【經濟日報╱編譯吳國卿】
2012.04.17 11:51 am
泰晤士報上周六報導有一種愈來愈嚴重的現象：「經濟危機造成自殺」，因為失業和生意失敗讓人絕望而結束自己的生命。這是令人心碎的報導，但更嚴重的問題不在個人的自殺，而在歐洲領導人顯然已決心帶領整個歐陸步向經濟自殺。我相信我不是唯一這麼認為的人，尤其是在經濟學家間。
幾個月前我還覺得歐洲有一線希望。你可以回想去年秋末歐洲似乎瀕臨金融崩潰；幸好歐洲央行（ECB）出手救援，提供歐洲銀行業者無限量的信用，只要它們以歐洲政府債券當作擔保；此舉直接支援歐洲的銀行，並間接支援政府，因而化解了市場的恐慌。
當時的問題是，這個勇敢而有效的行動會不會是某種更大反思的開始，歐洲領導人是否將善用ECB創造的喘息空間，重新思考造成今日這個地步的政策。
但歐洲領導人非但沒有重作思考，反而加倍押注他們錯誤的政策和思維。而現在已經讓人很難相信有任何方法可以改變方向了。
想想現在已是危機震央的西班牙。西國現在不只是衰退，而是全面蕭條，總失業率達到23.6%，相當於美國在大蕭條谷底時的水準，西國年輕人的失業率甚至超過50%。這不能繼續下去—市場已意識到這一點，而這是西班牙借貸成本再度走高的原因。
就某方面看，西國如何變成今日的情況並不重要—重要的是值得嗎？西班牙的情況與歐洲（特別是德國）官員喜歡掛在嘴邊的道德故事沒有相似之處。西班牙並未揮霍財政資源—在危機前夕，西國債務低，而且有預算盈餘。不幸的是，西國也有巨大的房市泡沫，部分原因是由德國銀行大量放款給西國銀行所造成。當泡沫破滅，西班牙經濟陷於四面楚歌；西國的財政問題是蕭條的結果，不是原因。
儘管如此，不難想見的是，柏林和法蘭克福的處方是更嚴厲的撙節措施。
坦白說，這簡直是瘋狂。歐洲曾經歷過幾年的嚴厲撙節計畫，其結果正是歷史系學生可以告訴你會發生的事：這類計畫會把困頓的經濟體推向更深的蕭條。而因為投資人在評估一國償債能力時就是看經濟表現，所以撙節措施完全無助於降低借貸成本。
有什麼替代選項？在1930年代—一個現代歐洲連許多細節都在重演的時代—復甦的必要條件是退出金本位制。同樣的，現在必要的行動是退出歐元，並恢復國家貨幣。你可能說這是無法想像的事，而這確實是經濟和政治上極具破壞力的事，但如果繼續走今日的路，對那些失業率已達蕭條時代水準的國家施加更嚴厲的撙節措施，才是真的無法想像。
如果歐洲領導人真想挽救歐元，就必須尋找不同的道路。而這個替代選項的輪廓實際上相當清楚。歐陸需要更擴張的貨幣政策，其作法是ECB必須明白宣示願意接受較高的通貨膨脹；ECB也需要更擴張的財政政策，其作法是德國擴增預算，以彌補西班牙和其他困頓歐陸周邊國家的撙節，而非強化它。即使採取這些政策，周邊國家仍得面對幾年的艱苦日子，但至少會有一些復甦希望。
不過，我們實際上看到的是完全缺乏彈性。歐洲領導人3月簽署的財政協議，等於把財政撙節當作任何問題的唯一對策。另方面，ECB主要官員已明白表示，只要出現任何通膨升高跡象就願意提高利率。
所以要想不感到絕望也難。歐洲領導人非但不承認犯錯，反而決心把他們的經濟—和社會—推落懸崖。而全世界將為此付出代價。
（作者Paul Krugman是紐約時報專欄作家）
【2012/04/17 經濟日報】
全文網址: 克魯曼專欄／歐洲 走向經濟自殺末路 | 國際財經 | 全球觀察 | 聯合新聞網 http://udn.com/NEWS/WORLD/WOR2/7032340.shtml#ixzz1sIs6nd4A
Power By udn.com
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Monday, April 16, 2012
要不到錢 騎車撞母再輾過手
【聯合報╱記者陳崑福／屏東縣報導】
2012.04.16 03:23 am
唐姓男子向母親要錢被拒開罵，被依家暴法處拘役十天，前晚他以被判拘役都是母親害的為由，要母親賠錢未果，涉嫌騎機車撞倒母親再輾過母親手臂，然後若無其事到浴室洗澡，警方將他函送，唐還趕到醫院「糾纏」母親。
在醫院的唐母受不了再度報警，警方通知社工配合處理，唐不聽勸，員警警告他，再不讓母親好好治病，要向檢察官聲請拘票，將他拘提送辦，「把你關起來」，唐才悻悻然離開。
警方調查，唐姓男子（四十七歲）前晚從高雄騎機車回潮州找母親，指母親兩年前不給他錢用，他生氣開罵，母親卻報警，害他被依家暴法判拘役十天，他沒錢繳交罰金，被關了十天，認為都是母親害的，要母親賠他這筆錢。
警方說，唐母不識字，靠撿拾廢紙販賣收入過活，積欠健保費，生病都不敢就醫，實在拿不出錢，唐不信，騎機車將母親撞倒，見母親無法馬上爬起來，再騎車輾過手臂，隨即轉身進入屋內。
【2012/04/16 聯合報】
全文網址: 要不到錢 騎車撞母再輾過手 | 重案追緝 | 社會新聞 | 聯合新聞網 http://udn.com/NEWS/SOCIETY/SOC1/7030245.shtml#comments#ixzz1sDJiQr4s
Power By udn.com
2012.04.16 03:23 am
唐姓男子向母親要錢被拒開罵，被依家暴法處拘役十天，前晚他以被判拘役都是母親害的為由，要母親賠錢未果，涉嫌騎機車撞倒母親再輾過母親手臂，然後若無其事到浴室洗澡，警方將他函送，唐還趕到醫院「糾纏」母親。
在醫院的唐母受不了再度報警，警方通知社工配合處理，唐不聽勸，員警警告他，再不讓母親好好治病，要向檢察官聲請拘票，將他拘提送辦，「把你關起來」，唐才悻悻然離開。
警方調查，唐姓男子（四十七歲）前晚從高雄騎機車回潮州找母親，指母親兩年前不給他錢用，他生氣開罵，母親卻報警，害他被依家暴法判拘役十天，他沒錢繳交罰金，被關了十天，認為都是母親害的，要母親賠他這筆錢。
警方說，唐母不識字，靠撿拾廢紙販賣收入過活，積欠健保費，生病都不敢就醫，實在拿不出錢，唐不信，騎機車將母親撞倒，見母親無法馬上爬起來，再騎車輾過手臂，隨即轉身進入屋內。
【2012/04/16 聯合報】
全文網址: 要不到錢 騎車撞母再輾過手 | 重案追緝 | 社會新聞 | 聯合新聞網 http://udn.com/NEWS/SOCIETY/SOC1/7030245.shtml#comments#ixzz1sDJiQr4s
Power By udn.com
1 year after suicide, new details emerge about Calvo’s suspension
By Marcelo Rochabrun and Anjali Menon
Staff Writers
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Published: Monday, April 16th, 2012
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Photo by Meredith Wright
Senior lecturer Antonio Calvo’s office in East Pyne remains empty one year after his death.
A year has passed since senior lecturer Antonio Calvo committed suicide in his Manhattan apartment, and gone are the affectionate notes posted by students, colleagues and friends that lined his door in the days following his death. But his old office in East Pyne Hall still sits empty and unused.
Many questions remain about the circumstances surrounding his suicide on April 12, 2011. But an investigation by The Daily Princetonian has uncovered previously unreleased details about the University inquiry that led to his suspension and how Calvo spent the final days of his life.
In fall 2010, the Department of Spanish and Portuguese Languages and Cultures recommended Calvo, a senior lecturer in the department, for reappointment to his three-year contract position. Calvo’s case then passed to the University’s Faculty Advisory Committee on Appointments and Advancements, more commonly known as the Committee of Three.
But Calvo soon realized that his reappointment was under special scrutiny by the Committee, only months after tenured faculty in his own department had approved his position. On Friday, April 8, rather than hearing that his contract had been renewed or left to expire, Calvo was notified by Spanish department chair Gabriela Nouzeilles of the University’s decision to suspend him on the basis of improper conduct, effective immediately. Four days later, Calvo committed suicide.
To this day, the University has not wavered from its silence on the case, despite global media attention that continued for months after his death. But despite the University’s decision not to talk, friends and colleagues have continued to gather information over the past 12 months.
