University Times

Mistakes made in Hoke article

To the editor:

There were several errors in the article in the Aug. 28 issue concerning Candice Hoke's lawsuit against the University:

* The Pitt law professors did not vote "12-0 to endorse Hoke's tenure bid," as stated in the article. The actual vote was 12-10, a vote so close that if one more faculty member had voted in the negative the tenure case would have failed at the school level.

* Rather than refusing "to dismiss her (Ms. Hoke's) claim for fraud," as stated in the article, the court actually dismissed four out of five claims of fraud contained in Ms. Hoke's complaint.

* In addition to dismissing the claims of "retaliation, defamation and breach of contract," mentioned in the article, the court also dismissed the claim of violation of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing.

* Finally, while the headline ("Judge refuses to dismiss suit") is technically correct, it seems a curious way to describe the actions by which the court summarily dismissed eight out of 10 of Ms. Hoke's claims without a trial and did not rule on the merits of the remaining claims.

Kenneth P. Service

Director of Communications