James G Wilson
1419 Esic Drive, Apt. 8
Edwardsville, IL 62025-3900
(618) 917-9545

Re: Dean of Students, James Klenke

Chancellor Vandegrift, July 14, 2011

I am writing to you in the hopes that you may take charge of a situation that has gotten completely out of hand now. I approached Dean Klenke's office back in February to aid in getting my nephew, Jeffrey A Wilson, off of drugs and alcohol before it was too late. The Dean delegated that responsibility to the SIUE police department. Unfortunately, my nephew (and his friend, Andrew Ginster) found a police officer who was not on top of his game. This officer was easily duped by these boys and filed a report with the Dean's office that was largely without facts. Despite my efforts to set the officer on the correct path to the facts, the officer was nothing but belligerent and accusatory with me because of how badly he'd already been manipulated by the boys and their web of lies to him. The Dean's office took that report and sadly considered the matter closed.

That action seems to have emboldened the boys to continue on their chosen path of drug and alcohol abuse. It has also caused them to start cyber-bullying me (with a fraudulent Twitter account) and using my name in a libelous fashion with the Housing Office here. I again raised my concerns with the Dean's Office on June 30th. At first, the Dean took care of the cyber-bullying by getting the boys to remove the fraudulent account. He even wrote me a cordial letter explaining that he had done so. Unfortunately, he did not address any of my other more serious concerns about these boys' ongoing behavior. So, I went to his office yesterday (July 13th) to ask for a face-to-face meeting.

Upon hearing that I was in the office, the Dean bounded out of his office and loudly called me back to a conference room. He then proceeded to condescendingly inform me that he was not going to do anything further in this matter. I was absolutely broadsided by Klenke's nasty and utterly belligerent tone throughout the short (but intense) encounter. There was no call for his bad behavior. I tried unsuccessfully to ask him why he was presenting me with this harsh tone and sudden refusal to address the matter further. He simply kept reiterating his position in that tone which grew more nasty as he talked. He then informed me that I was not to involve the SIUE police department or his office in any further bad behavior on the parts of Jeffrey A Wilson and Andrew Ginster.

I left the Dean's Office in total bewilderment. Since he refused to explain why he was acting in such a childishly aggressive manner, I did not know what to make of it. It took me a few hours to put it all together. The Dean has apparently misinterpreted my June 30th letter to him and is now behaving irrationally because of it. This Dean is in a position of great authority and should know better than to behave in an emotionally agitated manner- regardless of the situation. He is supposed to understand and employ diplomacy in such matters. He did anything but use tact and diplomacy here.

Instead of reading my letter in a calm, understanding and reasonable frame of mind, Dean Klenke apparently chose to view my criticism of that ONE POLICE OFFICER as an indictment of the entire SIUE police department. He further took my statements about the failure of his office to act BECAUSE OF that officer's inappropriate report back in February as some direct indictment of him personally. Both accounts are utterly false. I speak very literally and directly to the truth of the matter. The Dean chose to let his ego and emotional nature guide his behavior rather than reading what was written with the intent in which it was written. Had he asked for clarification FIRST, he would have received it.

My niece, Jessica M Wilson, accompanied me to the Dean's Office that morning, and she is a witness to Dean Klenke's reprehensible behavior. I had asked her to join me because she is a student at SIUE and should see how Deans work with the public to address concerns related to students and this campus. The only lesson she received from that encounter was just how childishly a person of such great authority and prestige can behave instead. She is thoroughly disillusioned by the experience and now has doubts about returning to SIUE for the Fall 2011 semester. She is a transgender person who should rely on persons of authority on this campus if/when situations arise where her safety and best interests may be compromised. Dean Klenke displayed the most negative and nasty side of an authority figure here. Jessica is a long-time witness to her brother, Jeffrey's, drug and alcohol issues. So, she was hoping that Dean Klenke would work to get him the help he so desperately needs. Instead, all she saw was another adult who was going to let emotional issues cloud his judgement and REFUSE to help Jeffrey.

Dean Klenke has made it abundantly clear that he has no capacity to behave in a civil fashion when confronted with situations he deems to be a threat to his ego. Therefore, I am now requesting that your office immediately take over all matters relating to this situation with Jeffrey, Andrew and Jessica. I am now seeking an appointment with you to discuss these matters and present evidence for my claims involving Jeffrey and Andrew Ginster. All information I have submitted to Dean Klenke's office needs to be removed from that jurisdiction, and he needs to be completely relieved of any responsibility for investigating these ongoing issues. He clearly can no longer be trusted to do the right thing here. I look forward to working with you to get these matters resolved and restore Jessica's faith in SIUE again. Please contact me at your earliest convenience to get this process going.

Thank you.



James G Wilson

ps: Dean Klenke has also been presented with evidence that Jeffrey A Wilson is guilty of plagiarism in both of his freshman English (101 and 102) classes. He has made it clear to me that he, because of his misinterpretation of my letter, will not pursue that charge now. Or, he plans to falsely exonerate Jeffrey just to spite me. So, it is imperative that you take over this matter ASAP.

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