Most notably, new details show that Nassau Hall conducted oral interviews of graduate students and at least one lecturer in spring 2011 after receiving unsolicited complaints about Calvo. According to several University documents reviewed, these types of interviews are not a part of the typical reappointment process for senior lecturers.
In fact, the University suspended Calvo before it had completed its internal investigation and before it allowed Calvo the opportunity to challenge the allegations.
While the University contacted these complainants as part of its interviews, it is unclear whether the University interviewed the tenured faculty members in Calvo’s department who had previously recommended him for reappointment.
Furthermore, contrary to the reporting of some media outlets, Calvo had not been in isolation in the days preceding his suicide but had actually been in contact with at least one colleague at Princeton and met with a lawyer.
The ‘Prince’ contacted more than 40 friends, family members and colleagues of Calvo to develop this article, in addition to reviewing University documents related to the case. Many of the interviews were conducted in Spanish, and two sources were granted anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information they disclosed.
University officials either declined or did not respond to repeated requests for comment or confirmation of multiple elements of this article. President Shirley Tilghman said in an email last Tuesday that due to travel plans she did not have time to respond. Vice President and Secretary Robert Durkee ’69, Dean of the Faculty David Dobkin and Associate Dean of the Faculty Toni Turano did not respond to requests for comment. Visits to Dobkin’s and Turano’s offices were answered by their staff, who said the officials’ schedules did not allow time to speak with the ‘Prince’ about this story.
Tenured members of the Spanish department, including Nouzeilles, either did not respond or declined to comment.
Following review, suspension nears
Calvo joined the University in 2000 as a lecturer in the then-Department of Romance Languages and Literatures. In 2008, he was promoted to senior lecturer, a non-tenure track position, and given a three-year contract that would expire at the end of the 2010-11 academic year. During his time at Princeton, he was also appointed director of the Spanish Language Program, assuming supervision of over 30 graduate students and lecturers who teach undergraduate Spanish courses. In addition, he had organized the inaugural trip of the Princeton-in-Spain program in Toledo in the summer of 2008.
At the time of his suspension, Calvo was reaching the end of his first three-year term as a senior lecturer and awaited reappointment. The routine two-stage process consisted of both a departmental and an administrative review, as described by the University’s Rules and Procedures of the Faculty.
While his department recommended renewal of his contract in the fall, problems arose once the proposal progressed to the Committee of Three, the second stage of the process, in the spring.
Calvo was well aware of this initial endorsement, several friends confirmed.
“That reassured Antonio,” said a close friend in an email written in Spanish. The friend was granted anonymity because the friend had received threatening emails and phone calls in the past for prior comments on the controversy.
However, complications in the review process arose late in 2010, according to Flor Gragera de Leon, a former Spanish lecturer at Princeton who had left the University prior to Calvo’s reevaluation.
“I started to hear rumors in November 2010 that there was a group of graduate students and a lecturer organizing a campaign against Antonio,” she said in an email written in Spanish.
Calvo’s friends said his anxiety continued to grow during March 2011 as he waited to hear from the Committee.
“Antonio told me that even though the department had recommended him to have his contract renewed in the fall, the process had been delayed by the administration because some of his subordinates had presented complaints,” the friend explained.
“I spoke with Antonio a month before his suicide in mid-March. Antonio was worried, he told me he had not slept in months and that he felt the pains of having to go to work every day,” Gragera de Leon added.
The Daily Princetonian had access to an email that Calvo sent to a friend on March 24 detailing his growing worries at Princeton. In the email, Calvo expressed frustration that his reappointment process had been upset by personal attacks and complaints despite the fact that he had already earned his department’s nod of approval. Calvo also doubted whether he would continue in the academic world if his contract were not renewed.
Even though Calvo’s frustration grew in the days following the email, the friend said, his commitment to his job did not wane. The friend saw him for the last time a week before Calvo’s suspension and said that by then Calvo was not eating or sleeping well.
“I saw him spend four hours working on the schedules [of the Spanish language program] for fall 2011,” the friend said.
Although Calvo confided worries about his job security to his friends throughout the last few months of his life, his family and undergraduate students had little idea he was going through such a difficult moment, they said.
Santiago Calvo, Antonio’s brother, said he remembered hearing that his brother’s worries about his contract renewal did not seem to be too serious.
“He told us only as a passing note — that there were some issues and that by apologizing they would be solved,” Santiago said during an interview when reached in Spain.
But not everyone close to Calvo knew the lecturer was under such stress. Ricardo Lopez ’12, a Spanish concentrator who met Calvo his freshman year and later took Calvo’s course SPA 307: Advanced Spanish Language and Style, said he had not noticed anything different in Calvo’s health or behavior.
“We ran a Spanish open house ... and he was fine,” Lopez said, referring to an event that took place only days before Calvo’s suspension and suicide. “We agreed to have dinner a couple of weeks from then.” The open house was the last time he saw Calvo.
A torturous weekend
On Thursday, April 7, Calvo received an email from Nouzeilles, the chair of the Spanish department, according to a former colleague who was granted anonymity due to the sensitivity of the information.
The email asked Calvo to come to Nouzeilles’ office the following day at noon before his regular SPA 307 class at 12:30 p.m. At that meeting, Nouzeilles informed Calvo of his suspension and handed him a letter signed by her. The letter, which cited “multiple sources,” accused him of “engaging in extremely troubling and inappropriate behavior in the workplace,” according to a report published in The New York Times at the time. The letter did not provide more details on the allegations.
A plain-clothed security guard was waiting outside Nouzeilles’ office to collect Calvo’s University ID card, keys and student coursework. The security guard then escorted Calvo to the steps of East Pyne, the former colleague said. Calvo also lost access to his University email account.
Later that day, no instructor substituted for Calvo to teach his Friday class. “He wasn’t there Friday, and there was no email or anything explaining why he was gone,” Rachele Gyorffy ’13 told the ‘Prince’ last April.
There is still no explanation as to why a substitute teacher was not assigned even though Calvo’s scheduled meeting with Nouzeilles suggests that she knew he would not be able to teach his class that day.
Nouzeilles did not respond to a request for comment.
The ‘Prince’ had access to previously unpublished sections of Calvo’s suspension letter that shed light on how further communication between Calvo and the University would proceed.
The letter said Calvo should expect a phone call at his home in Chelsea, N.Y., from Associate Dean of the Faculty Toni Turano on Monday, April 11, at 9:00 a.m. Turano would inform Calvo of the specific accusations made against him and provide him with an opportunity to respond. Only if he had not received a call by 9:15 a.m. was he to contact Turano himself.
No sources interviewed by the ‘Prince’ could confirm if the phone call ever took place.
The letter added that Calvo could present an appeal to the Committee on Conference and Faculty Appeal. However, because Calvo had to set up an interview with Turano, he would effectively have had to present his appeal to Turano first and then request a formal appeals process with the Committee.
Since the University would no longer sponsor Calvo’s work visa, he would have to return to Spain within the month if he were not reappointed. As Calvo noted in the email sent on March 24 to a friend, Calvo had not looked for a new job at the January 2011 Modern Languages Association Convention where most language lecturers are hired.
Marco Aponte-Moreno, a former Spanish lecturer at Princeton who now teaches at University College London, said in an email to the ‘Prince’ that, after receiving the suspension letter, Calvo planned to contest the decision.
“The weekend was unbearable for him, he couldn’t sleep. At first he wanted to fight the case. He knew he had not done anything wrong. He was going to show up at Princeton with a lawyer,” he said.
However, Calvo’s resolve to defend himself apparently broke over the weekend. On Saturday, April 9, Calvo made an entry in his notebook. “The emotional torture of the months-long wait has become unbearable in my job,” it read, according to a translation provided to The New York Times.
Contrary to initial reporting, Calvo did not spend the weekend before the phone call in isolation. A former colleague said Calvo met with a lawyer on Saturday to discuss his legal options. Calvo was also in touch with the faculty members that would take over his courses.
Calvo spoke that weekend by phone with Alberto Bruzos Moro, a Spanish lecturer and now acting director of the Spanish language program. Bruzos Moro replaced Calvo as instructor of SPA 307 after Calvo’s suspension.
“I spoke with him for an hour. We talked about classes but also about personal matters,” he said in an interview in Spanish. “The conversation did not give me any clue nor any impression of what was later going to happen,” he added.
On Monday, April 11, Calvo’s students in SPA 307 were met by Bruzos Moro, acting as a substitute teacher.
“Our sub on Monday just said that [Calvo] was taking time off for personal reasons and that he didn’t know how long Antonio would be gone,” Gyorffy, the student in his class, said at the time.
“The line we got was that he was fine, that there were some personal problems. We all just assumed that something had happened in his family,” said Flora Thomson-DeVeaux ’13, who was not in Calvo’s class but expected to meet Calvo at a Spanish language table that evening.
Meanwhile, Calvo mailed a package that Monday containing a copy of his suspension letter attached to a personal note to a close friend in New York, Christopher Neely, a fact confirmed by multiple sources including Calvo’s brother. After receiving the letter on Tuesday and failing to reach Calvo by phone, Neely visited Calvo’s apartment.
Neely did not respond to a request for comment. Santiago Calvo, who talked to Neely, recounted how the events unfolded.
“In that letter, [Antonio] didn’t say what he was going to do, but he wrote many hard-hitting things, and the friend suspected that something was going on,” Santiago said. “He went to [Antonio’s] house, and, when he saw he wasn’t opening the door, he asked the doorman, who told him that without the presence of the police he could not open the door. This was on Tuesday morning,” he added.
When the police entered the apartment, they discovered Calvo’s body.
“Passed away” or suicide?
According to his brother, Antonio Calvo had left his computer on and had typed the name and phone number of a family member, who resides in the United States, on the screen for the police to contact when they found his body.
Santiago Calvo said the family member informed relatives in Spain at 4 a.m. Spanish time Wednesday morning.
Although the family learned of his death that day, the University did not release a statement announcing the news until 10 p.m. on Friday, April 15, saying that Calvo had “passed away” and was “on leave at the time.”
Only on the following Tuesday did the press reveal that the cause of death had been a suicide.
The family said some relatives knew since the beginning that Calvo’s death was a suicide and that he was not simply on leave at the time of his death.
“Only my sister and my other brother knew [it had been a suicide],” Santiago Calvo said. “My father didn’t know because we didn’t tell him.”
Part of Calvo’s letter to Neely said that Calvo did not want his father to know he had committed suicide.
The family arranged a funeral for Calvo on Tuesday, April 19, in his hometown in Spain where his father and other family members still reside.
Those who attended the funeral were not told about the real cause of death, Santiago Calvo said.
“I wanted it to be a quiet funeral. If someone asked [about the cause of death] we responded that we didn’t know yet,” he said.
Meanwhile, on Monday, April 18, the University revised its online statement to reflect new information about the date of Calvo’s death. However, the note was never updated with the information about the suicide or the fact that Calvo had been suspended on April 8 rather than choosing to go on leave.
On Tuesday, Philip Rothaus ’11, a Spanish concentrator and a self-described friend of Calvo, circulated an open letter to Nassau Hall in which he said that Calvo had committed suicide following his suspension and condemned the University for what he claimed were misrepresentations of the facts.
“To the administration: You are denying us the information we have a right to know about our professor and our beloved friend. You are denying us closure,” he wrote last year.
“He thought that by apologizing the issue would be over.”
A full year later, the University has not released information about the exact allegations against Calvo. After approaching multiple faculty members for an explanation of the suspension, Rothaus said he came to an understanding that the department was not allowed to speak on the matter.
“More than one professor told me that I was not supposed to know about any of this,” he said in an interview last week.
Friends and family of Calvo said the senior lecturer clashed with some graduate students and a lecturer.
Several sources repeatedly mentioned the names of three graduate students in particular. These three students had also taught SPA 102: Beginner’s Spanish II under Calvo’s direct coordination in spring 2008, according to data retrieved from Blackboard. However, no one in the University confirmed their names or involvement in the case. None of the implicated students responded to requests for comment by the ‘Prince.’
Calvo’s position required extensive interaction with graduate students and lecturers to supervise their teaching. According to Aponte-Moreno’s statement, some graduate students did not fulfill their teaching responsibilities properly — including arriving late or canceling classes altogether — causing clashes between them and Calvo.
“There were some graduate students and lecturers under his supervision who didn’t like him,” Aponte-Moreno said.
There were at least two incidents in which Calvo used particularly harsh language with graduate students to express his disappointment in their work. The first involved an email sent to a male graduate students, in which Calvo told him to “stop touching [his] balls and get to work,” in Spanish. According to Calvo’s friends, this Spanish colloquial expression was taken too literally by the administration.
“He had told us that an email he sent had resulted in a stir, but that it was nothing more than an anecdote since he had offered apologies,” Santiago Calvo said. “He thought that by apologizing the issue would be over.”
In another incident, Calvo allegedly threatened a female graduate student by stating she deserved to be slapped in the face for her lack of effort. He then apparently clapped his hands in front of her face to illustrate the point.
Calvo indicated in a March 24 email to a friend that he was aware he was facing allegations from his subordinates. Calvo added that a friend at another university had had similar problems with graduate students, but Calvo did not elaborate on the nature of these issues.
On top of these clashes, Calvo also ran into problems with at least one lecturer in the department.
Santiago Calvo said he remembered that his brother had expressed frustration about having to hire Spanish lecturer Paloma Moscardo-Valles in 2006. “The reason was that he was forced to work with her when she was unqualified. It was all because her husband had been hired to work at Princeton,” Santiago said. The University has in the past come under scrutiny for allegedly attracting a professor by offering a position to his or her spouse.
Moscardo-Valles did not respond a request for comment.
Far from routine, a series of oral interviews
The ‘Prince’ review of the circumstances surrounding the case show there are a number of inconsistencies and gaps in the University’s explanation of the events.
While friends of Calvo openly confirm that the administration had been conducting oral interviews of graduate students and lecturers, members of the Spanish department are reluctant to speak about the additional review. Tenured faculty members did not respond to a request for comment on these interviews, and one lecturer neither confirmed nor denied that they took place.
“If I had been interviewed, I would not be able to say anything because that process would have been confidential,” said Bruzos Moro, the lecturer who taught Calvo’s class after his departure and took over his position as director of the Spanish Language Program.
However, Jorge Mendez Seijas, another Spanish lecturer, said he had heard about these interviews.
“Everybody knew that interviews were being carried out,” Mendez Seijas said, noting that this happened during his second semester at Princeton so he could not say whether this process was normal.
These interviews may have been instigated by the complaints presented by some of Calvo’s subordinates, effectively launching a new investigation. Even if members of the Spanish department had been aware of these allegations, they still chose to recommend Calvo in the fall.
It is unclear whether tenured faculty members were consulted in the spring 2011 investigation. However, all of the sources that spoke with the ‘Prince’ shared the view that the administration did not circle back with the same faculty members that had previously recommended Calvo for reappointment.
The University’s decision to conduct oral interviews was a departure from a routine review process but within the authority of the Committee of Three. The Office of the Dean of the Faculty posts all forms required for faculty reappointment and promotion on its website.
When recommending Calvo’s reappointment to the Committee, Nouzeilles would have had to follow the instructions listed in the “Department Chair Checklist for C/3 new appointments and promotions” form that was current during that spring. According to this form, the Committee would consider supporting materials such as course evaluations and letters from students and lecturers. Nowhere on the form are oral interviews mentioned.
Following Calvo’s suicide, the administration posted a new department chair checklist specific to the reappointment of senior lecturers and also updated rules regarding the reappointment of senior lecturers. These updates, however, still do not mention interviews.
These interviews represented an investigation into Calvo’s work and conduct that was separate from the routine reappointment process and may offer an explanation as to why he was suspended midway through the semester rather than letting his contract expire.
In an April statement to the ‘Prince,’ Tilghman explained that the Committee of Three has the power to initiate an investigation.
Tilghman wrote that “if any allegations of improper conduct arise in the course of the review, they must be thoroughly investigated and the findings reported to the [Committee of Three].”
According to the University’s Rules and Procedures, grounds for suspension are limited to “(a) substantial and manifest incompetence, (b) substantial and manifest neglect of duty or (c) conduct which is shown to violate the University rules ... or substantially to impair the individual’s performance.”
But the procedures for suspension have not been updated since 1951 and only refer to assistant, associate and full professors. Calvo’s position as a senior lecturer is not referred to in the rules.
Furthermore, the rules say that the power to suspend a faculty member does not lie in the Committee of Three or in the academic departments; it lies in the president and the Board of Trustees. It is not clear, then, why Calvo’s suspension letter was signed and handed to him by Nouzeilles, the department chair.
In addition, a suspended faculty member “shall receive a statement in writing of the reasons for the action and shall be entitled to ... a hearing before the [Committee of Three].”
Calvo was not told the reasoning behind the suspension in the letter. Instead, he was to be informed of the allegations against him in an interview with Turano, an associate dean of the faculty, according to his suspension letter.
In that same interview, he would be asked to respond to allegations that would be presented to him for the first time. Only after that interview would he have the opportunity to appeal his case.
The letter also makes clear that the University suspended Calvo before it had closed its investigation into him.
In addition, Calvo’s department is not among the academic departments and programs listed in the University’s Rules and Procedures of the Faculty. The document instead includes the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, which ceased to exist in 2001. This section of the rules has not been updated since 1994.
These inconsistencies indicate that the University’s Rules and Procedures is still out-of-date in many respects.
Tilghman declined to comment when presented with these observations last week. Durkee and Dobkin also did not respond.
However, the University has not always been as tight-lipped about faculty suspensions in the past.
