Investigators who examined accusations of racism and unfair treatment in the spring Associated Student Organization election concluded that advisors supervising the ASO were at fault for the chaos and racial tension that followed when members of an all-African-American ticket accused a mostly-Latino ticket of racism and character assassination. Students were mostly cleared of wrongdoing and the results of the election were upheld.
Investigators who examined accusations of racism and unfair treatment in the spring Associated Student Organization election concluded that administrators supervising the ASO were at fault for the chaos and racial tension that followed when members of an all-African-American ticket accused a mostly-Latino ticket of racism and character assassination. Students were mostly cleared of wrongdoing and the results of the election were upheld.
Dr. Malia Flood, who served as dean of Student Affairs during the election, has been reassigned to the position of director of Disabled Student Services, Murillo said. Brett Robertson, who was director of Student Development, will also be reassigned, but Murillo would not say where. Murillo said that Student Activity Coordinator Richard Eberheart would remain in that position.
Christian Sanchez of the mostly-Latino Team Green slate won the ASO presidency. Bamba Chibweth was elected executive vice president. Juliette Garcia was named VP of Finance and Juan Carlos Sandoval-Rodriguez VP of Club Affairs. Dimitrius Loa, a central figure in the controversy, was seated as VP of Public Relations. Dae’avion Randle is the Executive Secretary. Eddie Alexander Barbarin is the Social VP and Valdivia the VP of Outreach. Students elected as senators are Samantha Valdivia, Isaiah Adkins, Terry Conklin Jr, Mckenzie Dawkins, Jenai Funk and Albert Robinson.
Ayona Hudson, the presidential candidate on the all-black Team Elite ticket, was named to a newly-created position called VP of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. She is currently writing a constitutional amendment proposal for the 2020 ballot that would create a permanent position. Hudson was not elected to any ASO office.
College President Dr. Kindred Murillo abruptly cancelled the election May 2 during a contentious meeting of the candidates and employee supporters. Team Elite charged Team Green with racist behavior, including a vicious Instagram post.
Murillo ordered an investigation by Kelly Minnehan of Erickson Law Firm. She was subsequently accused of bias by some subjects of the investigation. District spokesperson Lillian Leopold said the college Human Resources office conducted an investigation of Minnehan. HR staff determined that Minnehan had not demonstrated bias. Minnehan was later joined by Nicole Denow of Currier and Hudson. Minnehan wrote the 218-page investigation, Denow wrote a 19-page summary.
The 218-page report was heavily redacted of virtually every name, though many were accidentally left exposed. Individual subjects and witnesses were identified only by number. College administrators pulled the report later on the same day it was issued.
Video and audio recorded by The Sun, along with earlier reporting, allowed staff to corroborate some of the redacted names. “Individual 10,” Dimitrius Loa, was exonerated of the allegations that he made discriminatory comments about Team Elite being an all-black slate.
Team Green was accused of a false flag attack on Team Elite from an Instagram account called “swccharterinsomaliland” disguised as a Team Elite post that urged SC students to “chop the heads off of the euro-centrist white supremacist Mexicans of the campus.” Team Elite presidential candidate Hudson was featured in the post, though she had nothing to do with its creation.
“Individual Five,” Assistant Professor of Biology Trishana Norquist, publicly accused four individuals for creating the fake post while raising her voice and speaking sternly, according to the investigation report. In an audio recorded by The Sun, Norquist can be heard encouraging Monte Clarke, “Individual 19” and President of Black Student Union, to read out the names.
“Hector, Jorge, Marcos [and] Eddie,” Clarke said.
Investigators cleared the four named students of wrongdoing.
The investigation concluded that neither slate was responsible for the post. It concluded that a non-candidate student was responsible, but his name was redacted from the report.
The four candidates named by Clarke were at the protest, but investigators concluded that the student who recorded the video shot it from behind them. College security cameras confirmed this, the report said.
Sandoval-Rodriguez, newly seated VP of Club Affairs, said at the forum he was relieved neither team was involved in the post, but he also said he is concerned that the student responsible may not be punished.
