Five current and former Black counselors have filed a lawsuit against Southwestern College, alleging racial discrimination in the workplace.
Veronica Burton, Dr. Abdimalik Buul, Stacey Mathis, Dr. James Rose and Brandon Williams described a series of events they said made them feel excluded, taunted, discriminated against, and painted as conspiratorial and scary.
“(SC) is in a period of flux,” said Dante Pride, their attorney. “There are groups of employees that feel the relations aren’t good as they should be and they need to be improved.”
A pair of qualitative surveys have concluded that Black SC employees are subjected to “anti-Blackness” and are dissatisfied with the racial climate of the campus. The BELONG Report, a campus climate survey commissioned by the college, said 80 percent of Black employees were dissatisfied with the racial climate of the campus. About 29 percent of students of color reported that they “did not always feel noticed or supported” by White professors.
President Dr. Kindred Murillo acknowledged the college’s struggles with racial tension and said college leaders continue to work to make the college more diverse, inclusive and equitable.
“I think we have admitted in the past that there have been some issues around anti-Blackness and we’ve never said that it was in any one group (administrators, faculty or staff),” she said. “I think anti-Blackness is an issue at the national, state and institutional level that we all deal with.”
Burton is the only full-time Black woman in the counseling department, according to the suit. Hired in 1998, she said she watched as “less-qualified” non-Black candidates were given promotions over her, including the position of Counseling Department Chair.
In 2018, Burton and Buul applied for the position of Interim Dean of Counseling. The suit claims Burton was the most qualified candidate on paper and had the most relevant experience, and Buul was a high-performing employee respected by his peers.
“These are stellar employees by all measures,” wrote Pride in the brief. “We have people who are doing very well and people who have doctorate degrees. In fact, Dr. Buul left and became Counselor of the Year (at San Diego) City College. That goes to show you the caliber of the plaintiffs.”
Neither Burton nor Buul got the promotion, according to the brief. Rose, who was on the hiring committee, stated in the suit that there was a disdain for Black employees among some members of the committee. An outside candidate was selected for the dean position, the suit says, even though he admitted to having issues with Black people.
The lawsuit alleged that an SC counselor sent out multiple emails described in the suit as “anti-Black.” One message allegedly said “Blacks’ voices are amplified too much,” and this was accepted as free speech by the college, Pride wrote.
The same counselor allegedly accused Burton of being too biased to serve on the Dean of Counseling Services hiring committee and tried to get her removed for calling out the successful candidate’s alleged anti-Black prejudices. Counselors held a vote to pause the committee and Black counselors were explicitly excluded from it, according to the suit.
“SWCCD management knew of these efforts and did nothing to stop the anti-Black rhetoric or insure its Black employees that they were welcome and that their voices did matter,” read the brief.
The lawsuit alleges that perks given to some SC employees are not afforded to Black employees. Buul claimed he was denied an intern because he “needed to become tenured” in order to be eligible for one. A White woman who was hired after Buul, however, was given an intern, according to Buul.
Mathis said she encountered prejudicial treatment when she returned to work after giving birth. She said she was told she could only pump breast milk for 15 minutes a day at work, which she said was not enough time to complete the process. She was told that anything beyond that would come out of her paycheck or that she would have to work additional hours, stated the suit. This rule is not in effect for non-Black employees, according to the suit.
Mathis claims she experienced other unfair and racist treatment. She said she was forced to teach a class at Palomar (High School) when she was experiencing medical issues after giving birth, while non-Black associate counselors were free to refuse assignments at satellite locations.
Pride said the work experiences of Black counselors are exacerbated by the fact that they “are there so much and so often.”
“All of my clients in this lawsuit have sought out treatment and help to deal with the discrimination they have dealt with on campus,” he said.
In response to the 2018 racial climate report by a USC researcher, SC created a task force to address racial issues on campus. Only four people on the task force were Black, according to the brief, and one person allegedly made insensitive and racist comments.
A non-Black member allegedly accused Buul of conspiring with the author of the study because he had also attended USC and because the author and Buul are both Black. She also allegedly said the “N” word at a task force meeting.
“Her comfort in saying such derogatory terms in a professional setting spoke volumes about SWCCD’s anti-Black environment,” said the suit.
Rose was threatened with disciplinary measures for merely attempting to respond in a friendly way to a demonstrative colleague, according to the suit. On one occasion a White female colleague did a “happy shimmy dance” and Rose, trying to be encouraging, said something along the lines of “do your thing,” according to the brief. She immediately threatened to report him to HR. It shook him so much that in 2020 Rose shared the story at a retreat. He and his coworkers cried together, according to the suit.
Rose was allegedly given a difficult time during his tenure review by a counselor “closely aligned” with the successful candidate. It reached a point where a member of the tenure committee stormed out of the office when he refused to acknowledge any of Rose’s achievements, said the suit.
Williams also allegedly faced discrimination during his tenure review. According to the lawsuit, a White professor was the only member to give him low scores and made vague stereotypical comments that were racially biased. She allegedly attempted to change a college policy so that she could give him a poor evaluation, said the suit.
Murillo said she could not comment on the details of the lawsuit while it is in litigation or say whether there would be an investigation of the allegations.
“There’s a lot of different issues that are raised that are different from each other,” she said. “We’re still working on those issues.”
Pride said the counselors are hopeful the lawsuit helps to usher in a change in the college culture that will make it easier for future generations of Black employees to succeed.
“They’re looking to be able to work and do their job and not feel like a second-class citizen while doing it,” he said. “There’s no way that we can give them the time back. The time that they spent building these careers, the time that they spent being treated differently or subjected or subjugated. I feel confident that we’ll be able to show this evidence to a jury and they will see the same thing that I see.”
