OK, I know that Vick took a lie detector test and Fallon apologized for the handling of the Dickinson murder and everything, but I think it might be too little, too late. There have been a few little stories about the case in non-Michigan markets these past few months, but it looks like the story has just taken a big jump into the mainstream. According to a woman who just found my site after Googling for information about the case, it’s now on CNN Headline News. I can’t imagine the Regents are going to like that too much. Here’s a clip from her comment:
This case has just been featured on Headline News and Jim Vick practically got his head put on a stick and paraded around the newsroom…
It’s one thing when the “Ann Arbor News” or a handful of faculty call for someone’s removal. It’s quite another when it’s CNN or ABC News. One wonders how, among other things, this might affect alumni donations to EMU. I’m sure a lot of the University’s biggest supporters aren’t here in the area, and some of them might just now be hearing about this for the first time… If Vick and Fallon had a prayer of avoiding the axe, it’s gone now.
And, if Vick or Fallon gave a damn about the school, they’d step down today.
19 Comments
Not to be crude, but this story is a godsend for news producers. The summer is traditionally slow for news, and they just hope to find stories like these that will hold people’s attention. Rape, murder, an innocent victim, elements of race and class, children put in harm’s way, and a corrupt administration – this has everything. It’s the answer to all of their prayers. No, this story isn’t going away anytime soon.
And be sure to click the “ABC” link and watch the video. It’s great hearing Diane Sawyer talk about how fucked up things are here in Ypsi.
There’s NO element of racism in this story. Knock it off! The perp is black. The victim is white. So what? Bad guy … innocent victim. I hope to god the racial thing isn’t made a patrty of this story.
Class duiffwerenceas, perhaps thweere’s an angle there. But again, so what>? Orange was a bonafisde registered student and was entitled to be on campus. Given his background, etc., why waqs he allowed to register? Now, there’s a story. Bad boy gets a second chance … and splat! Are all bad boys forbidden to get a degree and make good? Tune in next week ….
Given his record and the lopsided ratio of 10 females or more to each male on campus, maybe we need to take a closer look at who these boys are, where they come from and why they picked EMU.
When asked in my late teens to enter the Eagle Scouts, I said heck no, I wanted to be in the Girl Scouts. That’s where the girls were! Duh!
Legal note: It will be intwerestuing who with appropriate legal standing files a wrongful death suit against the person or persons in the administration who may be cited later by the Clery folks. I’d bet that EMU’s professional errors insurance carrier will back out of responsibility given the fact that not only negligence but potentially criminal activities (stonewalling … shredding) may be involved. So, I reiterate to the Regents, who pays the B-L bill and the potential fines? It will not be your insurance carrier.
Has anyone said anything yet about why nobody in the chain of command realized this could not be covered up like this? How could so many people be so stupid? It doesn’t seem possible.
Now the idiocy of EMU officials will overshadow the true tragedy here. My heart goes out to Ms. Dickinson’s family and friends, especially for having to deal with their grief while enduring this EMU/media circus.
I don’t think that Mark said there was racism involved, Ed. He suggested that race was one of the reasons the corporate news might be all over this case though. In case you hadn’t noticed, they like to tell stories about rosey cheeked white girls and the black thugs that kill them. Their viewers eat it up.
Are we sure the CNN anchors didn’t really have Jim Vick’s head on a stick? Has anyone seen the footage? Or, for that matter, has anyone seen Vick’s head lately? Is it possible that Fallon sent it to CNN?
The national media is avoiding the Chris Newsom and Channon Christian double murder case in Tennessee. As horrific as the Dickinson case is, the media might find it preferable to that one down there. Boy, they sure did like that Duke case.
I can’t imagine what was going through the minds of all the people who must have known that Dickinson was murdered, and didn’t think it was important to tell everyone. Shouldn’t they all be fired just for being too stupid to do their jobs?
Yes, Robert … AND for breaking the law.
I would hope that for breaking the law they might face criminal prosecution. I’m old fashioned like that. But a person doesn’t have to go as far as break the law to get fired these days do they? I mean, have our standards all sunk that low? People should be fired constantly, from what I see. Every occupation requires that the person filling it be above a certain level of stupidity, doesn’t it?