In 1971, when civil and geological engineering professor Roger DeWiest was suspended for neglecting and not attending his own classes, the letter sent to him was made public. It was signed by then-University president Robert Goheen.
More recently, in 2004, when English professor Lee Mitchell was suspended for misuse of funds, Durkee told the ‘Prince’ that, given the circumstances, people deserved to know the reasons for his suspension.
One year later, a silent University
The University has only spoken about Calvo’s suspension three times.
In a statement on April 25, after mounting public pressure, Tilghman told the University community that standard procedures had been followed in Calvo’s case but refused to disclose any details to “protect the privacy of the individual faculty [member] and his or her family.”
But Calvo’s family openly admits their disappointment with the way the University has handled the case, although they are reluctant to point fingers at specific individuals.
“What it all comes down to is that I think [Antonio’s] father deserves respect, and no one [from the University] ever reached out to him,” Santiago Calvo said. “The only thing we would have contented ourselves with is if the University had contacted my father and, at least, cheered him up.”
Antonio Calvo’s friends have also expressed similar sentiments toward the University, criticizing the evaluation process itself, the lack of known reasons to validate Calvo’s suspension and the handling of the actual suspension.
“Why was he treated like that? Why did no one talk to him before he was banned from campus and from his office? Who was interested in having Antonio fired?” one of Calvo’s friends said.
The second University statement came in the form of a rebuttal sent to El Pais, a prominent Spanish newspaper, after then-Professor Ricardo Piglia had written that “in Calvo’s 10 years at Princeton, there was not a single fact that justified the decision [to suspend him].”
Cass Cliatt ’96, the University spokesperson at the time, replied to the newspaper that Piglia had “no firsthand knowledge of the information available to the Committee.” Piglia had been at the University in fall 2011, teaching and participating in the departmental review process, before embarking on a sabbatical in the spring semester.
Piglia declined to comment for this article.
But by far the most controversial University response was made by Durkee in an email sent to The Chronicle of Higher Education late last June, explaining that Calvo’s suicide had validated the University’s concern about his potential violent tendencies.
Calvo’s family, however, has constantly challenged this claim.
“He wasn’t aggressive, and here lies the proof: His students liked him,” Santiago Calvo said. “That is a lie.”
Questions unanswered
Not only have his friends and family been affected by the suicide and the speculation in the press that followed, but it has also taken a toll on the Spanish department.
“The group of people that works here had a very bad time,” Bruzos Moro, the lecturer, said. “With time I think we have been able to get over it, although it is clearly something that cannot be forgotten,” he added.
However, Santiago Calvo said that no one from the Spanish department has contacted the family. Calvo’s friend also questioned the department’s silence.
“Antonio always spoke wonders about his colleagues, but now no one has spoken up,” the friend said.
Questions abound for Calvo’s friends and former students, who also lament the way he was treated by the University.
“Why didn’t the University give him a chance to defend himself before asking him to leave the premises?” Aponte-Moreno said.
“Frankly, I would like to know why they suspended him,” Lopez said.
But Santiago notes that Calvo’s death has left them powerless to answer these questions.
“The University may say whatever it wants,” Santiago Calvo said. “He is no longer here to defend himself.”
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Published: Monday, April 16th, 2012
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Photo by Meredith Wright
Senior lecturer Antonio Calvo’s office in East Pyne remains empty one year after his death.
A year has passed since senior lecturer Antonio Calvo committed suicide in his Manhattan apartment, and gone are the affectionate notes posted by students, colleagues and friends that lined his door in the days following his death. But his old office in East Pyne Hall still sits empty and unused.
Many questions remain about the circumstances surrounding his suicide on April 12, 2011. But an investigation by The Daily Princetonian has uncovered previously unreleased details about the University inquiry that led to his suspension and how Calvo spent the final days of his life.
In fall 2010, the Department of Spanish and Portuguese Languages and Cultures recommended Calvo, a senior lecturer in the department, for reappointment to his three-year contract position. Calvo’s case then passed to the University’s Faculty Advisory Committee on Appointments and Advancements, more commonly known as the Committee of Three.
But Calvo soon realized that his reappointment was under special scrutiny by the Committee, only months after tenured faculty in his own department had approved his position. On Friday, April 8, rather than hearing that his contract had been renewed or left to expire, Calvo was notified by Spanish department chair Gabriela Nouzeilles of the University’s decision to suspend him on the basis of improper conduct, effective immediately. Four days later, Calvo committed suicide.
To this day, the University has not wavered from its silence on the case, despite global media attention that continued for months after his death. But despite the University’s decision not to talk, friends and colleagues have continued to gather information over the past 12 months.
Most notably, new details show that Nassau Hall conducted oral interviews of graduate students and at least one lecturer in spring 2011 after receiving unsolicited complaints about Calvo. According to several University documents reviewed, these types of interviews are not a part of the typical reappointment process for senior lecturers.
In fact, the University suspended Calvo before it had completed its internal investigation and before it allowed Calvo the opportunity to challenge the allegations.
While the University contacted these complainants as part of its interviews, it is unclear whether the University interviewed the tenured faculty members in Calvo’s department who had previously recommended him for reappointment.
Furthermore, contrary to the reporting of some media outlets, Calvo had not been in isolation in the days preceding his suicide but had actually been in contact with at least one colleague at Princeton and met with a lawyer.
The ‘Prince’ contacted more than 40 friends, family members and colleagues of Calvo to develop this article, in addition to reviewing University documents related to the case. Many of the interviews were conducted in Spanish, and two sources were granted anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information they disclosed.
University officials either declined or did not respond to repeated requests for comment or confirmation of multiple elements of this article. President Shirley Tilghman said in an email last Tuesday that due to travel plans she did not have time to respond. Vice President and Secretary Robert Durkee ’69, Dean of the Faculty David Dobkin and Associate Dean of the Faculty Toni Turano did not respond to requests for comment. Visits to Dobkin’s and Turano’s offices were answered by their staff, who said the officials’ schedules did not allow time to speak with the ‘Prince’ about this story.
Tenured members of the Spanish department, including Nouzeilles, either did not respond or declined to comment.
Following review, suspension nears
Calvo joined the University in 2000 as a lecturer in the then-Department of Romance Languages and Literatures. In 2008, he was promoted to senior lecturer, a non-tenure track position, and given a three-year contract that would expire at the end of the 2010-11 academic year. During his time at Princeton, he was also appointed director of the Spanish Language Program, assuming supervision of over 30 graduate students and lecturers who teach undergraduate Spanish courses. In addition, he had organized the inaugural trip of the Princeton-in-Spain program in Toledo in the summer of 2008.
At the time of his suspension, Calvo was reaching the end of his first three-year term as a senior lecturer and awaited reappointment. The routine two-stage process consisted of both a departmental and an administrative review, as described by the University’s Rules and Procedures of the Faculty.
While his department recommended renewal of his contract in the fall, problems arose once the proposal progressed to the Committee of Three, the second stage of the process, in the spring.
Calvo was well aware of this initial endorsement, several friends confirmed.
“That reassured Antonio,” said a close friend in an email written in Spanish. The friend was granted anonymity because the friend had received threatening emails and phone calls in the past for prior comments on the controversy.
However, complications in the review process arose late in 2010, according to Flor Gragera de Leon, a former Spanish lecturer at Princeton who had left the University prior to Calvo’s reevaluation.
“I started to hear rumors in November 2010 that there was a group of graduate students and a lecturer organizing a campaign against Antonio,” she said in an email written in Spanish.
Calvo’s friends said his anxiety continued to grow during March 2011 as he waited to hear from the Committee.
“Antonio told me that even though the department had recommended him to have his contract renewed in the fall, the process had been delayed by the administration because some of his subordinates had presented complaints,” the friend explained.
“I spoke with Antonio a month before his suicide in mid-March. Antonio was worried, he told me he had not slept in months and that he felt the pains of having to go to work every day,” Gragera de Leon added.
The Daily Princetonian had access to an email that Calvo sent to a friend on March 24 detailing his growing worries at Princeton. In the email, Calvo expressed frustration that his reappointment process had been upset by personal attacks and complaints despite the fact that he had already earned his department’s nod of approval. Calvo also doubted whether he would continue in the academic world if his contract were not renewed.
Even though Calvo’s frustration grew in the days following the email, the friend said, his commitment to his job did not wane. The friend saw him for the last time a week before Calvo’s suspension and said that by then Calvo was not eating or sleeping well.
“I saw him spend four hours working on the schedules [of the Spanish language program] for fall 2011,” the friend said.
Although Calvo confided worries about his job security to his friends throughout the last few months of his life, his family and undergraduate students had little idea he was going through such a difficult moment, they said.
Santiago Calvo, Antonio’s brother, said he remembered hearing that his brother’s worries about his contract renewal did not seem to be too serious.
“He told us only as a passing note — that there were some issues and that by apologizing they would be solved,” Santiago said during an interview when reached in Spain.
