Saturday, August 28, 2004
The job decision is undergoing a review.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- In hiring a forensic science instructor whose professional work is being challenged in Cleveland as a result of a man's wrongful imprisonment, Youngstown State University officials passed on three other qualified candidates for the job.
The $48,000-a-year, full-time assistant professor's post in YSU's Department of Criminal Justice went to Joseph Serowik.
Serowik previously has served as a part-time YSU instructor, and he is a former Cleveland Police Department crime lab examiner whose work for that facility is now being audited by Cleveland officials.
Other candidates
Public records provided by YSU to The Vindicator show that, besides Serowik, the other finalists for the post were:
UAn Indianapolis forensic scientist with a doctoral degree who has probed homicides, rapes and other crimes.
UThe director of a forensic science program for an Ohio technical college.
UA forensic science educator, trainer and consultant.
Among the other 12 job hopefuls who didn't make it to the finalists list were an adjunct faculty member at YSU who has taught toxicology courses and holds a master's degree in toxicology; a lecturer in forensic genetics and a YSU chemistry instructor who holds a master's degree in analytical chemistry and is a practicing attorney.
Investigating the selection
Dr. Jim Conser, interim chairman of YSU's Department of Criminal Justice, has insisted that Serowik is the right person for the job.
Conser has said YSU faculty and other university officials involved in Serowik's hiring knew of the Cleveland controversy when they recommended him for the post.
YSU President David Sweet has said he was unaware of the Cleveland allegations until after Serowik was hired.
Questions raised by the press, here and in Cleveland, prompted him to recently order a review of Serowik's hiring.
Sweet wouldn't say Friday what the possible consequences of that examination might be.
He stated, though, that the review, to be completed by Sept. 10, will be thorough. "We're taking this seriously," Sweet said.
Serowik was selected through a process in which a committee including faculty and administrators narrowed the field of 16 applicants to four finalists.
To aid in that task, panelists were to complete an "evaluation sheet" for each candidate.
YSU was asked to provide copies of the evaluations but had failed to do so in time for this story.
One of Serowik's references contacted by YSU was Judge Timothy McGinty of Cuyahoga County Common Pleas.
Judge McGinty is the former prosecutor who prosecuted the 1988 Cleveland rape trial that included testimony by Serowik, who talked about key evidence in the case that implicated the defendant. Serowik's lab work regarding the evidence was later discredited, The Plain Dealer of Cleveland has reported.
Serowik's testimony contributed to the wrongful imprisonment of Michael Green, who served 13 years in prison for the crime before being freed after DNA testing proved his innocence.
A YSU document reflects that Judge McGinty recommended Serowik for the YSU job, calling him highly respected. The judge also said Serowik "never did anything wrong" in the Green rape case.
Ranked first
The next step in the hiring process required selection committee members to rank the finalists from most to least desirable.
A document provided by YSU showed eight handwritten rankings of the candidates. The document doesn't indicate who actually made the rankings.
Serowik was listed as first in five of those, earning him the recommendation for the post.
Serowik was offered the job Aug. 9 by YSU Provost Tony Atwater.
Atwater said that when he approved the hiring recommendation and offered Serowik the job he was unaware of the allegations regarding Serowik's work in Cleveland.
Being told about the matter by the YSU officials who recommended Serowik's hiring "would have been helpful," Atwater said.
Knowing would have prompted him to further scrutinize Serowik's selection, Atwater said.
"I can't say for certain it would have changed the outcome," he added.
Determining why he wasn't provided details of the Cleveland allegations is part of the review that's under way, Atwater said.
Another aspect of the examination, Atwater said, will be to determine if criminal justice faculty members engaged in favoritism in choosing Serowik over other candidates because they knew him through 11 years of his serving as part-time instructor at YSU.
Serowik did not return a call seeking comment on the review of his hiring.
He previously has defended his Cleveland work, insisting that the audit will validate his performance there.
His future at YSU could depend on that. Serowik's YSU contract includes a clause that his reappointment past the 2004-2005 academic year is based partly on an "acceptable resolution" of the audit.
Part of settlement
The audit is being mounted by Cleveland as part of a $1.6 million settlement in a federal lawsuit filed against the city by Green based on his wrongful imprisonment.
The lawsuit scrutinized Serowik's work as an examiner and featured testimony from experts who found Serowik's analytical techniques flawed, The Plain Dealer has reported.
One of the experts consulted on Green's behalf in the lawsuit was Edward Blake, a founder of Forensic Science Associates of Richmond, Calif.
"It's outrageous that this kind of an appointment could happen," Blake said of Serowik's being hired by YSU. "I find it unbelievable that this would be going on," he added.