‘We dropped the ball’

Southwestern faculty and staff voice concerns about Racial Climate Report, demand action from administration

Southwestern College employees said at a Governing Board town hall meeting last week that recent tensions on campus regarding charges of racism have made it difficult to breathe.

A team led by Dr. Shaun Harper, USC Race and Equity Center Executive Director, reported that SWC suffers from some of the worst anti-black racism they had ever seen. This problem, they said, was largely the fault of white and Latinx employees.

“In addition to being called n——, unnecessarily confronted by campus police, and associated with animals, African-American classified employees had numerous other examples of being bullied and harassed on campus,” Harper wrote.

After issuing the report, Harper disappeared and cancelled the special Governing Board meeting scheduled for Aug. 22. He also didn’t respond to multiple calls and emails from The Sun.

The college was left with a mess and hundreds of unsettled faculty members.

Employees and community members are looking to SWC President Dr. Kindred Murillo to answer the questions Harper’s team left them with. The report said numerous people referenced her as the “clean up president,” tasked with handling racial conflicts that manifested during the tenure of former SWC President Melinda Nish.

“There was a near-unanimous praise for the ways in which President Murillo messages the college’s commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion,” the report. “Her email messages to the campus were repeatedly mentioned. Accordingly, she consistently uses those messages to convey her values and what she hopes will be the values that Southwestern enacts.”

Mexican-American history instructor Gregorio Pantoja said Murillo is the reason the college has started to have these conversations. Racial problems existed at SWC before she arrived, he said.

“I’d like to commend Kindred for charging this and taking it from side discussions that the minority groups had to have, to owning this historical issue and bringing it to the forefront,” Pantoja said. “Especially as a white president too.”

Not all staff agreed.

At the Governing Board town hall meeting, which was held on Oct. 16, counselor Abdishakur Omar said he has not seen any formal apology for what black people on campus have experienced. He said an informal one may have been sent via Murillo’s “Things to Know” emails. It is not enough, he said.

“I don’t know where the board stands on this, and to say that this was swept under the rug is an understatement,” Omar said. “I think it’s negligence.”

Governing Board Trustee Nora Vargas, who is running unopposed for re-election, said a lack of communication was to blame. The Governing Board has been working, she said, but has not communicated that they are working to address the issues in the report.

“We dropped the ball in my opinion,” Vargas said. “At least that’s where I drop the ball as a governing board member. I will take responsibility for that. I can’t take responsibility for my colleagues.”

Issues not in the past

Critics of the report have questioned its validity and said it was not thorough enough. Murillo said it was not a fact-finding mission and was meant to let people’s voices be heard. Its purpose, she said, was not to determine whether someone was right or wrong.

Harper’s report was also criticized for its lack of data. Dates, times and names not being listed was seen as a lack of official evidence. Murillo said honoring the stories was more important than addressing the validity of the testimony. Incidences reported in the study were from the past, she said, in a Presidential Cabinet meeting with The Sun.

“Some of this stuff that was mentioned was long before I ever got here,” Murillo said. Some of it may have been within some period of time of the last few years but this is their story.”

Pantoja said the people who are discrediting the report are contributing to the racism on campus and they are afraid to relinquish the power they have received from being in a place of authority.

“This report was by far a confrontation of an issue that has been shoved into the basement of this campus for 60 years,” he said. “It has finally been brought to light. Anyone who discounts this is the reason we have this issue.”

Biology instructor Trishana Norquist said racial incidences are still happening. She has been an instructor on campus for two years and said she has experienced four acts of racism, all by different aggressors. She asked how administration is intending to reach out to those who need to hear this dialogue the most and were not at the meeting.

“How am I supposed to feel comfortable to stay,” she questioned. “How am I supposed to feel comfortable to continue to teach my students, to mentor my students? What are we doing? Again, four incidences, different people. I’m pretty sure none of them have read the report. They are also not in this room. They haven’t been to any of the other listening hearings. What are we doing to reach the people who do not care?”

A myriad of meetings

Several racially segregated meetings were held a month prior to the Governing Board town hall. Murillo sent an invitation to those who receive her “Things to Know” emails, which includes staff, faculty, administration and student workers. The meetings were divided by black, white, Hispanic, Asian Pacific Islander, and a final group for people who did not identify with the other four.

The “White Dialogue” was held Aug. 29. Every other meeting was held on Aug. 30 in the same building. Harper wrote that dividing conversations up among individual races was not advised and to have collective conversations where race discussions could be more normalized.

