Rod St. Aubyn: Whatever Happened To…

Several events reminded me that there have been no recent updates on these issues. It made me wonder, “Whatever happened …?”

Whatever happened with President Kelley’s sabbatical report? – On Sunday I read in the Grand Forks Herald about 4 UND professors that were denied tenure. Tenure is usually granted after 6 years of service based on somewhat ambiguous standards. The 4 professors appealed the denials and three have settled and received buyouts. The 4th professor’s case is still in process, so a final decision has not yet been made.

Then I was reminded that about a year ago, UND President Kelley was granted a 30-day sabbatical (paid leave). As per his request to the Chancellor of the ND University System, President Kelley stated that he wanted to do some research on “tenure.”

As previously reported here on SAB, in his formal request Kelley stated that he wanted to find out “what role tenure plays and should continue to play, in the future success of the American Research University (as exemplified by the University of North Dakota).”

President Kelley was supposed to present his research findings to the University System. Did he present those findings yet and if so why has there been no reporting of his research since he was granted the sabbatical at the taxpayers’ expense? Did his research have anything to do with not granting tenure to these 4 professors? Ultimately how much will these buyouts cost the public?

Whatever happened with the Knodel juror that had reportedly lied? – We all heard on the news about the West Fargo teacher, Aaron Knodel, who was accused of having a sexual relationship with a former student. After the trial and during jury deliberation it was reported that the jury had reached a unanimous “Not Guilty” verdict on 3 of the 5 charges, but one juror was the only one to hold out on the other 2 charges. The news reported that this juror “lied during jury selection by not disclosing she was a victim of sexual abuse.”

As a result of this news Mr. Knodel was exonerated on 3 of the charges and a mistrial was declared on the final two charges. Ultimately, the final 2 charges were dropped by the prosecution with a promise of looking into prosecuting the juror for lying during jury selection. However nothing has since been reported.

The Knodel family incurred large legal fees which would have most likely been resolved sooner with a different juror, since only this one juror was the hold out. Based on what was reported, why hasn’t a decision been made about prosecuting the juror that allegedly “lied during jury selection”? It seems that the juror should be held accountable for lying during the process, otherwise what does that say for prospective jurors in future cases?

Whatever happened to prosecutions for the Benghazi attacks? – After the September 11, 2012 Benghazi attacks that resulted in the killing of a US Ambassador and 3 other Americans,

President Obama, who previously self-declared to be the most transparent President in US history, promised an aggressive and swift apprehension and prosecution of those responsible for this attack. Then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton promised the parents of one of the people killed in the attack that she would make sure that the US would prosecute the maker of the anti-Muslim video for inciting the attack. That false scenario has since been debunked. But what about capturing and prosecuting those responsible for this horrible attack?

About a year later, the US filed criminal charges against several individuals. On June 14, 2014, one of those individuals that were charged, Ahmed Abu Khattala, was captured. He was considered by many intelligence experts as “low hanging fruit” and was not actively in hiding. Of over 20 suspects that had been identified, only 1 has been apprehended and was never considered a high priority. Instead of dealing with this in a Military Tribunal, President Obama has run this trial through the normal judicial system.

Despite Obama’s promise of an aggressive and speedy capture and prosecution, it was the Government that asked for a delay in the prosecution in September, 2014. Another delay was granted during the spring of 2015. Since that time, we have heard nothing about the current trial, nor have we heard about capture of any other accused and previously charged individuals. For being the most transparent President of the United States, why haven’t we heard anything more about this tragedy? What happened to the swift capture and prosecution? Why hasn’t the mainstream media been asking these questions?