SALON

Wednesday, Jul 11, 2012 1:45 AM UTC

Eastern Mich. Univ. president warned about alcohol

By

Topics: From the Wires,

DETROIT (AP) — The president of Eastern Michigan University disclosed Tuesday that she was reprimanded in the spring after an argument with an alumnus and she faces being fired if she is involved in any future public incidents related to alcohol use.

President Susan Martin and Board of Regents Chairman Roy Wilbanks made the announcement to students, faculty and workers at the university, located in Ypsilanti, via email. The argument occurred April 23 at an alumni event in Washington, D.C.

In a May 17 letter from the board, Wilbanks and two other regents described Martin’s conduct at the alumni event as “inappropriate” and said it “reflected poorly on the University” and on Martin as its president. The regents said the incident involved the consumption of alcohol.

They also told Martin that there had been prior incidents and they were concerned that her “misuse of alcohol” could result in “liability to the university in the use of your university supplied vehicle. “

“You must deal with this issue immediately. If there are any further incidents, you will leave us no alternative but to recommend to the board that your employment be terminated for just cause,” the letter said.

The letter did not provide more details about the April incident. In an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday, Martin said there was a “very brief disagreement” with an alumni over the “turnover” in Eastern Michigan’s leadership prior to her arrival. She said she immediately apologized.

“I wanted to share with the campus that this event happened and I made a mistake, and I wanted to share the board’s letter and my response,” she told the AP. “I made a mistake and I apologize for it. I lost my temper. I promise I will not let it happen again.”

She did not name the alumnus and did not provide more details about the incident.

Martin acknowledged a 2005 impaired driving case that regents were aware of before she was hired in July 2008.

“I have not had any alcohol-related ticket since the 2005 incident, nor before for that matter,” Martin wrote in a letter last week to the board.

Martin replaced John Fallon, who was fired in July 2007 in the wake of a cover-up of information about a student’s 2006 slaying.

Martin had been provost and vice chancellor of academic affairs for the University of Michigan-Dearborn.

In Tuesday’s email, Martin pointed to increased enrollment, improved campus safety, a $200 million investment in facilities and the completion of a $56 million capital campaign as accomplishments during her tenure at Eastern Michigan.

More Corey Williams.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 0 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

vote
Loaded terminology like "entitlements" and "welfare" skews the debate and alters America. How right-wingers use semantic tricks to kill government.
276 points277 points | 56 comments
vote
New Yorker launches tool by Aaron Swartz to protect leaks: Strongbox, co-created by the late technologist, is an open-source drop box for leaked documents
248 points249 points | 10 comments
vote
New Yorker launches tool by Aaron Swartz to protect leaks: Strongbox, co-created by the persecuted late technologist, is an open-source drop box for leaked documents
193 points194 points | 1 comment
vote
Today in How Did I Miss This: Iowa GOP is pushing to cut the pay of the remaining Supreme Court Justices that voted for legalization of gay marriage.
79 points80 points | 8 comments
vote
Obstruction will ruin the GOP: Playing politics and abusing the system can excite the extremes, but it's a recipe for long-term political disaster
53 points54 points | 8 comments

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations