Althouse: "As for the pasta, Lader admits to putting a colander in her roommate's bedsheets but insists it contained no noodles."

August 21, 2016

"As for the pasta, Lader admits to putting a colander in her roommate's bedsheets but insists it contained no noodles."

"Her act of protest, she maintains, was to draw attention to the fact that Brownstein wasn't pulling her fair share of the housework around the apartment."

From "Roommate drama lands Penn State sorority sisters in federal court."

33 comments:

traditionalguy said...: Modern Life: After males thinking rape have been dealt with by expulsion , and when both little snowflakes are females, how does the system chose which one to favor over the other one that is to be ruined for life?

Trial by colanders with hot noodles???; 8/21/16, 6:33 AM
Rob said...: Can you imagine, some poor bastard worked hard to become a federal judge, only to preside over this? My heart does go out to both these girls, each of whom was so grievously deprived of a safe space, and neither of whom had the imagination to consider splitting up as roommates. BTW, if I dump anything on a bad roommate's bed, it ain't gonna be noodles.; 8/21/16, 6:41 AM
Bob R said...: Can one of you lawyers tell me why this is a federal case? Seems to me the jurisdiction is either University Park, PA or Spain.; 8/21/16, 6:50 AM
traditionalguy said...: Probably some Title IX equality argument. Nothing is ever equal if you see it the right way.; 8/21/16, 6:56 AM
Ann Althouse said...: @traditionalguy

The article says the claims are defamation and breach-of-contract — state law claims.

I don't see that the university is a party to the case at all. It's woman vs. woman.; 8/21/16, 7:05 AM
Eric the Fruit Bat said...: Calling it a drama makes it a drama, apparently.; 8/21/16, 7:06 AM
Ann Althouse said...: Here's a picture of Lader and Brownstein... in happier times.; 8/21/16, 7:07 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "Seems to me the jurisdiction is either University Park, PA or Spain."

You're mixing up subject matter jurisdiction with venue and personal jurisdiction.

The case is in federal court because there's a federal statute that says federal courts can be used for this purpose and the case fits that statute (and the statute fits Article III). I assume the basis for federal jurisdiction is diversity jurisdiction -- the plaintiff and the defendant are citizens of different states. 28 USC §1332. It doesn't matter that they both lived in PA and in Spain. You don't become a citizen of a new place unless you live there with an intent to remain indefinitely (so being a student is not enough).

The federal court where the case was filed is in Philadelphia. So the question where, geographically, the case will be litigated is in line with what you assumed.; 8/21/16, 7:08 AM
bleh said...: "I don't see that the university is a party to the case at all. It's woman vs. woman"

Actually, the article says Penn State is a defendant.; 8/21/16, 7:16 AM
mikee said...: I remember an intervention for a guy who habitually came back to his dorm room drunk and reeking of vomit after long Friday nights. About midterm the entire hall was invited to assist in cleaning him up before he got into his room. He was intercepted at the entry door, hauled forcibly to the showers, and washed off with cold water while his roomie told a variation of the story of Noah to him.

"And God saw that the roommate was unclean, so sent his flood to cleanse the earth!"
Shower turned on to spray the recumbent drunk on the floor.
"And God made it rain for forty days!"
Shower kept on for some time.
"And God made it rain for forty nights!"
Shower remains on.
"And God made it rain some more, to wash off all the sins of man!"
Drunk is rolled around to get him clean.
"And God let his creation think about his future, and left him in the flood."
Drunk is left with a towel to dry off with, before returning to room.

Fortunately, nobody thought to make a federal case of this assault and battery, because (1) males only were involved, and (2) nothing else worked to stop the drunk's noxious behavior, and (3) back then students could sort things out themselves like the irrational animal brutes we were.; 8/21/16, 7:30 AM
Fernandinande said...: Ann Althouse said...
Here's a picture of Lader and Brownstein... in happier times.

Caption says it's Brownstein and her sister, not Lader.; 8/21/16, 7:59 AM
Henry said...: Putting dirty dishes in an offender's bed is surprisingly commonplace. I admit to doing it one time to my brother.; 8/21/16, 8:14 AM
rhhardin said...: In Russia there's a religion that wears a colander on the head and recently got the legal right to appear on their drivers' license photo that way.

If you can have headscarves, you can have colanders.; 8/21/16, 9:41 AM
readering said...: Fortunate for defendant that the claims included defamation. That's usually covered in homeowner insurance policy.; 8/21/16, 9:41 AM
readering said...: I'm betting by the end the one woman is going to wish he had agreed to break her apartment lease.; 8/21/16, 9:43 AM
wildswan said...: Why doesn't one of them just move out?
Apparently, it isn't only males that have a territorial imperative.; 8/21/16, 11:17 AM
Bill Peschel said...: One day later, they seem to have kissed and made up.; 8/21/16, 11:50 AM
Left Bank of the Charles said...: The official flower of the Alpha Sigma Alpha sorority is the narcissus.; 8/21/16, 12:09 PM
Earnest Prole said...: Apparently they have now settled the lawsuit and will live together this year — what could possibly go wrong? The pictures at the link are priceless, including one of the parents. The father’s picture could accompany a dictionary definition of the word douche.; 8/21/16, 12:52 PM
Steven Wilson said...: Let's see. Colleges and universities want to handle rape allegations on their own without involving investigative agencies of law enforcement, but this somehow makes it in front of a federal judge.

