AU Professor Fired Without Due Diligence, Vindicated by New Evidence

Dean Goldgeier, of American University’s (AU) School of International Service, relieved International Development Professor Dr. Lori Handrahan of her teaching duties one week before the start of spring 2013 classes citing, “despite repeated requests to minimize the impact of your personal affairs on campus, you continue to send communications.” The communications that Handrahan sent were to campus safety in which she reported death threats sent to her AU email address. The out-of-the-blue dismissal came after Handrahan had a meeting with Dean Goldgeier in late fall 2012 where he assured her that AU was behind her.

The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) wrote a letter to AU President Kerwin on 31 January 2013 stating, “We accordingly urge that the American University administration rescind the dismissal and reinstate Dr. Handrahan to the faculty.” AU’s response was that they did not technically “fire” her and President Kerwin referred back to Dean Goldgeier’s deficient explanation. AU’s newspaper, The Eagle, was poised to do a story on this but it was shut down by the powers that be.

So what happened? Handrahan’s research on ending impunity for child porn was gaining popularity on CTV, Forbes, and Yahoo. Little did she know, AU has a child porn scandal it would like to prevent from resurfacing, especially after Penn State’s scandal. AU’s President from 1980-1990, Dr. RichardBerendzen, never received a fine or a day in jail for his large child porn collection that he used in his President’s office that overlooked the on-campus day-care playground while he called day-cares around the region and talked about having sex with children. Police recorded some of the calls until the phone number was traced. Berendzen spent only three weeks in rehabilitation yet used a well-played “victim” card to sell his book about how he had to overcome the hardship of being sexually abused as a child himself. By the logic of his excuse, drunk drivers could avoid prosecution by claiming that their parents were alcoholics. Berendzen’s own child abuse has nothing to do with accountability, then and now, for the crimes he committed against children while at AU. Yet, he reclaimed a spot on AU faculty where he remains on record today. Hard to believe? Check the sources.

Even if Berendzen and child porn research had nothing to do with Handrahan’s firing, does AU’s idea of fixing a problem of death threats sent to a professor mean getting rid of the professor? Death threats were sent to Handrahan in a fierce custody battle for her now 6-year-old daughter Mila. Handrahan filed for divorce from Igor Malenko in May 2008 after two years of marriage based on abuse, citing specifically: (1) Malenko threw food at her, (2) threw a jar that hit her in the head, and (3) threatened to kill her. Malenko pled guilty to domestic violence and said, “I brushed an empty jar off a table in anger on one occasion.”

In the heat of this traumatic time, Handrahan noticed signs that Mila was sexually abused. A Yale pediatric doctor testified that he found a methamphetamine level in Mila’s urine that “warrants an in-depth investigation.” When interviewed by the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), “Mila stated in response to an open-ended question that her father poked her vagina with his penis at his house.” DHHS noted that there is always potential for influence when a child, especially a younger child (Mila was 2 yrs 6 months) is in the midst of a high level of parental conflict. However, DHHS also noted, “the specificity of Mila’s statements is quite compelling and difficult to dismiss merely as the result of suggestion.” DHHS strongly recommended that any contact with Malenko be supervised. Yet, Mila has been alone with him for two years now.

Maine’s courts, a judicial system that SaturdayNight Live likes to mock for incompetence, sided with Malenko. MSN ranks Maine the third worst state in the country for sex trafficking. Moreover, Maine has not enforced its own joint custody ruling. Malenko has engaged in parental alienation with the full support of his attorney, Michael J. Waxman, in violation of court-ordered visitation rights. Handrahan has not seen her daughter in two years.

Maine Family-Lawyer Stands on Side of Abuse

Why is the custody battle so fierce? Malenko’s attorney, Waxman, has consistently displayed a very suspicious level of emotional investment. In one of Waxman’s many unprofessional emails (whose IP addresses were verified by Anonymous) to Handrahan, Waxman vowed to use his “substantial family fortune” to take her daughter from her: “I shall not stop doing everything in my power to protect Mila and Igor [Malenko].” He has done just that. WhenMaine Judge Jeff Moskowitz stated from his bench that a court order allowed Handrahan to visit Mila, Waxman stood up, pointed at the Judge, and with a raised voice told the judge that his client would not obey the order.  Waxman went on to inquire if doing so would be committing civil contempt or criminal contempt.  The judge refused to give legal advice, did not hold either Waxman or Malenko in contempt, and did not attempt to enforce the court order.

Could Waxman’s ulterior motive be money? Waxman is rich and has worked on this case for four years, pro bono. Power? Waxman is powerful. He is part of a family with vast corporate real estate holdings. Righteousness? You be the judge. Sex? Waxman’s behavior fits the psychological profile of apedophile. Narcissistic pedophiles claim to be infallible and often lie to justify their actions. Waxman wrote in an email, “And the more I think of it, the less I am convinced that this Court has any power over ME in any fashion.”