It’s like watching the Bush Administration. Their defense of the outrageous and disastrous actions of so many of their officials is to say “no law was broken.” This is now the standard in America. Anybody can do anything, and as long as you can’t prove they broke a law, you are considered to be out of line for criticizing them or saying they have to go.
I guess the Bush Administration is a bad example, because they ARE breaking the law, and quite frequently. This is even an understatement.
Ok, there must have been dozens of people who knew Dickinson was murdered and noticed that it was not the official story being put out. Has any one of these individuals said a damn thing as to why they themselves didn’t do something? Do these people really not understand their responsibilities are?
It’s the cover-up that’s the problem. I can see how it happened in the first place. Most of the students were gone for the holiday, the University was in the process of closing down, and they basically took the easy way out. They essentially said, “don’t worry about it – there’s no sign of foul play – have a great vacation” and they thought that would be the last of it. It would blow over. They tried to save themselves some agrivation, and, in the process, they brought all this about. I can see how they made the decision in the first place, but I can’t see how, once they had some time think about it, they didn’t realize what they’d done. In the light of day, any sane person would realize, “OK, we need to warn the students that there’s probably a killer out there, and that he probably has keys to this dorm.”
Now, according to EMU Talk, FOX News has it.
I cannot find the CNN video, which sounds intriguing, but a great interview with Amelie Nash at the AA News is available:
http://video.msn.com/v/us/dw.htm?m=us&p=truveo&g=b2e047d2-a925-4353-b17f-69041106c97c
She did a super job of breaking this story and of making everyone in the EMU administration come clean. She is also an EMU grad/alumni of whom we can be very proud. I know that you all are skeptical of that particular news venue, but I think that this time that suspicion has been misplaced. Nash is a real gem.
As I posted before, the on-campus admin. was hoping for a fast and clear investigation. It didn’t happen tyhat way … and it dragged on. Yes, Mark, it was the holidays … that might have been an excuse. But those students on campus, many of them in the same dorm, were at risk with Mr.Orange wandering around at will with Ms. Dickenson’s keys and at the time willing to do and capable of ANYTHING for money and pleasure.
I keep hearing the words “Wrongful Death” and seeing the several heads on pikes in the BGH as wheelbarrows of money in the FG go to EMU staff education and enforcement of the Clery Act.
Did they say what evidence they have on Orange? Is it so damning that we can talk about him like he’s already been found guilty?
It’s never good to convict a person before a trial, and I won’t do so here of course. Taylor is innocent until proven otherwise.
According to the documents that have been released so far, or testimony from police in court, there is a great deal of evidence. He admits to being in the room, his semen was found on her upper leg, and he is caught on video leaving with her bag.
As to the race issue, FOX News refers to him as “Orange Jamir Taylor,” not Orange Taylor III, maybe to underscore the supposed ethnic difference. I doubt that Fox would be calling for a revolution complete with guillotine (“heads will roll”) if it wasn’t for the respective races of the assailant and victim.
I sit corrected … Mr. Taylor, not Mr. Orange. (I’ve been trying to be civil.)
Saying ‘Mr. Orange’ read like you were a re-school teacher introducing your class to the color wheel.
I would have laughed when I first heard his name pronounced, had the subject matter not been so disturbing.
I would have probably said something stupid about his parents being Mr. Red and Mrs. Yellow.
Has anyone mentioned that there were a large part of the students after Jim Vick was put on paid leave that joined a facebook group supporting Jim Vick. If you ask a student that LIVED ON CAMPUS or worked for housing they would tell you that Jim Vick has been with the university for many years and he is someone that students could trust and thought very highly of him. Whoever made the decision to not release it as a homocide investigation- was probably prompted by the investigators, not for personal gain.
No one has suggested personal gain as a motive for stonewalling the facts. Managing a public university as if it were one’s personal fiefdom, may assure a vassal- friendly ambiance, but is not the way to guarantee public safety.