With thanks to Emile Zola, this will be a regular contribution of mine to this forum.

                            

                                                       J'accuse
                                                 (I accuse you!)

Jerome Cochran, General Counsel and Executive Vice Chancellor of the University of Pittsburgh:

1)  I accuse you of ether instigating the bomb threats at the University of Pittsburgh, or  of using the bomb threats to seize power that was not rightfully yours.

2) I accuse you of common law treason against the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania by usurping powers that were given to Board of Trustees by the Pennsylvania legislature. 

3) I accuse you of using the bomb threats to cover your completely illegal scraping of a non-discrimination policy that was signed by the Chancellor on behalf of the Board of Trustees in 2008.

4) I accuse you of caring nothing about Pitt students and of refusing to provide them with proper security.

5) I accuse you of undermining democratic governance at Pitt by rejecting the Anti-Discrimination Policy Committee recommendations on an appropriate policy for rest room use at the University and instead creating an ad hoc committee to start fresh.

6) I accuse you of using your friendship with U.S. Attorney David J. Hickton to begin a true witch hunt against my partner Seamus Samuel Padrig Johnston and myself and further of persuading Hickton to prevent us from testifying before the Federal grand jury as you knew these accusations would come out. 

7) I accuse you of using the FBI and Joint Terrorism Task-force officers to harass and humiliate Seamus and myself and deny us our Constitutionally guaranteed rights.  

8) I accuse you of conspiracy to commit the acts listed above.

9) I accuse you of ordering that the charges levelled against Seamus be raised to misdemeanors from summary offences so that University of Pittsburgh became the first college in American history to file misdemeanor charges against a student.  

10)  I accuse you of pressuring both the judges and prosecutors of Cambria County to act as holy inquisitors instead of secular public officials.

11 ) I accused you of high treason against the United States of America in that you deliberately diverted resources from investigating actual terrorism to investigating us and that by undermining the United States Constitution you have adhered to the enemies of the United States during time of war, i.e. while our brave men and women are in harm's way in Afghanistan, an errand designed by fools not a fools errand. 

12) I accuse you of being a coward. Do not attack Seamus; attack me. Pock on someone your own size. I will send this message by email to you and to hundreds, including the press and private citizens who will hang copies on public bulletin boards. You are an attorney at law, sue me for libel. Sue me, or forever be damned as a traitor, a criminal, a liar and and a coward !

 Dr. Katherine-Anne McCloskey-Ross

 "J' accuse!" or "I accuse you!"  was a famous open letter by French writer Emile Zola to the president of France exposing the conspiracy against Colonel Alfred Dreyfus  As might be expected Dreyfus primary accuser was in fact the culprit.   As there will likely to be 50 or more of these "J'accuse pieces they should be locatable in one place Realising everybody may not be familiar with the "Dreyfus Affair" and  Emile Zola's  daring letter which is likely the most moving Op-ed piece ever written, please see this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%27accuse and  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreyfus_affair

I highly recommend the following two films : "I Accuse!" United Kingdom, 1958 with José Ferrer as colonel Dreyfus I saw this movie on the late show when I was about 11 and it made aware of both injustice down Dreyfus and magnificent writings  of Emile Zola's. Prisoner of Honor ; USA, 1991, was directed by Ken Russell, always a recommendation as far as I am concerned. It focuses on the efforts of Colonel Picquart to have the sentence of Alfred Dreyfus overturned. Colonel Picquart was played  Richard Dreyfus, who maintains that he and Alfred Dreyfus are related. 

Statement of Equality Pennsylvania on the University of Pittsburgh’s

Non-Discrimination Policy for the Transgender Community and the Need for Calm

Harrisburg – Over the past several weeks, Equality Pennsylvania has been very carefully monitoring and watching the situation surrounding the University of Pittsburgh’s non-discrimination policy and how it impacts the transgender community.  We have spoken with quite a few people on what is happening, and among them we have discussed ways to find solutions.
Equality Pennsylvania recognizes that this is serious and sensitive and we have tried to take our time to fully understand all aspects of what is happening.  We believe firmly that the groundwork and willingness is there to find a workable policy on bath and locker room usage for the transgender community.  That remains our hope and we stand ready to be of help in whatever way that works.
Today we publicly call on the Administration of the University, the University Senate, the Staff Association Council, students, staff and faculty to work with each other as well as the transgender community to create a comprehensive transgender policy consistent with the school’s stated non-discrimination policy.  Equality Pennsylvania will do what is necessary to speed along this process.
Like many people, we were also deeply troubled by the announcement that a transgender couple was being questioned as part of a larger investigation into a series of bomb-threats currently plaguing the University.  Obviously, we are carefully watching the treatment that they receive and hope firmly that they are found to be innocent and that their status as transgender will not be used in any way to deny them fair consideration. This would be awful to say the least.
In light of both events developing simultaneously, Equality Pennsylvania also calls for calm, respect and a clear commitment to making sure that both the policy and the investigation are handled separately and that one does not damage or hurt the prospects of the other.  In truth, they are two separate situations and we ask that they be treated as such.  We also ask the University to move forward to find a sensible policy on non-discrimination AND we respectfully urge police investigators to stick to the facts of the case and pursue an investigation that is fair and careful.  Thoughtful people can carry out both tasks. This is our hope and our demand.