“What are the consequences brought onto this person because it was a really serious thing?” he said. “(The allegation) was calling for my head.”
Murillo said she knows who it is, but will not disclose the name.
“Individual 15,” Rudolph Villegas, the former SC Student Trustee, said the emergency meeting on May 2 was unconstitutional because an agenda was not posted 24 hours in advance. The investigation concluded there was probable cause that Villegas was not neutral as he was required to be in his position as Student Trustee during the spring 2019 ASO election.
Allegations that the Electoral Board erred by failing to reach a conclusion on April 29 or May 1 was dismissed by the investigation.
“Individual 11,” Dr. Guadalupe Corona, director of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, was cleared of allegations that she did not adequately perform her job by coaching and advising Team Green, but not Team Elite. Corona’s supervisor, however, said she should have handled the situation better, according to the report.
“It was expected that [Corona] would respond to student’s letter of May 10, 2019 with a tone that acknowledged the student’s concerns, apologized for the student’s experience and noted the administrator’s lack of intent to cause the type of result that occurred,” the summary reads.
“Individual Three,” ASO Adviser Richard Eberheart, was found to be biased by the investigator.
Eberheart allowed ASO Election Board meetings to proceed without 24-hour notice in violation of the ASO Constitution, according to the report.
Team Green was cleared of bias by investigators for delaying the meeting on Team Elite’s grievance.
Spring’s controversy boiled into the summer when new SC Vice President of Human Resources Rose DelGaudio ordered former Title IX Director Gloria Chavez to use the California Public Records Act in an effort to force The Sun to surrender video it filmed during the May 2 meeting. Student leaders and the acting faculty advisor refused, citing the illegality of the demand. DelGaudio and Chavez then sent a threatening letter to the home of Dr. Max Branscomb, The Sun’s faculty advisor who was out on medical leave following four surgeries for stage-4 cancer. Branscomb also refused to surrender the video, he said, based on principle.
During the summer Team Green presidential candidate Sanchez approached Hudson with a proposal to set aside their differences and form a “coalition government.” Murillo said she supported the idea, though there is no mechanism in the ASO Constitution to do so. Hudson and Sanchez asked SCEA faculty union president S. Rob Shaffer to mediate a series of meetings between members of the two slates.
Sanchez and Hudson announced the coalition government from the mainstage of the college’s employee opening day event in August. Many faculty in attendance stood and applauded the act of conciliation, though some questioned the legality of appointing a government that was not elected by the student body.
Following questioning by The Sun about the legality of forming an unelected ASO government, Murillo had college lawyers draft language that she was authorized to do so.
Christian Sanchez of the mostly-Latino Team Green slate won the ASO presidency. Bamba Chibweth was elected executive vice president. Juliette Garcia was named VP of Finance and Juan Carlos Sandoval Rodriguez VP of Club Affairs. Dimitrius Loa, a central figure in the controversy, was seated as VP of Public Relations. Dae’vion Randal is the Executive Secretary and Eddie Alexander Barbarin the Social VP. Students elected as senators are Samantha Valdivia, Isaiah Atkins, Terry Conklin Jr, Mckenzie Dawkins, Jenai Funk and Albert Robinson.
Ayona Hudson, the presidential candidate on the all-black Team Elite ticket, was named to a newly-created position called VP of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. She is currently writing a constitutional amendment proposal for the 2020 ballot that would create a permanent position. Hudson was not elected to any ASO office.
College President Dr. Kindred Murillo abruptly cancelled the election May 2 during a contentious meeting of the candidates and employee supporters. Team Elite charged Team Green with racist behavior, including a vicious Instagram post.
Murillo ordered an investigation by Kelly Minnehan of Erickson Law Firm. She was later joined by Nicole Denow of Currier and Hudson following charges of biasby Minnehan. Denow’s investigation took six months and was released November 14 at a public meeting. The 218-page report was heavily redacted of virtually every name, though many were accidentally left exposed. Individual subjects and witnesses were identified only by number. A 19-page summary was issued along with the report. College administrators pulled the report later on the same day it was issued.