But not everyone close to Calvo knew the lecturer was under such stress. Ricardo Lopez ’12, a Spanish concentrator who met Calvo his freshman year and later took Calvo’s course SPA 307: Advanced Spanish Language and Style, said he had not noticed anything different in Calvo’s health or behavior.
“We ran a Spanish open house ... and he was fine,” Lopez said, referring to an event that took place only days before Calvo’s suspension and suicide. “We agreed to have dinner a couple of weeks from then.” The open house was the last time he saw Calvo.
A torturous weekend
On Thursday, April 7, Calvo received an email from Nouzeilles, the chair of the Spanish department, according to a former colleague who was granted anonymity due to the sensitivity of the information.
The email asked Calvo to come to Nouzeilles’ office the following day at noon before his regular SPA 307 class at 12:30 p.m. At that meeting, Nouzeilles informed Calvo of his suspension and handed him a letter signed by her. The letter, which cited “multiple sources,” accused him of “engaging in extremely troubling and inappropriate behavior in the workplace,” according to a report published in The New York Times at the time. The letter did not provide more details on the allegations.
A plain-clothed security guard was waiting outside Nouzeilles’ office to collect Calvo’s University ID card, keys and student coursework. The security guard then escorted Calvo to the steps of East Pyne, the former colleague said. Calvo also lost access to his University email account.
Later that day, no instructor substituted for Calvo to teach his Friday class. “He wasn’t there Friday, and there was no email or anything explaining why he was gone,” Rachele Gyorffy ’13 told the ‘Prince’ last April.
There is still no explanation as to why a substitute teacher was not assigned even though Calvo’s scheduled meeting with Nouzeilles suggests that she knew he would not be able to teach his class that day.
Nouzeilles did not respond to a request for comment.
The ‘Prince’ had access to previously unpublished sections of Calvo’s suspension letter that shed light on how further communication between Calvo and the University would proceed.
The letter said Calvo should expect a phone call at his home in Chelsea, N.Y., from Associate Dean of the Faculty Toni Turano on Monday, April 11, at 9:00 a.m. Turano would inform Calvo of the specific accusations made against him and provide him with an opportunity to respond. Only if he had not received a call by 9:15 a.m. was he to contact Turano himself.
No sources interviewed by the ‘Prince’ could confirm if the phone call ever took place.
The letter added that Calvo could present an appeal to the Committee on Conference and Faculty Appeal. However, because Calvo had to set up an interview with Turano, he would effectively have had to present his appeal to Turano first and then request a formal appeals process with the Committee.
Since the University would no longer sponsor Calvo’s work visa, he would have to return to Spain within the month if he were not reappointed. As Calvo noted in the email sent on March 24 to a friend, Calvo had not looked for a new job at the January 2011 Modern Languages Association Convention where most language lecturers are hired.
Marco Aponte-Moreno, a former Spanish lecturer at Princeton who now teaches at University College London, said in an email to the ‘Prince’ that, after receiving the suspension letter, Calvo planned to contest the decision.
“The weekend was unbearable for him, he couldn’t sleep. At first he wanted to fight the case. He knew he had not done anything wrong. He was going to show up at Princeton with a lawyer,” he said.
However, Calvo’s resolve to defend himself apparently broke over the weekend. On Saturday, April 9, Calvo made an entry in his notebook. “The emotional torture of the months-long wait has become unbearable in my job,” it read, according to a translation provided to The New York Times.
Contrary to initial reporting, Calvo did not spend the weekend before the phone call in isolation. A former colleague said Calvo met with a lawyer on Saturday to discuss his legal options. Calvo was also in touch with the faculty members that would take over his courses.
Calvo spoke that weekend by phone with Alberto Bruzos Moro, a Spanish lecturer and now acting director of the Spanish language program. Bruzos Moro replaced Calvo as instructor of SPA 307 after Calvo’s suspension.
“I spoke with him for an hour. We talked about classes but also about personal matters,” he said in an interview in Spanish. “The conversation did not give me any clue nor any impression of what was later going to happen,” he added.
On Monday, April 11, Calvo’s students in SPA 307 were met by Bruzos Moro, acting as a substitute teacher.
“Our sub on Monday just said that [Calvo] was taking time off for personal reasons and that he didn’t know how long Antonio would be gone,” Gyorffy, the student in his class, said at the time.
“The line we got was that he was fine, that there were some personal problems. We all just assumed that something had happened in his family,” said Flora Thomson-DeVeaux ’13, who was not in Calvo’s class but expected to meet Calvo at a Spanish language table that evening.
Meanwhile, Calvo mailed a package that Monday containing a copy of his suspension letter attached to a personal note to a close friend in New York, Christopher Neely, a fact confirmed by multiple sources including Calvo’s brother. After receiving the letter on Tuesday and failing to reach Calvo by phone, Neely visited Calvo’s apartment.
Neely did not respond to a request for comment. Santiago Calvo, who talked to Neely, recounted how the events unfolded.
“In that letter, [Antonio] didn’t say what he was going to do, but he wrote many hard-hitting things, and the friend suspected that something was going on,” Santiago said. “He went to [Antonio’s] house, and, when he saw he wasn’t opening the door, he asked the doorman, who told him that without the presence of the police he could not open the door. This was on Tuesday morning,” he added.
When the police entered the apartment, they discovered Calvo’s body.
“Passed away” or suicide?
According to his brother, Antonio Calvo had left his computer on and had typed the name and phone number of a family member, who resides in the United States, on the screen for the police to contact when they found his body.
Santiago Calvo said the family member informed relatives in Spain at 4 a.m. Spanish time Wednesday morning.
Although the family learned of his death that day, the University did not release a statement announcing the news until 10 p.m. on Friday, April 15, saying that Calvo had “passed away” and was “on leave at the time.”
Only on the following Tuesday did the press reveal that the cause of death had been a suicide.
The family said some relatives knew since the beginning that Calvo’s death was a suicide and that he was not simply on leave at the time of his death.
“Only my sister and my other brother knew [it had been a suicide],” Santiago Calvo said. “My father didn’t know because we didn’t tell him.”
Part of Calvo’s letter to Neely said that Calvo did not want his father to know he had committed suicide.
The family arranged a funeral for Calvo on Tuesday, April 19, in his hometown in Spain where his father and other family members still reside.
Those who attended the funeral were not told about the real cause of death, Santiago Calvo said.
“I wanted it to be a quiet funeral. If someone asked [about the cause of death] we responded that we didn’t know yet,” he said.
Meanwhile, on Monday, April 18, the University revised its online statement to reflect new information about the date of Calvo’s death. However, the note was never updated with the information about the suicide or the fact that Calvo had been suspended on April 8 rather than choosing to go on leave.
On Tuesday, Philip Rothaus ’11, a Spanish concentrator and a self-described friend of Calvo, circulated an open letter to Nassau Hall in which he said that Calvo had committed suicide following his suspension and condemned the University for what he claimed were misrepresentations of the facts.
“To the administration: You are denying us the information we have a right to know about our professor and our beloved friend. You are denying us closure,” he wrote last year.
“He thought that by apologizing the issue would be over.”
A full year later, the University has not released information about the exact allegations against Calvo. After approaching multiple faculty members for an explanation of the suspension, Rothaus said he came to an understanding that the department was not allowed to speak on the matter.
“More than one professor told me that I was not supposed to know about any of this,” he said in an interview last week.
Friends and family of Calvo said the senior lecturer clashed with some graduate students and a lecturer.
Several sources repeatedly mentioned the names of three graduate students in particular. These three students had also taught SPA 102: Beginner’s Spanish II under Calvo’s direct coordination in spring 2008, according to data retrieved from Blackboard. However, no one in the University confirmed their names or involvement in the case. None of the implicated students responded to requests for comment by the ‘Prince.’
Calvo’s position required extensive interaction with graduate students and lecturers to supervise their teaching. According to Aponte-Moreno’s statement, some graduate students did not fulfill their teaching responsibilities properly — including arriving late or canceling classes altogether — causing clashes between them and Calvo.
“There were some graduate students and lecturers under his supervision who didn’t like him,” Aponte-Moreno said.
There were at least two incidents in which Calvo used particularly harsh language with graduate students to express his disappointment in their work. The first involved an email sent to a male graduate students, in which Calvo told him to “stop touching [his] balls and get to work,” in Spanish. According to Calvo’s friends, this Spanish colloquial expression was taken too literally by the administration.
“He had told us that an email he sent had resulted in a stir, but that it was nothing more than an anecdote since he had offered apologies,” Santiago Calvo said. “He thought that by apologizing the issue would be over.”
In another incident, Calvo allegedly threatened a female graduate student by stating she deserved to be slapped in the face for her lack of effort. He then apparently clapped his hands in front of her face to illustrate the point.