From Waxman to Handrahan: “Focus on getting yourself mentally healthy so that you can be a mommy to your little 6 year old girl who is probably starting to forget you. How terribly sad. Isn’t being a mommy more important to you than getting all this silly attention? We both know that this is not going to end well for you. All you are doing is harming your

 child and allowing another day to go by in which you do not say ‘good night’ or ‘I love you’ to your child. Again, that is truly sad.” To a pedophile, ‘love’ means clinging and includes strong separation anxiety. Noyes, a Maine court-watcher (civilian who sits in on court proceedings) stated, “Waxman says he has considerable contact with Mila, has developed a deep attachment for her, an affection so deep in fact that it is he who states that he refuses the court order to permit this child to even see her mother, and wishes to erase any memory of her mother from this child’s mind.” Pedophiles’ sense of self rests on blaming others. Waxman wrote to Handrahan’s lawyer, “[Handrahan] is a despicable human being!  She does not care at all about her child. That is who your potential client is.”

Waxman stalks and/or hired stalkers to attack and threaten Handrahan on the Internet. They have run a successful smear campaign. Alias “Sarah Tyrrell” reports suspiciously timely and accurate court information. Among the completely undeserved harassment, Tyrrell wrote to Handrahan: “You sick, twisted, demented woman.” In November 2012, Tyrrell wrote to AU President Kerwin advocating for Handrahan’s firing. This spring, Tyrrell posted online, “we were instrumental in getting [Handrahan] sued, getting a lien on her house, and getting her fired.”

Thereby two worlds collided– a personal custody battle and a job at AU. Using intimidation tactics, Waxman fought to raise Handrahan’s child support to a level where she could barely pay rent. Waxman threatened Handrahan with arrest for posting reports of Mila’s abuse online, an activity “trying to rally supporters to harm Igor [Malenko] or Mila.” Waxman hired a man to wait outside Handrahan’s classroom each class in anticipation of an arrest warrant that never came. AU police acquiesced his presence. Handrahan printed out and carried Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s Birmingham Jail Letter for personal strength and in determination to turn an arrest into a dignified teaching experience for her students. The letter states, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Yet, as instructed by AU administration, Handrahan never brought up her personal life with her students.

In early 2011, Waxman was brought before the Overseersof the Bar on 13 counts of violating the Bar (including threatening the prosecution, conflict of interest, and misconduct). Seven of Maine’s top attorneys testified vigorously against Waxman but the judge ruled that the prosecution did not present enough evidence. Two years after Waxman’s Bar review, further testimony against him by the court-watcher: “I am at a loss to understand how Mr Waxman is permitted to continue to “practice” law in this state… There seems to be no avenue for appeal to a higher authority in family court, [attempts to file an Emergency Title 22 Petition with Maine’s Supreme Court were denied]… To me, the entire judicial process has abused this child and her mother from the very beginning.”

The Smoking Gun

Even if Malenko and Waxman have spared Mila sexually, for the past two years Mila has been with a serial abuser. Shocking new court documentsreveal that Malenko’s second wife, who he married in August 2011, Liljana Cvetkoska, tried to leave him multiple times over their first year of marriage and filed for divorce in March 2013 based on (1) verbal abuse from Igor on a consistent basis, (2) numerous threats to throw her and their baby out of the house, which actually happened in August 2012, and (3) Malenko made Cvetkoska spend all of her savings, including hospital bills for delivering their baby.

Leslie Steiner, survivor of domestic violence, gave a TEDtalk: “It is dangerous to leave an abuser. When partners leave abusers, the abuser has nothing else to lose and it too often results in murder. Other outcomes include long-term stalking, denial of financial resources, and manipulation of the family court system to terrify the victim and her children, who are regularly forced by family court judges to spend unsupervised time with the man who beat her mother.”  Handrahan and Cvetkoska have a textbook case. Handrahan, like Steiner, is breaking the silence of her abuse by reporting everything to everyone, while Waxman threatens media outlets that publish her with lawsuits. Every domestic violence victim should have the courage to speak out in a receptive society. Handrahan reported cyber-stalking to AU. Let it be known where AU stood, with this and with Berendzen.

Abuse, like drugs and pedophilia, is an addictive disease. Malenko has a history of abuse and violence, which has now manifested in U.S. courts by two independent accounts. How is Waxman responding? He is trying to get Cvetkoska deported and keep her American-born child with Malenko. Whether or not the intent is human trafficking, justice is at large. Mila is in danger.

Source: https://sites.google.com/site/theextraau/