Video and audio recorded by The Sun, along with earlier reporting, allowed staff to corroborate some of the redacted names. “Individual 10,” Dimitrius Loa, was exonerated of the allegations that he made discriminatory comments about Team Elite being an all-black slate.
Team Green was accused of a false flag attack on Team Elite from an Instagram account called “swccharterinsomaliland” disguised as a Team Elite post that urged SC students to “chop the heads off of the euro-centrist white supremacist Mexicans of the campus.” Team Elite presidential candidate Hudson was featured in the post, though she had nothing to do with its creation.
“Individual Five,” Assistant Professor of Biology Trishana Norquist, publicly accused four individuals for creating the fake post while raising her voice and speaking sternly, according to the investigation report. In an audio recorded by The Sun, Norquist can be heard encouraging Monte Clarke, “Individual 19” and President of Black Student Union, to read out the names.
“Hector, Jorge, Marcos [and] Eddie,” Clarke said.
Investigators cleared the four named students of wrongdoing.
The investigation concluded that neither slate was responsible for the post. It read that a non-candidate student was responsible, but his name was redacted from the report.
The four candidates named by Clarke were at the protest, but investigators concluded that the student who recorded the video shot it from behind them. College security cameras confirmed this, the report said.
Juan Carlos Sandoval Rodriguez, newly seated VP of Club Affairs, said at the forum he was relieved neither teams were involved in the post, but also said he is concerned that the student responsible may not be punished.
“What are the consequences brought onto this person because it was a really serious thing?” he said. “(The allegation) was calling for my head.”
Murillo said she knows who it is, but will not disclose the name. The investigation report confirmed he is involved with Puente.
“Individual 15,” Rudolph Villegas, the former SC Student Trustee, said the emergency meeting on May 2 was unconstitutional because an agenda was not posted 24 hours in advance. The investigation concluded there was probable cause that Villegas was not neutral as he was required to be in his position as Student Trustee during the spring 2019 ASO election.
Allegations that the Electoral Board erred by failing to reach a conclusion on April 29 or May 1 was dismissed by the investigation.
“Individual 11,” Dr. Guadalupe Corona, director of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, was cleared of allegations that she did not adequately perform her job by coaching and advising Team Green, but not Team Elite. Corona’s supervisor, however, said she should have handled the situation better, according to the report.
“It was expected that [Corona] would respond to student’s letter of May 10, 2019 with a tone that acknowledged the student’s concerns, apologized for the student’s experience and noted the administrator’s lack of intent to cause the type of result that occurred,” the summary reads.
“Individual Three,” ASO Advisor Richard Eberheart, was found to be biased by the investigator.
Eberheart allowed ASO Election Board meetings to proceed without 24-hour notice in violation of the ASO Constitution, according to the report.
Team Green was cleared of bias by investigators for delaying the meeting on Team Elite’s grievance.
Spring’s controversy boiled into the summer when new SC Vice President of Human Resources Rose DelGaudio ordered former Title IX Director Gloria Chavez to use the California Public Records Act in an effort to force The Sun to surrender video it filmed during the May 2 meeting. Student leaders and the acting faculty advisor refused, citing the illegality of the demand. DelGaudio and Chavez then sent a threatening letter to the home of Dr. Max Branscomb, The Sun’s faculty advisor who was out on medical leave following four surgeries for stage-4 cancer. Branscomb also refused to surrender the video, he said, based on principle.
During the summer Team Green presidential candidate Sanchez approached Hudson with a proposal to set aside their differences and form a “coalition government.” Murillo said she supported the idea, though there is no mechanism in the ASO Constitution to do so. Hudson and Sanchez asked SCEA faculty union president S. Rob Shaffer to mediate a series of meetings between members of the two slates.
Sanchez and Hudson announced the coalition government from the mainstage of the college’s employee opening day event in August. Many faculty in attendance stood and applauded the act of conciliation, though some questioned the legality of appointing a government that was not elected by the student body.
Following questioning by The Sun about the legality of forming an unelected ASO government, Murillo had college lawyers draft language that she was authorized to do so.
Murillo said she agreed with the investigation findings that college employees advising the ASO were at fault. She said actions would be taken but did not specify what they would be.