Calvo indicated in a March 24 email to a friend that he was aware he was facing allegations from his subordinates. Calvo added that a friend at another university had had similar problems with graduate students, but Calvo did not elaborate on the nature of these issues.
On top of these clashes, Calvo also ran into problems with at least one lecturer in the department.
Santiago Calvo said he remembered that his brother had expressed frustration about having to hire Spanish lecturer Paloma Moscardo-Valles in 2006. “The reason was that he was forced to work with her when she was unqualified. It was all because her husband had been hired to work at Princeton,” Santiago said. The University has in the past come under scrutiny for allegedly attracting a professor by offering a position to his or her spouse.
Moscardo-Valles did not respond a request for comment.
Far from routine, a series of oral interviews
The ‘Prince’ review of the circumstances surrounding the case show there are a number of inconsistencies and gaps in the University’s explanation of the events.
While friends of Calvo openly confirm that the administration had been conducting oral interviews of graduate students and lecturers, members of the Spanish department are reluctant to speak about the additional review. Tenured faculty members did not respond to a request for comment on these interviews, and one lecturer neither confirmed nor denied that they took place.
“If I had been interviewed, I would not be able to say anything because that process would have been confidential,” said Bruzos Moro, the lecturer who taught Calvo’s class after his departure and took over his position as director of the Spanish Language Program.
However, Jorge Mendez Seijas, another Spanish lecturer, said he had heard about these interviews.
“Everybody knew that interviews were being carried out,” Mendez Seijas said, noting that this happened during his second semester at Princeton so he could not say whether this process was normal.
These interviews may have been instigated by the complaints presented by some of Calvo’s subordinates, effectively launching a new investigation. Even if members of the Spanish department had been aware of these allegations, they still chose to recommend Calvo in the fall.
It is unclear whether tenured faculty members were consulted in the spring 2011 investigation. However, all of the sources that spoke with the ‘Prince’ shared the view that the administration did not circle back with the same faculty members that had previously recommended Calvo for reappointment.
The University’s decision to conduct oral interviews was a departure from a routine review process but within the authority of the Committee of Three. The Office of the Dean of the Faculty posts all forms required for faculty reappointment and promotion on its website.
When recommending Calvo’s reappointment to the Committee, Nouzeilles would have had to follow the instructions listed in the “Department Chair Checklist for C/3 new appointments and promotions” form that was current during that spring. According to this form, the Committee would consider supporting materials such as course evaluations and letters from students and lecturers. Nowhere on the form are oral interviews mentioned.
Following Calvo’s suicide, the administration posted a new department chair checklist specific to the reappointment of senior lecturers and also updated rules regarding the reappointment of senior lecturers. These updates, however, still do not mention interviews.
These interviews represented an investigation into Calvo’s work and conduct that was separate from the routine reappointment process and may offer an explanation as to why he was suspended midway through the semester rather than letting his contract expire.
In an April statement to the ‘Prince,’ Tilghman explained that the Committee of Three has the power to initiate an investigation.
Tilghman wrote that “if any allegations of improper conduct arise in the course of the review, they must be thoroughly investigated and the findings reported to the [Committee of Three].”
According to the University’s Rules and Procedures, grounds for suspension are limited to “(a) substantial and manifest incompetence, (b) substantial and manifest neglect of duty or (c) conduct which is shown to violate the University rules ... or substantially to impair the individual’s performance.”
But the procedures for suspension have not been updated since 1951 and only refer to assistant, associate and full professors. Calvo’s position as a senior lecturer is not referred to in the rules.
Furthermore, the rules say that the power to suspend a faculty member does not lie in the Committee of Three or in the academic departments; it lies in the president and the Board of Trustees. It is not clear, then, why Calvo’s suspension letter was signed and handed to him by Nouzeilles, the department chair.
In addition, a suspended faculty member “shall receive a statement in writing of the reasons for the action and shall be entitled to ... a hearing before the [Committee of Three].”
Calvo was not told the reasoning behind the suspension in the letter. Instead, he was to be informed of the allegations against him in an interview with Turano, an associate dean of the faculty, according to his suspension letter.
In that same interview, he would be asked to respond to allegations that would be presented to him for the first time. Only after that interview would he have the opportunity to appeal his case.
The letter also makes clear that the University suspended Calvo before it had closed its investigation into him.
In addition, Calvo’s department is not among the academic departments and programs listed in the University’s Rules and Procedures of the Faculty. The document instead includes the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, which ceased to exist in 2001. This section of the rules has not been updated since 1994.
These inconsistencies indicate that the University’s Rules and Procedures is still out-of-date in many respects.
Tilghman declined to comment when presented with these observations last week. Durkee and Dobkin also did not respond.
However, the University has not always been as tight-lipped about faculty suspensions in the past.
In 1971, when civil and geological engineering professor Roger DeWiest was suspended for neglecting and not attending his own classes, the letter sent to him was made public. It was signed by then-University president Robert Goheen.
More recently, in 2004, when English professor Lee Mitchell was suspended for misuse of funds, Durkee told the ‘Prince’ that, given the circumstances, people deserved to know the reasons for his suspension.
One year later, a silent University
The University has only spoken about Calvo’s suspension three times.
In a statement on April 25, after mounting public pressure, Tilghman told the University community that standard procedures had been followed in Calvo’s case but refused to disclose any details to “protect the privacy of the individual faculty [member] and his or her family.”
But Calvo’s family openly admits their disappointment with the way the University has handled the case, although they are reluctant to point fingers at specific individuals.
“What it all comes down to is that I think [Antonio’s] father deserves respect, and no one [from the University] ever reached out to him,” Santiago Calvo said. “The only thing we would have contented ourselves with is if the University had contacted my father and, at least, cheered him up.”
Antonio Calvo’s friends have also expressed similar sentiments toward the University, criticizing the evaluation process itself, the lack of known reasons to validate Calvo’s suspension and the handling of the actual suspension.
“Why was he treated like that? Why did no one talk to him before he was banned from campus and from his office? Who was interested in having Antonio fired?” one of Calvo’s friends said.
The second University statement came in the form of a rebuttal sent to El Pais, a prominent Spanish newspaper, after then-Professor Ricardo Piglia had written that “in Calvo’s 10 years at Princeton, there was not a single fact that justified the decision [to suspend him].”
Cass Cliatt ’96, the University spokesperson at the time, replied to the newspaper that Piglia had “no firsthand knowledge of the information available to the Committee.” Piglia had been at the University in fall 2011, teaching and participating in the departmental review process, before embarking on a sabbatical in the spring semester.
Piglia declined to comment for this article.
But by far the most controversial University response was made by Durkee in an email sent to The Chronicle of Higher Education late last June, explaining that Calvo’s suicide had validated the University’s concern about his potential violent tendencies.
Calvo’s family, however, has constantly challenged this claim.
“He wasn’t aggressive, and here lies the proof: His students liked him,” Santiago Calvo said. “That is a lie.”
Questions unanswered
Not only have his friends and family been affected by the suicide and the speculation in the press that followed, but it has also taken a toll on the Spanish department.
“The group of people that works here had a very bad time,” Bruzos Moro, the lecturer, said. “With time I think we have been able to get over it, although it is clearly something that cannot be forgotten,” he added.
However, Santiago Calvo said that no one from the Spanish department has contacted the family. Calvo’s friend also questioned the department’s silence.
“Antonio always spoke wonders about his colleagues, but now no one has spoken up,” the friend said.
Questions abound for Calvo’s friends and former students, who also lament the way he was treated by the University.
“Why didn’t the University give him a chance to defend himself before asking him to leave the premises?” Aponte-Moreno said.
“Frankly, I would like to know why they suspended him,” Lopez said.
But Santiago notes that Calvo’s death has left them powerless to answer these questions.
“The University may say whatever it wants,” Santiago Calvo said. “He is no longer here to defend himself.”
