To add clarity and accuracy to the discussion, PFT has put together a detailed examination of the situation at Laney. What follows is a special report to the faculty. As you read, bear in mind that PFT has already filed a grievance on behalf of the affected faculty members and on behalf of the union generally.
Part-time faculty are let go all the time—so what’s the big deal? Here’s the big deal: Cynthia has taught continuously at Laney for the past seventeen years. She is in the preferred hiring pool and has been from the start of the pool. In her last evaluation, her ranking was Exemplary. On January 24, 2014, her department co-chair sent Cynthia an email offering her two classes for the fall 2014 semester. The co-chair copied the dean and the other co-chair in the email. On January 27, 2014, Cynthia responded and accepted the assignment. On June 6, the dean sent a letter addressed to Mr. Mahabir (which Cynthia never received, but PFT did), saying, “this decision [to revoke your assignment] was made after considering how faculty best fit into the environment of teaching and learning at Laney College, and based on our desire to assign classes to instructors who best fit the wide range of learning needs reflected in our student body.” (Emphasis added.) Four days later, on June 10, after a meeting of the PCCD Board of Trustees, during a discussion about Laney’s letter to Cynthia, Trustee Meredith Brown told PFT President Matthew Goldstein that Cynthia was the kind of college professor she’d like her own kids to have.
What does it take to be the “best fit” at Laney College? In addition to the above, Cynthia has a B.A., Magna Cum Laude, from Howard University and a Ph.D. in criminology from U.C., Berkeley. She has taught at USF, SFSU, and San Jose State University, where she also created and taught several courses in African American Studies. She has been a consultant to the San Francisco Foundation and a researcher with the National Council on Crime and Delinquency in San Francisco. She currently serves on the American Sociology Association Task Force on Community College Faculty. She has guest-lectured at Brown University, the California College of Arts and Crafts, and the law schools of Bangalore, India, and U.C. Berkeley. She has written a book and monographs, presented papers at international conferences, reviewed books and articles, and published numerous articles, including in Feminist Studies, Social and Legal Studies, the British Journal of Criminology, the International Journal of the Sociology of Law, and Popular Music. She has also been—and continues to be—a faculty and union leader. Cynthia has been the elected part-time faculty representative on the PFT Executive Council for nine years. In that capacity, she represents the interests of part-time teachers and brings their problems and concerns to the fore. She has served on every PFT negotiating team since 2005. This is the person whom the Laney administration calls unfit for service. Why?
The 2013-14 Academic Year at Laney College
The Laney College administration has been in disarray for years. Since the 2011-12 academic year, Laney has had a new business officer and a new VPI every year. Last year, 2013-14, Laney had two VPI’s in one year. There has been a new VP of Student Services every year since 2011-12, and for a time the VPI and VPSS positions were merged into one, guaranteeing that neither job was done well. Then there are the reorganizations: Laney College has been reorganized each year, every year, from 2011-12 to the present, including the present year: administrative positions appeared and disappeared; departments were moved from one dean to another. Of the ten different people who served as dean from 2011-12 to the present, only two have been at the college in full-time, permanent status as deans for more than five years.
Add to the administrative dysfunction at Laney the highly charged and polarizing events of spring 2014, and the result is increased chaos and fear—not to mention a lot of knee-jerk administrative actions and decisions, culminating in the June 6 letter to Cynthia. What happened?
First, there was the very public, frequently contentious fight that faculty, students, and staff launched against the president’s invitation to Janet Napolitano to be the commencement speaker. (Cynthia publicly opposed the president.) Second, there was the chancellor’s much-discussed recommendation not to rehire the college president, which divided the faculty and led to public displays of support for the president, including the circulation of a petition to keep the president on; it also led to complaints about how poorly the college was run. (Cynthia was asked to sign the petition and declined.) Third was an issue raised and brought forward by Cynthia herself: the public recognition of long-time part-time faculty’s valuable service to Laney College at the May 9 Laney Breakfast. The outcomes were Napolitano spoke (despite student and faculty protests), the president retained her job for another year, and the recognition of part-timer service was postponed until 2015. For the college and for the faculty, 2013-14 was a tough, divisive year.
In that overheated environment, between January 27, 2014, when Cynthia was offered and accepted a fall 2014 teaching assignment, and June 6, 2014, when the college said she no longer was the “best fit,” the following things happened:
2/25/14: A petition with over 700 signatures is presented to the Board of Trustees demanding the rehire of the college president. Cynthia is asked to sign and declines.
