Robert Boren has battled with North Carolina State University officials for four years over alleged professional misconduct by a professor and the mishandling of a grievance charge, which ultimately led to a trespassing order from the university that was dismissed in Wake County Superior Court last year.
Here is a timeline of the major events:
January 8, 2001 — ECD 540: “Gender Issues in Counseling” begins
January 17, 2001 — Boren meets with Prof. Robinson to discuss her homework assignment asking students about their sexual orientation. They also discuss Boren’s application to NCSU’s graduate education counseling program. Robinson is in charge of that program.
January 22, 2001 — Due date of the “sexual orientation” assignment, worth 15 percent of the final grade.
January 2001 — Boren applies to graduate education counseling program.
March 23, 2001 — Boren’s application denied. Boren later learns that his grades had been altered on his transcript and that Robinson had given him negative evaluation.
April 27, 2001 — Boren notifies Dean Moore of his grievance against Robinson.
May 9, 2001 — Informal grievance meeting between Boren and Dean Moore, Dean Sowell and Assistant Dean Wheatley. Robinson does not attend.
May 17, 2001 — Boren decides to seek a formal resolution of his grievance.
July 2001 — Boren is told Robinson is off campus and cannot attend a grievance hearing until mid-August. Delay would prevent Boren from attending fall classes. Boren learns Robinson is teaching on campus. He files a grievance with Chancellor Fox over Moore, Wheatley and Smith’s obstruction. Fox instructs the College of Education to hear Moore’s grievance against Robinson but does nothing about the administrators. Boren objects to the inadequate response. Fox withdraws Boren’s grievance, saying he is unwilling to participate in “activities designed to address student grievances.”
January 31, 2002 — Boren warned for trespassing on campus. Thomas Younce, chief of police for NCSU, told Boren he is “disrupting the workplace and has created an atmosphere of concern among the employees” and that, to avoid arrest, Boren must report to the NCSU police first with proof that he has an appointment on campus approved by the dean.
February 2002 — Boren asks Younce who complained about him. Younce says that the staff perceived Boren’s actions as intimidating and harassing.
March 25, 2002 — Boren appeals the trespassing order within NCSU’s grievance process. David Rainer, associate vice chancellor for environmental health and public safety, upholds the trespassing order.
May 11, 2002 — Boren learns that the complaining witness cited by Younce was Younce himself.
October 23, 2002 — Sowell writes Boren that, even with correct grades, he would not have entered the graduate school.
April 23, 2004 — Trespass order against Boren thrown out by Wake County Superior Court Judge Stafford Bullock.
Spring 2004 to present — Boren continues to write to NCSU trustees and University of North Carolina officials, including UNC President Molly Broad, seeking to learn who changed his grades and why it was done.