KVPR and The Merced FOCUS received a tip when a Merced educator reached out to reporter Rachel Livinal in October 2024. The educator said at the time that she and a colleague were helping a group of Merced College students protest the fact that one of their ethnic studies professors at the community college was placed on administrative leave in the middle of the fall 2024 semester.
Livinal later learned that, after he was placed on leave, the ethnic studies professor was among at least 10 faculty and staff members at Merced College to file complaints against one of its deans, John Albano – and that some of the others who complained against Albano had either resigned or claimed they were the subject of retaliation.
Between then and the date of publishing, Livinal met with, called and interviewed 18 on-the-record sources, three off-the-record sources, and three sources who agreed to be quoted with varying levels of anonymity. The sources included Merced College faculty, employees, administrators, students, and expert sources in gender studies, ethnic studies and employment law.
Livinal also requested documents from sources and from Merced College.
Livinal submitted eight public records requests to the college from May through August 2025, and an appeal request for a denial of records in September 2025. In response, the college returned six semi-redacted documents from June through September 2025 that included correspondences between administrators for the dean’s transfer and resignation notices of the ethnic studies professors. The college denied Livinal’s appeal for records of the complaints. Livinal also asked for an unredacted version of a resignation notice in December 2025 and received it from the college in January 2026.
From sources, Livinal obtained 59 separate documents from May 2025 through February 2026, including four complaints against Dean John Albano, determination letters, appeal requests and correspondences related to class cancellations.
In November 2025, Livinal requested a meeting with Merced College administrators to talk more about the reporting. That request was denied. Livinal also requested interviews from all members of the Merced College Board of Trustees, excluding the student member, in November 2025, but they did not respond.
Livinal also sent Merced College administrators and John Albano a total of 45 questions in 11 different emails from November 2025 through February 2026. College officials responded with two statements in November 2025 and February 2026. Albano responded via email with statements in December 2025 and February 2026.
All audio and written pieces produced as part of this investigation, including this article, were edited by four editors – Kerry Klein and Cresencio Rodriguez Delgado at KVPR, and Brianna Vaccari and Joseph Kieta at The Merced FOCUS.
