Senior Instructor Michael Mullins, a German language and culture instructor at UMD, has taken a leave of absence from teaching.Mullins, who is also the program director of the UMD Center for Cultural Entrepreneurship, could not be reached for comment. Associate Professor Kristen Hylenski, the department head of the foreign languages and literatures section of CLA, could also not be reached for comment. Mullins is the legislative liaison of University Education Association - Duluth (UEA-D). According to their website, UEA exists to “facilitate productive discussions of issues confronting faculty at UMD. It promotes the interests of higher education and research. It advances the standards, stature, and welfare of the faculty at UMD, and it represents the membership in the collective bargaining process.” Scott Laderman, associate professor of history at UMD and UEA-D Contract Administrator, declined to comment on Mullins’ leave of absence. Michael Pfau, associate professor of communication at UMD and president of UEA-D, said that he had no information on the issue.
BY SAM STROM News Editor