“A college with racial problems as pervasive as Southwestern’s cannot afford to sustain an environment where its employees talk around race, only to discuss it with others in their respective racial/ethnic groups, or abstain all together from conversations about race,” the report reads.

The Sun attempted to attend each of the meetings but reporters were kicked out by Professional Development Program Coordinator Patricia Hinck. Hinck denied reporters access because they were journalists and refused to provide her name.

Murillo confirmed students were removed for being members of The Sun and said it was a discussion for employees only. This was not advertised until Aug. 30, the day after The Sun’s first reporter was removed from the “White Dialogue.” One of the reporters was also a student employee.

On Aug. 31 the college hosted a group discussion where all employees could be heard.

Black employees ignored, three lawsuits in two years

Black employees have said they feel largely ignored by co-workers and the administration and feel they have been passed up for jobs alongside lesser qualified colleagues due to Latinx nepotism. Recording Arts and Technology Professor James Henry said he was brought to tears by the thought of all the missed opportunities an anti-black campus has caused.

“I cried, and then I started to get angry,” he said. “Because then I thought, ‘what might this program be? What opportunities have I missed? What interactions have I missed that I could have built upon to further the opportunities for my students?’”

Omar agreed, saying it took him six days to read the entirety of the report. Omar could not believe it, he said, and he could not fathom the idea that he worked at such an anti-black institution. He said he loses sleep over the things he hears on the college campus. He also said black employees are ignored until it becomes a legal issue.

“The only way that black staff and employees have been able to get attention in this institution is by suing it,” Omar said. “And that’s very sad.”

Three lawsuits have been filed in the last two years citing institutional racism.

A former dean and an IT employee filed separate lawsuits against the college in San Diego Superior Court charging racial discrimination and retaliation.  Dr. Donna Arnold, the former dean of the School of Arts and Communication, and PC Systems Technician Johnny Blankenship allege that the college systematically discriminates against black employees and is guilty of “outrageous conduct” and unfair employment practices.

Arnold received a $60,000 settlement payment approved by the Governing Board at the July 10 meeting.

The third lawsuit was filed by custodians Thaao Streeter, Mark Gutierrez and Roderick Curry. They filed a joint suit claiming systemic racial discrimination that began in 2009. The suit alleges SWC did not adequately train employees to prevent racism and retaliation.

Henry said racism on campus is not always blatant and the issues are more systemic.

“People are always saying ‘well there’s no racism cause there’s no red flags,’” Henry said. “People aren’t going to be going around boiling black people in oil. They’re going to use the tools they have to slow things down to where someone else gets it quicker.”

Negative feelings among the black and Latinx communities were referenced in the report. It reads that qualified black employees are passed up for jobs against lesser-qualified Latinx faculty members. The report also reads that Latinx employees have a strong camaraderie on campus and they look out for one another. Black classified employees said those with the “strongest sense of belonging and inclusion” were Latinx employees.

Pantoja said the black and Latinx conflicts can be attributed to the “structural design of power.” The lack of available employee positions, he said, acts as a way to pit one side against the other.

“It’s basically throwing breadcrumbs to the minorities,” he said. “We also felt that the historical white power or power of whiteness at Southwestern College has manipulated these two groups against each other. It created conflict as a way to divide and conquer.”

What are they doing now?

Numerous employees who attended the Oct. 16 meeting asked what the Governing Board and Murillo are doing to improve the climate. Murillo told The Sun “she was trying” and that institutional change takes up to seven years, although she is aiming for five. She added that the college is working to improve their hiring committees and diversifying the college’s employees.

She also said she has been working to improve the investigation process by making sure each discrimination or Title IX complaint the college receives is followed up with in less than 72 hours. Almost 50 investigations have been filed during her tenure as President.

“This is my midnight to six a.m. project right now,” she said. “I’m serious. This is hard work.”

Murillo said in Spring 2017, 18,933 students were emailed a student “diverse learning environment” survey and only 1,233 responded. The survey asked if students had witnessed discrimination on campus or reported racism on campus, to which almost 90 percent of participants responded no each time. Harper’s survey also asked if students could see administration’s dedication to diversity.

Murillo said she hopes to take part in Harper’s newest survey, the National Assessment of Collegiate Campus Climate. She also said the faculty survey has moved the college in a positive direction.

“I think it provided some more feedback that further supports the direction we are moving in toward systemic culture change that does not tolerate discrimination and disrespect in any form,” Murillo said. “It was obvious we need some more time and more dialogue.”