Daily Record Editorial on Manweller

It is probably in the nature of small-town newspapers to be cautious about volatile issues involving the largest employer in town and charismatic public figures. Even so, the Daily Record's editorial about the Manweller Report is pretty damning, as far as it goes.^1,2

As I read the editorial, it became clear that it is much simpler to ignore the election and assume Professor Manweller will be elected, then look at his academic life and his life as a State Representative, and at CWU past and present. This removes the irrelevant but confusing concerns about any political motivation of the investigation.

Ethical professional educators will recognize -- and citizens need to understand -- that there is absolutely nothing worse than trading grades for sexual favors. Manweller has failed his academic field and his colleagues at CWU and beyond. He as failed his department and Central Washington University. Most of all, of course, he has failed his students, and he has failed recent past and near future graduates of CWU generally.

Professor Manweller has said that he will continue as a CWU faculty member, taking leaves of absence as necessary for his duties in Olympia. He will continue to be a well-known sexual predator, and his long pattern of preying on students will either stop or, more likely, not stop. In an era of belated attention to sex abuse on campuses (former Penn State President Graham Spanier was indicted just the other day for his role in the Sandusky scandal), this is a remarkable and most unfortunate outcome.

Depending on how well newspapers like the Daily Record do their jobs, Representative Manweller's history of trading sexual favors for grades will follow him to Olympia either as rumors or as well-known alarms. Fellow legislators and citizens alike will unavoidably think, when seeking help from Representative Manweller, about the diversity of bargaining options Manweller might consider.

The point that the Daily Record's editorial makes most clearly is CWU's enormous failure to protect students from Professor Manweller for over half a decade. The magnitude of this failure is virtually incalculable. Female victims learned not to look to institutions for help. Students who participated in Manweller's scheme learned that academic excellence is optional. The list could go on and on.

Professor Manweller has made a political career of claiming that he's a persecuted conservative in supposedly liberal academia. If nothing else, this case suggests the exact opposite: CWU avoided acting because of his political activities, not in spite of them.

¹Everyone should read the Manweller Report. The body of the report is only 17 pages long. You can read it here.
²This important editorial should be available free to anyone interested in reading it. Unfortunately, it is behind a paywall. Here is a link to it.