered
their
information
into
this faulty webpage, allowing the
attackers to access the Michigan
Medicine database.
Jeanne
Strickland,
Michigan
Medicine chief compliance officer,
emphasized that Michigan Medicine
understands the gravity of the
incident and will work to prevent the
situation in the future.
“Patient privacy is extremely
important to us, and we take this
matter very seriously,” Strickland
said.
“Michigan
Medicine
took
steps immediately to investigate
this matter and is implementing
additional safeguards to reduce risk
to our patients and help prevent
recurrence.”
The breached emails contained
identifiable
patient
information,
including name, medical record
number, address, date of birth,
diagnostic
and
treatment
information and health insurance
information.
No
information
included credit card, debit card or
bank account numbers. One patient
received notice since their Social
Security Number was involved.
According to the release, the specific
information varied from patient
to patient, but all emails were job-
related communications necessary
for patient care.
The release states that once
Michigan Medicine learned about
the breach, all subject accounts
were
disabled
and
passwords
were changed. Any patients who
were affected will be notified by
letter, and notices were mailed to
affected patients starting Oct. 19 and
completed on Oct. 26.
According to the release, Michigan
Medicine trains employees on risks
involving cyberattacks, including
sending simulated phishing emails
as a way to educate staff on how to
recognize and report phishing.
The employees involved in the
breach had all participated in similar
training exercises and are currently
subject to disciplinary action based
on Michigan Medicine policies and
procedures. The release did not
indicate what disciplinary actions
will be taking place.
Though the release indicates that
Michigan Medicine does not believe
the accounts were breached with
the intention of obtaining patient
information, Michigan Medicine is
encouraging all clients to monitor
their accounts and their medical
insurance statements.
Patients concerned about the
breach can reach out to Michigan
Medicine at the assistance line
between 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. from
Monday through Friday, with the
exception of holidays.
Check MyUofMHealth. 33,000 patients affected
by data breach
NEWS
Impacted accounts disabled, customers should monitor their
personal information
MATTHEW SHANBOM
Daily Staff Reporter
Jon Vaughn and Plaintiff Isabelle Brourman sit in court for a summary judgment hearing for the
civil suit against Bruce Conforth and the University of Michigan for actions of sexual misconduct
Wednesday morning.
4 — Wednesday, November 2, 2022
Former CEO of DTE speaks on career, renewable
energy as protestors express disapproval
Gary Anderson faces jeers during discussion on job searching
amid climate change
ALI CHAMI/Daily
DTE Energy Former Chairman and CEO Gary Anderson speaks at the Ross School of Business in
front of protestors from Ann Arbor public power organizers and supporters Wednesday night.
IRENA LI
Daily Staff Reporter
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
Read more at MichiganDaily.com