Conflicts Continue
When Cooper returned to St. Xavier in the fall of 2005, he hoped to get right back into the classroom. But he says the university seemed unwilling to make accommodations that would allow him to continue teaching while recovering from his injuries and illnesses.
“I am a lot better now, but at the time I needed to be on one floor,” Cooper says. He ended up asking the university to put him in a non-teaching position.
“I wanted to teach, but I understand it from the student’s perspective,” he says. “Students should expect that the university does something with me other than have me in a classroom.”
Worried about tenure, Cooper filed a lawsuit against the university in November 2005. But true to his training in conflict resolution, he dropped the lawsuit in October and settled the case with St. Xavier. As part of the settlement, Cooper isn’t allowed to discuss the terms of the agreement, but he says it’s “a really good settlement for me.” He’s on sabbatical this school year.
Cooper suspects his respiratory problems are the combined result of the toxic chemicals he was exposed to fighting roadside bombings in Iraq and the substances he may have inhaled as a rescue volunteer at the World Trade Center.
“I have three physicians, and one believes that I will get cured,” he says. “He thinks that my immune system could return to normal.”
Although his illnesses have caused him to restructure much of his life, they aren’t stopping him from taking on new challenges. In addition to his academic research, Cooper is back in the courtroom arguing federal civil rights cases.
“I am working on nine,” he says.
© Copyright 2005 by DiverseEducation.com
