Three selected for committee UMaine employees to hear appeal

University of Maine President Peter Hoff is calling upon an experienced trio of longtime university employees to hear the appeals of suspended student-athletes Paris Minor and Stefan Gomes.

UMaine spokesman Joe Carr announced Tuesday that Robert Whelan, Anne Pooler and Michael Scott have been selected to serve on the committee that will review the cases of Gomes and Minor, who were suspended from the university last Wednesday by the UMaine Student Conduct Code Committee.

The men, both members of the Black Bear football team, are alleged to have sexually assaulted a woman last June in Old Town. However, no criminal charges were filed against either man in connection with the alleged incident.

Through their attorneys, Minor and Gomes have appealed the conduct code committee’s decision to suspend them, as is their right under the UMaine Student Conduct Code.

Whelan is a lecturer and the associate chairman of the UMaine English department. The Orono resident served as the executive assistant to former UMaine President Fred Hutchinson, a position he held during the NCAA investigation of the athletic department during the mid-1990s.

“He has a lot of experience with this process,” said Carr, who explained Whelan, a UMaine employee since 1983, heard conduct code appeals while serving under Hutchinson.

Pooler, the associate dean and associate professor in the college of education and development, has been at UMaine since 1976. In 1995, she chaired the search committee that hired Suzanne Tyler as the UMaine director of athletics. Pooler, a republican, also ran for the District 9 (Bangor and Veazie) state senate seat in 1998.

Scott is an instructor in UMaine’s new media program, which combines art and computer-generated graphics. The Orono resident is a UMaine grad who has worked in a variety of capacities on campus since 1989.

Carr said Hoff selected the three individuals because of their long-term affiliations with the university and their commitment to its students.

“This is an outstanding group of people who are ideally suited for this purpose,” Carr said. “They all have a great deal of experience as employees of the University of Maine and as part of the University of Maine community, and they have earned a great deal of respect in this community.”

Carr said the committee hopes to convene to consider the appeal this week, but no definite timetable has been set. In considering the appeal, the committee will review all the information presented at last week’s conduct code committee hearing.

The appeal committee’s decisions, when finalized, will be announced only after the parties involved in the case are notified.

Gomes and Minor, who have been suspended from UMaine through May 31, 2003, also have filed a lawsuit at U.S. District Court in Bangor against the university as a result of the student conduct code committee hearing.

They allege the university denied them due process during the conduct committee hearing, acted with improper motive on the basis of the men’s African-American heritage, and engaged in a conspiracy to violate their constitutional rights.