國外受害 不適用犯罪被害人保護法
【聯合報╱記者蕭白雪／台北報導】
2012.04.16 02:07 pm
我國「犯罪被害人保護法」為符合兩國際人權公約，去年修法將所有在台遇害的外籍人士納入保護範圍；但諷刺的是，中華民國國民在國外遇害，反而無法獲得我國政府任何保護，由於日本也不保護受害的外國人，在日遇害的女學生家屬因此成為國際被害人球。
我國在一九九八年完成犯罪被害人保護法，政府常自豪是亞洲第一個為保護被害人訂定保護法的國家；去年更為追求符合兩公約規定，不管其他國家是否同樣保護我國民，將所有外籍人士在台因犯罪受害的情況均納入保護系統。
犯罪被害人保護法是為了保護因犯罪行為被害而死亡者之遺屬、受重傷者及性侵害犯罪行為被害人，但又定義所謂的「犯罪行為」是指在中華民國領域內，也就是說，中華民國國民在海外遇害，我國依法無法提供任何保護措施。
兩名台籍女學生赴日被殺事件，因震驚社會，台中、南投的犯罪被害保護協會後來是以專案方式，對兩家人進行慰問及心理輔導等協助；雖然犯保法中規定被害人死亡，家屬最高可領一百三十萬元補償金及殯葬費用，犯保協會也不敢輕易作主、逾越法律規定。
另一方面，犯保協會即使願意協助被害家屬對凶手求償，但是張志揚在日本被捕後自殺身亡，犯保協會受限於個人資料保護法規定，連調查張志揚在國內財產資料的權限都沒有。
女學生如果在國內遇害死亡，依規定政府可聘請律師協助後續官司處理；但發生在海外的案件，家屬只能自費聘請日本律師。在國內要如何為女兒討回公道，家人到現在還摸不著頭緒。
【2012/04/16 聯合報】
全文網址: 國外受害 不適用犯罪被害人保護法 | 留日女學生命案 | 國內要聞 | 聯合新聞網 http://udn.com/NEWS/NATIONAL/NATS6/7030244.shtml#comments#ixzz1sClSrIOp
Power By udn.com
2012.04.16 02:07 pm
我國「犯罪被害人保護法」為符合兩國際人權公約，去年修法將所有在台遇害的外籍人士納入保護範圍；但諷刺的是，中華民國國民在國外遇害，反而無法獲得我國政府任何保護，由於日本也不保護受害的外國人，在日遇害的女學生家屬因此成為國際被害人球。
我國在一九九八年完成犯罪被害人保護法，政府常自豪是亞洲第一個為保護被害人訂定保護法的國家；去年更為追求符合兩公約規定，不管其他國家是否同樣保護我國民，將所有外籍人士在台因犯罪受害的情況均納入保護系統。
犯罪被害人保護法是為了保護因犯罪行為被害而死亡者之遺屬、受重傷者及性侵害犯罪行為被害人，但又定義所謂的「犯罪行為」是指在中華民國領域內，也就是說，中華民國國民在海外遇害，我國依法無法提供任何保護措施。
兩名台籍女學生赴日被殺事件，因震驚社會，台中、南投的犯罪被害保護協會後來是以專案方式，對兩家人進行慰問及心理輔導等協助；雖然犯保法中規定被害人死亡，家屬最高可領一百三十萬元補償金及殯葬費用，犯保協會也不敢輕易作主、逾越法律規定。
另一方面，犯保協會即使願意協助被害家屬對凶手求償，但是張志揚在日本被捕後自殺身亡，犯保協會受限於個人資料保護法規定，連調查張志揚在國內財產資料的權限都沒有。
女學生如果在國內遇害死亡，依規定政府可聘請律師協助後續官司處理；但發生在海外的案件，家屬只能自費聘請日本律師。在國內要如何為女兒討回公道，家人到現在還摸不著頭緒。
【2012/04/16 聯合報】
全文網址: 國外受害 不適用犯罪被害人保護法 | 留日女學生命案 | 國內要聞 | 聯合新聞網 http://udn.com/NEWS/NATIONAL/NATS6/7030244.shtml#comments#ixzz1sClSrIOp
Power By udn.com
Saturday, April 14, 2012
35歲世代「孤獨死」 只剩九圓
【聯合報╱東京特派員陳世昌】
2012.04.15 03:14 am
位居世界第三大經濟體、號稱「飽食大國」的日本，竟然還會傳出餓死事件。而最令人驚嘆的是，在餓死的人口之中，竟還包含了卅五歲世代的年輕人。
二○○九年四月，一樁餓死事件衝擊了整個日本社會。福岡縣北九州市的門司區，一名卅九歲的男性被發現死於自己房間內的榻榻米坐墊上，是日本最常見的「孤獨死」。
警方的調查說，死者在當地高中就讀時，還是學校橄欖球的校隊，體重至少有七十公斤以上，但是死的時候卻看不到昔日運動選手的身影，消瘦得不成人形。身邊的錢，只剩下九圓日幣，房間內沒有任何食物，警方判斷是餓死。
這名男性在專門學校畢業後，一度在金融機關就職，因為過酷的勞動讓他的身體無法負荷，最後選擇離開公司。之後，就只能靠著打工來維持生計。
糟糕的是，他開始與地下金融打起交道。因為不安定的經濟狀態，為了維持每個月固定的開銷，他向地下金融借了一五○萬日圓的債務，每個月必須要還十四萬日圓，以債養債的結果，讓他陷身於多重債務的狀態。
由於地下金融討債的電話打到他打工的地方，為了不給公司帶來麻煩，他只好連打工也都辭掉，之後就沒聽說有過工作。
在大阪他還有唯一的兄長，但是沒去找他幫忙。去世的十天前，他去拜訪了一位朋友的媽媽，向她訴苦說「因為感冒，所以好幾天沒有吃飯」。這位媽媽趕緊為他煮了飯，臨走時還讓他帶著便當走。這可能就是他最後的晚餐了。他被發現時，房間內只簡單留了幾個字「誰來救我」。
日本ＮＨＫ將這個悲慘的故事做了報導。當年的日本完全失業者高達卅六萬人，有效的求職倍率是過去最低的，五人中只有兩人能找到工作，這其中卅五歲世代的失業者，比前一年同月增加百分之卅一，達八十萬人，餓死的男性就是其中一位。
與這位餓死者同一年代、多次把身心重創卅五歲世代的心境寫入作品的芥川賞作家平野啟一郎說，他自己也是北九州出身，看到這種慘狀真是讓人痛心。
在日本，每年因為飢餓而死的人數，大約在五十人到一百人之間，其中孤立於日本社會的一角落，卻噤聲不敢出言求救的卅五歲世代男性現在愈來愈多。「日本的社會病了」，人生的旅程中，正是前途大好充滿期待的年紀，為什麼會出現這樣悲慘的結局，值得這個社會深思。
【2012/04/15 聯合報】
全文網址: 35歲世代「孤獨死」 只剩九圓 | 日搶救失落世代 | 全球觀察 | 聯合新聞網 http://udn.com/NEWS/WORLD/WOR1/7028792.shtml#ixzz1s4p01UQD
Power By udn.com
2012.04.15 03:14 am
位居世界第三大經濟體、號稱「飽食大國」的日本，竟然還會傳出餓死事件。而最令人驚嘆的是，在餓死的人口之中，竟還包含了卅五歲世代的年輕人。
二○○九年四月，一樁餓死事件衝擊了整個日本社會。福岡縣北九州市的門司區，一名卅九歲的男性被發現死於自己房間內的榻榻米坐墊上，是日本最常見的「孤獨死」。
警方的調查說，死者在當地高中就讀時，還是學校橄欖球的校隊，體重至少有七十公斤以上，但是死的時候卻看不到昔日運動選手的身影，消瘦得不成人形。身邊的錢，只剩下九圓日幣，房間內沒有任何食物，警方判斷是餓死。
這名男性在專門學校畢業後，一度在金融機關就職，因為過酷的勞動讓他的身體無法負荷，最後選擇離開公司。之後，就只能靠著打工來維持生計。
糟糕的是，他開始與地下金融打起交道。因為不安定的經濟狀態，為了維持每個月固定的開銷，他向地下金融借了一五○萬日圓的債務，每個月必須要還十四萬日圓，以債養債的結果，讓他陷身於多重債務的狀態。
由於地下金融討債的電話打到他打工的地方，為了不給公司帶來麻煩，他只好連打工也都辭掉，之後就沒聽說有過工作。
在大阪他還有唯一的兄長，但是沒去找他幫忙。去世的十天前，他去拜訪了一位朋友的媽媽，向她訴苦說「因為感冒，所以好幾天沒有吃飯」。這位媽媽趕緊為他煮了飯，臨走時還讓他帶著便當走。這可能就是他最後的晚餐了。他被發現時，房間內只簡單留了幾個字「誰來救我」。
日本ＮＨＫ將這個悲慘的故事做了報導。當年的日本完全失業者高達卅六萬人，有效的求職倍率是過去最低的，五人中只有兩人能找到工作，這其中卅五歲世代的失業者，比前一年同月增加百分之卅一，達八十萬人，餓死的男性就是其中一位。
與這位餓死者同一年代、多次把身心重創卅五歲世代的心境寫入作品的芥川賞作家平野啟一郎說，他自己也是北九州出身，看到這種慘狀真是讓人痛心。
