Responding to a suspended student's lawsuit, Oakland University says a writing assignment submitted by Joseph Corlett violated a policy against harassment, according to an AP dispatch in the Free Press.
"Serious educational concerns" are triggered when a student doesn't recognize the "monumental inappropriateness" of offensive work, the school's legal brief argues, reports Ed White.
Oakland recently filed a response to Corlett's lawsuit in Detroit federal court. He's seeking more than $2 million for the mental anguish of being removed in 2012. . . .
The 57-year-old Orion Township man, now living in Florida, submitted a journal titled "Hot For Teacher" -- the title of a rock song by the band Van Halen. He was suspended for three semesters.
Deadline Detroit three months ago published the full text of Corlett's handwritten essays, which discuss his attraction for writing instructor Pamela Mitzelfeld of Rochester, now 51.
Earlier coverage
- Read the 'Hot for Teacher' Essays That Got a 56-Year-Old OU Student Expelled, March 17
- Student Booted from University for Sexual Essay Is Suing, March 15