And I'm down to the choice of Trump or neverTrump. (That's right, you'd have to hold a gun to my head for me to vote for a Clinton.); 8/21/16, 1:39 PM
the gold digger said...: Brownstein's mother filed an eight-page memo with the university.

I would never hire either of these young women. Anyone who is a college student who cannot solve her own roommate problems is incapable of solving any kind of problem.; 8/21/16, 2:09 PM
Anonymous said...: From teh article about the lawsuit:

Brownstein's story is detailed in an eight-page memo penned by her mother, Amy, filed with Penn State and included with Lader's filings with the court this week.

The document, titled "A Mother's Perspective," details a string of slights that she says she observed from nearly 4,000 miles away.

Jesus wept.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3751056/Penn-State-student-drops-lawsuit-against-sorority-sister-rift-thrown-pasta-male-guests-loud-music-s-called-misunderstanding-student-s-dad-days-girls-together.html

The picture of her mother is everything I thought it would be.

I wonder if they're living together this year because none of their sorority sisters are willing to room with either one of them?; 8/21/16, 2:17 PM
Smilin' Jack said...: I blame feminism. In the good old days this would have been settled by a tickle fight.; 8/21/16, 3:19 PM
HoodlumDoodlum said...: Ann Althouse said...I don't see that the university is a party to the case at all. It's woman vs. woman.

I'm sure that's right w/r/t the actual lawsuit, but the plaintiff's lawyer sure seems to be trying to make the University a party--by accusing the Univ. of being biased against the plaintiff and running a corrupt disciplinary hearing because of the defendant's father's status as a big alumni donor--in the "court of public opinion." Dang, some cliches almost hurt to type.

When I was a kid we used to say "don't make a federal case out of it."; 8/21/16, 3:54 PM
HoodlumDoodlum said...: No word from Laslo yet, but I'll bet I can get him here:

Brownstein in bikini

Daily Mail article from which that picture came.

Now I'm going to argue that it's not prurient or bodyshaming or anything to spread that picture around because 1.) that bastion of classy journalism the Mail didn't think so 2.)the lawsuit itself includes sex-shaming type allegations against one of the women and 3.)by filing the lawsuit (and by both parties refusing to settle things short of a federal lawsuit) the parties have made themselves public figures and the pictures were published to the public anyway. So, there.; 8/21/16, 4:05 PM
Bad Lieutenant said...: No Hoodoo it's only shameful if she doesn't look good.; 8/21/16, 8:37 PM
Robert Cook said...: They may both be lying and mutually at fault for their contentious experience, but I'm immediately suspicious of Brownstein's honesty when she claims she "left in the middle of the night in an area where people get stabbed."

First, would they actually take an apartment in an area of Barcelona were people get stabbed? Second, if they did, or if their accommodations were arranged for them by the university, would this sensitive flower leave in "the middle of the night where people get stabbed" just because her roommate had a male friend over?

I don't believe it. She may have left in the middle of the night, but I don't believe the area was as dangerous as she claims.

Also, the picture of the amply-endowed Ms. Brownstein in too-little top shows her to be, if nothing else, tacky tacky tacky, and trying too hard.; 8/22/16, 6:56 AM
Bad Lieutenant said...: Really, Robert,

First, NYU and Columbia students don't get rooms in Alphabet City and Harlem? Plus, tourists and other foreigners are probably easiest to gull into taking apartments in crappy neighborhoods.

Second, if you've never had a woman storm off on you, against all sense and logic, you're not living right. Could be a thousand reasons or no reason. Hint: 'he slept on the couch' is one of those Top Ten college lies.

(I will say Spain is no place to throw yourself on the mercy of. I knew a woman with, I forget, cystic fibrosis or muscular dystrophy, with visible symptoms, a devout Catholic who was still a virgin at 29 (likely still is if she lives today), who almost got raped by a cabdriver in Spain.)

And Robert, she was at the beach. For a big lefty like you, you are some kind of prissy.; 8/22/16, 7:26 AM
Robert Cook said...: "And Robert, she was at the beach. For a big lefty like you, you are some kind of prissy."

I see she was at the beach. Nonetheless, her too-tiny top was barely holding in her too-big bosom. That's tacky.; 8/22/16, 11:47 AM
Bad Lieutenant said...: Assuming they are real (and judging by the picture of her with her sister, she comes by them honestly), I do assure you her breasts are not too big. Whether the top is too small is definitely a matter of interpretation and context.

But to know that you prefer flat chested girls is informative.

Where are the pictures of the other girl? That is probably the best basis to judge this matter on, which girl is more attractive. Laslo to the white courtesy phone please, Laslo to the white courtesy phone; 8/22/16, 12:48 PM
gerry said...: The document, titled "A Mother's Perspective," details a string of slights that she says she observed from nearly 4,000 miles away.

Wow. Talk about helicopter parenting.; 8/22/16, 3:07 PM
Robert Cook said...: "I do assure you her breasts are not too big."

This comes down to a matter of taste, does it not? They're surely too big for her top, and not accidentally so.

"But to know that you prefer flat chested girls is informative."

If you choose to believe you have taken a correct inference from my remarks, who am I to care enough to argue the point? I don't know why you think the information is "informative," or in what way, but again, that is your concern.; 8/22/16, 5:08 PM
Bad Lieutenant said...: If you had just said that the top was too small, I could grudgingly agree with you from some points of view, e.g., suitability for beach volleyball. However, you said that the breasts were too big, AND the top was too small...

...Zounds, Bobby, I'm just messing with you! Lighten up!; 8/23/16, 8:37 PM