在日本，每年因為飢餓而死的人數，大約在五十人到一百人之間，其中孤立於日本社會的一角落，卻噤聲不敢出言求救的卅五歲世代男性現在愈來愈多。「日本的社會病了」，人生的旅程中，正是前途大好充滿期待的年紀，為什麼會出現這樣悲慘的結局，值得這個社會深思。
【2012/04/15 聯合報】
全文網址: 35歲世代「孤獨死」 只剩九圓 | 日搶救失落世代 | 全球觀察 | 聯合新聞網 http://udn.com/NEWS/WORLD/WOR1/7028792.shtml#ixzz1s4p01UQD
Power By udn.com
Thursday, April 5, 2012
法名校校長 紐約成裸屍
聯合報╱編譯田思怡／綜合報導】
2012.04.05 04:36 pm
巴黎政治學院校長戴國安（右）3日被人發現陳屍在紐約飯店房間內。圖為他於2009年與法國總統沙克吉合影。
（路透）
法國頂尖學府巴黎政治學院院長戴國安（Richard Descoings）3日被人發現裸身陳屍在下榻的紐約飯店房間內。法國總統沙克吉表達哀悼，稱他為教育界的先驅，使巴黎政治學院享譽國際。
這是繼國際貨幣基金（IMF）前總裁史特勞斯卡恩在紐約旅館發生性侵事件後，法國重要人士又在紐約飯店發生震驚世人的事件。
53歲的戴國安赴紐約參加由聯合國秘書長潘基文召集的大學校長會議，但他沒有現身會場。
紐約警局發言人布朗表示，他下榻在曼哈坦城中的米開朗基羅飯店，「飯店人員上午9時查房時，聽到他的房間傳出鼾聲，認定他還在睡覺，但下午1時發現他已死亡。」
布朗說，戴國安的房間在七樓，但他的手機和筆電被扔在三樓的屋頂上，顯然是從窗戶扔出來。他房內有空酒瓶和抗憂鬱藥的空瓶子。
警方表示，房間沒有被強行進入的痕跡，但消息人士說，之前有兩個男人進入房內。
警方說，調查人員進入戴國安的房內時，房間很凌亂，認為他死因很可疑，但後來查明是急救人員為了替戴國安急救，才把房間弄亂。現場沒有打鬥痕跡，要等法醫查明死因。
戴國安擔任校長近16年，首開讓弱勢區域的窮學生進入這所菁英大學的先例。他在法國其他省分創立六所分校，學生人數從4,500人增加到1萬人。
全文網址: 法名校校長 紐約成裸屍 | 國際焦點 | 全球觀察 | 聯合新聞網 http://udn.com/NEWS/WORLD/WOR3/7007708.shtml#ixzz1rAUbgrGT
Power By udn.com
2012.04.05 04:36 pm
巴黎政治學院校長戴國安（右）3日被人發現陳屍在紐約飯店房間內。圖為他於2009年與法國總統沙克吉合影。
（路透）
法國頂尖學府巴黎政治學院院長戴國安（Richard Descoings）3日被人發現裸身陳屍在下榻的紐約飯店房間內。法國總統沙克吉表達哀悼，稱他為教育界的先驅，使巴黎政治學院享譽國際。
這是繼國際貨幣基金（IMF）前總裁史特勞斯卡恩在紐約旅館發生性侵事件後，法國重要人士又在紐約飯店發生震驚世人的事件。
53歲的戴國安赴紐約參加由聯合國秘書長潘基文召集的大學校長會議，但他沒有現身會場。
紐約警局發言人布朗表示，他下榻在曼哈坦城中的米開朗基羅飯店，「飯店人員上午9時查房時，聽到他的房間傳出鼾聲，認定他還在睡覺，但下午1時發現他已死亡。」
布朗說，戴國安的房間在七樓，但他的手機和筆電被扔在三樓的屋頂上，顯然是從窗戶扔出來。他房內有空酒瓶和抗憂鬱藥的空瓶子。
警方表示，房間沒有被強行進入的痕跡，但消息人士說，之前有兩個男人進入房內。
警方說，調查人員進入戴國安的房內時，房間很凌亂，認為他死因很可疑，但後來查明是急救人員為了替戴國安急救，才把房間弄亂。現場沒有打鬥痕跡，要等法醫查明死因。
戴國安擔任校長近16年，首開讓弱勢區域的窮學生進入這所菁英大學的先例。他在法國其他省分創立六所分校，學生人數從4,500人增加到1萬人。
全文網址: 法名校校長 紐約成裸屍 | 國際焦點 | 全球觀察 | 聯合新聞網 http://udn.com/NEWS/WORLD/WOR3/7007708.shtml#ixzz1rAUbgrGT
Power By udn.com
Monday, April 2, 2012
案例／漁船遭劫 贖回後傾家蕩產
【聯合晚報╱記者謝龍田／高雄報導】
2012.04.02 02:54 pm
近7年來陸續有多艘台灣漁船遭索馬利亞海盜劫持，贖款愈來愈高，從每艘 (人船)400 多萬元飆到近億元；有的船東因海盜劫傾家蕩產，有的「重傷」，令漁業界不勝唏噓。
台灣漁船早年主要在麻六甲海峽遭遇海盜。94年8月，高雄籍「中義18號」及屏東琉球籍「新連發36號」和「承慶豐號」在索國外海遇劫，這是台灣漁船首度傳出被索國海盜劫持。
當年折騰了近半年，船東透過「地下管道」談判，每艘船付出400多萬元至700餘萬元不等贖回。
不到2年，高雄籍慶豐華168號」又遇劫，這次花了5個月斡旋，付了約600萬元；遺憾的是，漁工飽受海盜凌虐，有名大陸漁工死亡。
接著，高雄籍「穩發161號」98年4月遭索國海盜挾持，並淪為海盜母船，曾向美軍船機開火。費時約11個月，船東以直升機空投數千萬元贖款，人船才獲釋。
99年3月，高雄籍漁船「日春財68號」遇劫，海盜獅子大開口，要價2億餘元，導致談判一再受挫，漁船也淪為海盜母船，在一次和美軍駁火中，台籍船長身亡。
99年5月，高雄籍延繩釣漁船「泰源227號」遇劫，8個月後獲釋；有人說沒花錢，有人不相信。日前又傳出高雄市洪姓船東的漁船遇劫，船東正能枯等海盜開價。
高雄區漁會漁民代表翁進壽說，20多年前他的漁船到索國海域作業，當年索國民眾的小船也會靠近「要東西」。當地缺水，只要幾箱礦泉水就能打發。沒想到近幾年變成海盜打劫，且胃口愈來愈大，令人感慨萬千。
漁業界人士分析，索國海盜食髓知味，有錢後武器、裝備愈來愈好，加上國際掮客介入操作，海盜有「企業化」趨勢；漁民槍口下討生活，風險更高。
【2012/04/02 聯合晚報】@ http://udn.com/
全文網址: 案例／漁船遭劫 贖回後傾家蕩產… | 綜合 | 國內要聞 | 聯合新聞網 http://udn.com/NEWS/NATIONAL/NAT5/7002092.shtml#ixzz1qtUtijBX
Power By udn.com
2012.04.02 02:54 pm
近7年來陸續有多艘台灣漁船遭索馬利亞海盜劫持，贖款愈來愈高，從每艘 (人船)400 多萬元飆到近億元；有的船東因海盜劫傾家蕩產，有的「重傷」，令漁業界不勝唏噓。
台灣漁船早年主要在麻六甲海峽遭遇海盜。94年8月，高雄籍「中義18號」及屏東琉球籍「新連發36號」和「承慶豐號」在索國外海遇劫，這是台灣漁船首度傳出被索國海盜劫持。
當年折騰了近半年，船東透過「地下管道」談判，每艘船付出400多萬元至700餘萬元不等贖回。
不到2年，高雄籍慶豐華168號」又遇劫，這次花了5個月斡旋，付了約600萬元；遺憾的是，漁工飽受海盜凌虐，有名大陸漁工死亡。
接著，高雄籍「穩發161號」98年4月遭索國海盜挾持，並淪為海盜母船，曾向美軍船機開火。費時約11個月，船東以直升機空投數千萬元贖款，人船才獲釋。
99年3月，高雄籍漁船「日春財68號」遇劫，海盜獅子大開口，要價2億餘元，導致談判一再受挫，漁船也淪為海盜母船，在一次和美軍駁火中，台籍船長身亡。
99年5月，高雄籍延繩釣漁船「泰源227號」遇劫，8個月後獲釋；有人說沒花錢，有人不相信。日前又傳出高雄市洪姓船東的漁船遇劫，船東正能枯等海盜開價。
高雄區漁會漁民代表翁進壽說，20多年前他的漁船到索國海域作業，當年索國民眾的小船也會靠近「要東西」。當地缺水，只要幾箱礦泉水就能打發。沒想到近幾年變成海盜打劫，且胃口愈來愈大，令人感慨萬千。
漁業界人士分析，索國海盜食髓知味，有錢後武器、裝備愈來愈好，加上國際掮客介入操作，海盜有「企業化」趨勢；漁民槍口下討生活，風險更高。
【2012/04/02 聯合晚報】@ http://udn.com/
全文網址: 案例／漁船遭劫 贖回後傾家蕩產… | 綜合 | 國內要聞 | 聯合新聞網 http://udn.com/NEWS/NATIONAL/NAT5/7002092.shtml#ixzz1qtUtijBX
Power By udn.com
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