Online Petition for Avis Meyer

[moytoy12]

Since I know some (if not all) on here support Dr. Meyer, I thought I'd distribute a link to an online petition asking the Father Biondi to drop a trademark-infringement lawsuit against Dr. Meyer.

I have no clue what the details are, but I hear it is long and sordid and generally an attempt by Father Biondi to force Dr. Meyer to resign. I don't know if what I hear is correct.

Here's the link: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/messagetoslu/index.html

[sonsforever2008]

I had Dr. Meyer for a creative writing class and he always graded papers in green pen and as a bunch of us fellow A&Sers are waiting in line at graduation, there's Dr. Meyer with a green pen for all of his students, just like the ones he used to grade papers. I still haven't used it to this day, and it's going on 4 years since my undergrad career came to an end.

Dr. Meyer is a wonderful man who has been through a lot over the years and he has always been a bastion for the truth and what is right and a light in the darkening world of academia and university administration.

[DeSmetBilliken]

A little more than a year ago, there were some issues regarding the leadership of The University News. Basically, the administration wanted greater control over the paper. They wanted to hire a new adviser as well as making some infrastructure changes, which I think were related to scholarships awarded to staff of the paper and probably some related things. The administration argued this was justified because the quality of the paper had worsened, as many errors were printed in articles. The UNews staff and many students disagreed because they felt that it was a breach of freedom of the press if an administration that had in the past been criticized in the paper became in control of the paper in some fashion. Apparently it was a very controversial issue on campus at the time.

For those of you who know Dr. Meyer, you know he is a big proponent of freedom of the press. While this issue was playing out, Dr. Meyer went to a courthouse (or some other related venue) and found that the name The University News had not been trademarked/copyrighted/etc. He appeared to do this in an attempt to leave open the possibility of the UNews moving off campus if they felt they needed to maintain their freedom of the press while retaining the name of the paper. He registered the name of the paper to himself. SLU countered by suing Dr. Meyer for trademark infringement, saying that the university had the rights to the name of the paper. Late last summer or early fall, both sides agree to a settlement, where Dr. Meyer gave up the rights to the University News name and I think he did pay some money to the university. Later in the fall, the university decided to sue Dr. Meyer for the legal fees incurred by the university in this manner.

I think I read somewhere that the second suit contained a charge against Dr. Meyer, which if he was found in violation of it, would potentially allow him to be terminated, even though he is a tenured professor.

[DeSmetBilliken]

I also wanted to add that I too was a student of Dr. Meyer's. I took three of his classes and enjoyed them greatly. He was my favorite professor during my four years at SLU.

[AGB91]

Avis Meyer was the best instructor I had at any level of education and I wish him well in this crisis. The University should be honored to have an instructor of his ablilty and character.

[billiken_roy]

best teacher i ever had by far. no one gave more knowledge and had as much fun as avis.

[sonsforever2008]

It's a shame. Even Biondi went as far as to bypass the Avis Rent-a-Car at the airport the other day.

Hertz? Not exactly.