Page 10
Page 6-7
Page 3
Page 9
November 24, 2021
Vol. 120 NO. 9
ITAM professor faces fine
Wrote book under aliases, profited off student sales
Cover photo courtesy of Amazon, The cover of the book Bonner wrote.
By Sean Bessette Editor-in-Chief CWU professor Julie Bonner wrote and published a textbook using pseudonyms to receive and keep royalties from CWU students, and may be facing a fine greater than $500 as a result of it. This is according to an anonymous news tip The Observer received of a Washington State Executive Ethics Board (WSEEB) investigative report. “Interpreting, Understanding, and Managing the Numbers” is the book Bonner wrote, but on the cover, the authors are named Thomas Markham and James Wilson. The usage of pseudonyms was to evade campus policy in which Bonner would have to pay royalties back to the university, according to the report. In total, Bonner received $3,352.49 from sales of her book. According to the report, not all of the sales were to CWU students, so she therefore could not determine the exact earnings from students. On June 16, 2020, the WSEEB received a complaint alleging that
Bonner may have violated the Ethics in Public Service Act. The act aims to avoid issues between the duties of state employees and their financial interests. On May 3, CWU Faculty Senate received a complaint that Bonner violated RCW 42.52.030, according to the report. The Observer reached out to Faculty Senate Chair Greg Lyman for comment and he said he was unable to respond, citing its status as an active investigation. Additionally, The Observer reached out to Staci Sleigh-Layman, executive director of Human Resources and Bonner for comments and they didn’t respond. It is unclear what the university disciplinary policy for a situation like this would be. Bonner is currently slated to instruct one class next quarter, ITAM 461, according to class availability on MyCWU. Bonner was first hired by CWU in the Information Technology and Administrative Management (ITAM) department in 2015. In early spring 2019, Bonner discussed writing a book with Gloria Gauron, a faculty member
in the ITAM department, according to the report. In the report, Gauron indicated that Bonner was angry about CWU’s policy of having to give back royalties. At the time, Gauron agreed to co-author the book. Gauron ended up only reviewing a couple of chapters of the book and provided feedback on some typos, according to the report. This was the end of Gauron’s involvement with the book. According to emails in the report, Bonner told her ITAM colleagues that she found a new textbook without indicating she was the author. Bonner suggested that she requested and recommended that other ITAM instructors use her textbook as the required textbook for their courses. On Sept. 5, 2019, Bonner applied for copyright for the book to the U.S. Copyright Office, as stated in the report. Bonner indicated to the WSEEB staff that she wrote the book under pseudonyms because she has tried to write books before and thought there could be bias against women writing on the subject. The CWU Bookstore records showed that 115 copies of the book had been sold to students for $19.99 each between the first term of 2020 and the third term of 2021 in the report. The bookstore conducted a copyright inquiry to determine the copyright status and authorship, according to the report. Bonner shared a letter from the CWU Foundation with the WSEEB staff on Aug. 24, thanking her for her $3,300 donation, $52.49 short of her earnings from the book. The donation was split two ways. $1,650 went to the Dean of Student Success and $1,650 went to the Student Emergency Fund, according to the report. Towards the end of the report, Kate Reynolds, executive director of the WSEEB, recommended that the Board enter a finding of reasonable cause to believe a violation or violations of RCW 42.52 occurred and the penalty may be more than $500, dated Nov. 12.
CWU loses opening playoff game By Leah Shepherd Staff Reporter “Why not us?” This was what head coach Chris Fisk said in his pre-game press conference on Wednesday. The number six seed Wildcats were considered the underdog against number three seed Northwest Missouri State (NWMS) going into the first round of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II playoffs Saturday, so why not us? It didn’t seem to work. CWU lost 50-21 on Saturday, Nov. 20, ending their short playoff run after one game in Maryville, Missouri. NWMS started with the ball. After a kick return that brought it to their own 44-yard line, NWMS quickly went down the field and scored a one-yard touchdown run by sophomore quarterback Mike Hohensee. A missed extra point kept the score at 6-0. CWU got the ball and proceeded to go three and out and punted the ball away. NWMS got the ball back at its own 30 and once again proceeded to march down the field and score on a three-yard touchdown by senior running back Al McKeller. NWMS made the extra point and extended the lead to 13-0. CWU got the ball back and got a first down from a 20 yard pass from redshirt freshman quarterback Quincy Glasper to redshirt senior tight end Samuel Sanchez. The drive eventually stalled and CWU had to punt again. NWMS got the ball, but CWU’s defense forced a fumble that was recovered by redshirt sophomore defensive back Jahleel Breland and returned to the NWMS 26-yard line. Two plays later, Glasper found fellow redshirt freshman running back Tyler Flanagan for an eight-yard touchdown and CWU cut the score to 13-7.
NWMS got the ball back and proceeded to pick apart the CWU defense, only having to convert two third down attempts on the drive, finishing it off with a 17-yard touchdown pass from junior backup quarterback Braden Wright to senior receiver Imoni Donadelle. After another CWU three and out, NWMS again went down the field where Wright found sophomore tight end Cole Hembrough for a 26-yard touchdown to increase the lead to 27-7 at the half. CWU started the second half on offense and proceeded to go three and out and punted the ball back to NWMS. NWMS again picked the CWU defense apart and scored on a one-yard run by Wright on fourth and goal to make it 34-7. CWU got the ball back and once again had to punt it back after only three plays. NWMS once again went right down the field and scored on a 30yard touchdown from Wright to Donadelle, his second of the game. CWU got the ball back and drove it all the way to the CWU 42-yard line when Flanagan fumbled and NWMS recovered. The fourth quarter started with McKeller rushing for his second touchdown of the game, this one from 14 yards out to make the score 47-7. Flanagan had two touchdown runs late in the fourth quarter, including a 94-yard kickoff return and a one-yard touchdown run. CWU became the first team this year to score more than 19 points against the NWMS defense. Flanagan had himself a day, combining for 346 all-purpose yards and accounting for every CWU touchdown. Glasper finished the game with 12 completions on 23 attempts for one passing touchdown and two interceptions.
See full story online