2/27/14: A student was asked to leave Cynthia’s class for a day because he was using his cell phone during lecture. Note: the course outline specifically states—twice—“Turn off completely all cell phones before entering the classroom at all times and do not use in class.” Cynthia also passes out a paper titled “Classroom Etiquette,” which reiterates the rule in greater detail and emphasis. No Use of Cell Phones in Class. When asked to leave, the student refused. Cynthia called the dean, who was not available, then Police Services. The police came and the student left, but returned when the class ended, and, according to Cynthia’s written report to the dean, followed her “in a stalking manner,” and became “aggressive and threatening outpouring obscenity and abuse,” cursing at Cynthia and using the F and B words. Cynthia met with the dean and reported the incident the same day and followed it up with a written report that said she was “distressed” and “felt unsafe.” The dean did not immediately reply, so Cynthia sent copies of her email to the vice chancellor and the chancellor “to get some protection,” which she got. Police Services came to her next class, and there were no further incidents. The following week, a meeting was held with the dean to address the issue, and at PFT’s suggestion, the student was transferred to another section of the same class, and the matter was resolved. However, from PFT’s and Cynthia’s point of view, the Laney administration did not act quickly enough or purposefully enough to protect her, especially after she specifically said she felt threatened. Instead of following district policy, the college administration’s chief concern seemed to be that Cynthia went to the vice chancellor and chancellor, as is her right.
3/4/14: A student was asked to leave class for a day for texting during class. The student returned to the next class, then missed two classes, came late for the next class, and dropped out.
3/6/14: A student turned in partial work on a project, which Cynthia returned to the student ungraded. Note: the course outline says in bold, underlined letters: “No partial assignments will be accepted.” She repeats the statement in bold caps on the assignment sheet she passes out: “NO PARTIAL PROJECTS. YOU MUST DO ALL PARTS.” A week later the dean sent Cynthia an email telling her the student had dropped the class and complained about “your communication with him.” The dean requested a meeting. Cynthia responded the next day and said she would be “happy” to meet and suggested the following week on 3/25. The dean responds on 4/2 and says she has been at a conference, and there has been another student complaint. The dean never gives Cynthia the second student’s name, and as best PFT can tell from reviewing the email trail, this student’s “complaint” is never mentioned again. Cynthia believes it is the same student who dropped the class after being asked to leave for texting, but neither she nor PFT can be sure. All we know is that all references to this second student and the “complaint” seem to have vanished. Meanwhile, the parties continue to try to find a time when all four or five people (the dean, the first-year Vice President of SS or interim VPI, one or both PFT reps, and Cynthia can meet). On 4/11, there is agreement to meet on 4/22. On 4/21, the dean writes to confirm the meeting on 4/24. This continues until the end of the semester, where for one reason or another, with no one at fault, the parties cannot agree on a time to meet, so the meeting never takes place. Repeat: the meeting never takes place. No due process was given; she was never allowed to explain her reasons and actions. The “complaining” student(s) never meet with Cynthia. No “complaints” are given to her, nothing is formal or in writing. The next thing Cynthia knows, she’s not the “best fit.”
3/12/14: Cynthia joins the very public fray regarding Janet Napolitano’s speaking engagement. Two faculty members from Laney’s Ethnic Studies Department and one of the PFT reps at Laney wrote public emails urging the president to replace Napolitano with another speaker. On 3/12, Cynthia writes her own public email supporting a reconsideration of speakers. Note: this is in direct opposition to the wishes and decisions of the college administration. Note also, Cynthia is the part-time teacher representative of the union. When she speaks or writes, hundreds of part-timers listen. Indeed, the PFT president, PFT staff, and many part-time faculty concerned about threats to free speech on the Laney campus attended a town hall meeting on the Napolitano matter. Cynthia’s email could not have made the Laney administration happy, especially at a time when the college president’s job was very much in doubt.
4/23/14: On 4/22 Laney’s president sends a public email titled “My Gratitude,” telling the faculty she and the leaders at the college appreciate the work the faculty have done in supporting students. The next day, Cynthia responds with a public email to the college president, saying that “the list of faculty and staff members to be recognized for multiple years of service on May 9, 2014 (Laney’s breakfast)… (has) a total absence of part-time faculty,” and she asks, “can this be corrected?” Cynthia’s email generates other public responses, including one from another Laney College member on the PFT Exec, supporting her position and prolonging the public discussion. Cynthia also writes the chancellor to request district-wide inclusion of part-time faculty. Note: Cynthia is writing to the chancellor and publicly raising embarrassing oversights at Laney at precisely the time the chancellor is trying to let the president’s contract expire. Cynthia tells at least three faculty members that for the first time in her career at Laney College she is afraid of retaliation.
5/8/14: Cynthia receives a voicemail message from a student who wants to make up a final exam to finish her Incomplete from fall 2013, and 5/20 is agreed upon. The student arrives 45 minutes late. The time is changed to 2-4, p.m. on the same day. The student arrives at 3:35. Cynthia suggests 5/22 from 10 a.m. to noon. The student arrives at 10:15 and takes the make-up final exam. Twenty-five minutes before the allotted two hours are up, the student turns in her final exam and asks to make up another exam she had missed. This is the first time the student has mentioned taking another exam. Cynthia has a copy and offers it to the student, but says she does not have more than the twenty-five minutes remaining, because she has to be somewhere else. The student complains to the dean, who sends an email to Cynthia supporting the student, without speaking with Cynthia. The dean offers to proctor the exam, but Cynthia declines, saying except for DSPS students her protocol is to proctor all of her exams herself. Cynthia also states that the original exam was a one-hour exam, scheduled for October 22, 2013. The student missed it and agreed to make up the exam on November 5, 2013. The student did not show up, did not contact Cynthia about not showing up, and never mentioned this exam again until the morning of May 22, 2014, when she wanted to make it up. Classes ended May 17; the semester ended May 23. Cynthia is grading final exams and posting final grades from her other students—and she is leaving the country shortly after for her long-planned and paid-for summer vacation. She does not have any extra time. Note also the student has until the end of fall 2014 to make-up the exam and Cynthia offers to set up a fall 2014 make-up date.
5/14: Cynthia is elected to one of two part-time faculty seats on the Laney Faculty Senate. She is now a member of the Laney Faculty Senate and the PFT Executive Board.
7/20/14: Cynthia returns from her vacation and finds a letter from the dean—not the not-the-best-fit letter, another one—saying that since she does not have a fall 2014 assignment, she should return all her keys to Laney College. Cynthia also discovers that her log-in access to Peralta.edu has been severed, meaning students with Incompletes and questions have no way of reaching her or getting their final grades, nor do colleagues whom she still represents on the senate and the union.
8/5/14: The Laney president, the PFT president, the PFT grievance officer, and Cynthia meet to try and resolve the issues. Laney’s president cites several criteria that the college used to arrive at its decision on Cynthia. PFT informed the president that evaluation criteria require negotiation between the PFT and the district, and that she and the college cannot unilaterally create and impose their own. Also at the meeting, out of the blue, the president produced an email from Cynthia’s former dean at Laney College, presenting a litany of alleged student complaints. The president does not show anyone the letter. No complainants are named. No specifics are cited. As far as Cynthia knows, any issues that may have happened under the authority of the former dean are long over and resolved. Cynthia has never been reprimanded or disciplined. She has never had any of her decisions or actions overruled or overturned. In seventeen years of teaching at Laney College, she has never been presented with a formal, written complaint about herself or her work. Her evaluation ranking is Exemplary, and her district personnel file, where any disciplinary actions must be recorded and made available to the employee on request, is spotless.
What we believe.
Cynthia is a solid, committed, and demanding teacher who, as her course outline makes clear, “is strict about (her) rules.” Some people like this approach, others don’t, and that’s fine. Easiness and strictness are not the issues here, clearness and fairness are. Cynthia is very clear about what she wants, expects, and requires. She says it in class and writes it in her outlines, and she is fair in how she acts, holding everyone to the same standards. What is not clear or fair is how Laney acted, and that is why PFT has filed a grievance on behalf of Cynthia and other faculty in the district.
PFT believes the Laney administration retaliated against Cynthia for her protected academic freedom/free speech/and union activities when she spoke out on the Napolitano issue and the part-time teacher recognition issue; when she didn’t sign the petition supporting the rehiring of Laney’s president; and when she wrote to the chancellor, vice chancellor, and trustees expressing her concerns about how she was treated at Laney College. PFT also believes Laney College imposed discipline on Cynthia for what they decided is “bad” teaching without ever holding a hearing, discussing these matters, giving any warnings—if any were warranted—and without giving Cynthia any due process. Laney improperly created its own evaluation standards without notice to or negotiations with PFT. Laney also failed to follow the proper procedures for notifying a faculty member in the preferred hiring pool that s/he would not be offered an assignment by neglecting to give a reason. If Laney can do this to Cynthia, it can do it to anyone. The result will be a reduction of part-time teacher rights and a chilling of faculty participation generally.
The timing, failure to follow policy, and expressed animus towards Cynthia’s protected activities support the conclusion that the rights of PFT, Cynthia, and other part-time faculty have been violated. The sudden administrative criticism of Cynthia’s steady application of academic standards—an application completely within her academic freedom rights and, what’s more, laudable to all who want excellence at Peralta—strongly suggests a pretext for discrimination and retaliation.