This story was published as part of a series called Paper Trails and Transfers in collaboration with The Merced FOCUS.
MERCED, Calif. — During an academic senate meeting last month, multiple Merced College faculty members voiced concern over rising tensions on campus and within administration, and called for peace.
The senate meeting on Aug. 27 was the first one of the new semester. The body meets again on Thursday. More than 10 academic senators and employees from the college stood up at the last meeting to speak during public comment about charged interactions between faculty and administration that began in March.
Most of the comments directly linked or alluded to an investigative report published by KVPR and The Merced FOCUS.
Academic senate members also discussed resolutions to protect free speech and protect them from potential retaliation.
The news outlets’ investigation looked into events that took place after at least 10 employees filed complaints against John Albano, a faculty member who previously served as dean, alleging gender and race discrimination.
Two independent investigations found no wrongdoing by Albano. Some complaints were dismissed on procedural grounds, while others were found to be unsubstantiated or otherwise exonerated him.
But the complaints still led to a campus shake-up for professors, staff and students.
Albano transferred as dean to another department before he moved back to a faculty position at the beginning of this semester. Two faculty members and an employee resigned shortly after filing their complaints, and hundreds of students were displaced from a required course after the faculty members resigned.
Since then, tensions have risen in the campus and have spilled into public about a number of issues, including press access and free speech during public meetings. A heated email exchange among administrators and faculty leaders, and another human resources investigation also highlight the fallout following the reporting.
“This has caused huge division within the campus community, among faculty. Students are involved. The rest of employees are involved,” David Noblett, a lead faculty member for the department of public safety and a professor of criminal justice, said during public comment. “All this is doing is creating a lot of division, and it just needs to die. It's over. It's done. It needs to die.”
Nevertheless, Merced College administrators said in a statement they remain committed to working together with faculty and moving forward so the college remains a positive place to work.
“We remain extremely proud of our employees and the positive, student-centered culture we have built together,” Jill Cunningham, vice president of external affairs, said in a statement. “Moving forward, we will continue to listen, communicate openly and work collaboratively to make Merced College an even stronger place to learn and work.”
Faculty calls for peace
Campus officials, academic senators and employees filled every seat at the August Academic Senate meeting, which took place at the Trident Innovation Center on campus. Some stood near the doorways.
While some stated the college faculty quoted in the KVPR and The Merced FOCUS articles were justified for speaking to the media, others said the move unnecessarily amplified interpersonal conflict and tainted the reputation of the college.
“One of our issues seems to be with faculty speaking to the press,” Patrick Mitchell, a math professor and acting past president of the senate, said. “Why shouldn't they? Since our current board of trustees refuses to supervise the president, we need the community to supervise the board of trustees, and that is accomplished with the help of the press.”
Michael Lorenz, a history professor and senator who was quoted in the series of articles, also urged faculty to understand the complexity of the situation that was reported.
“There's hundreds of faculty here, and there's a wide variety of experiences, and so I'd say don't let the microcosm of your own personal experience dictate other people's perception either,” he said.
Heather Gonzalez, an English professor, said she wished the faculty who went to the press would have initiated dialogue internally first.
“Maybe we could have worked together instead of going out and putting a reputation, representative of a small group, out there in the community,” she said.
Several Academic Senate members emphasized positive feelings toward Merced College. One called it “an absolute lighthouse” in the community.
Others, such as Sam Severo, a senator, professor and coach, questioned the need to discuss interpersonal conflict at all during the academic senate meetings.
“It is ‘Dynasty’ or ‘Knots Landing’ stuff we got going on, but it is far from academic,” Severo said, referencing soap opera television shows from the 1980s.
Meeting procedures in the spotlight
Even before the August meeting, workplace conflict and free speech were topics of discussion in academic senate meetings.
After KVPR and The Merced FOCUS published the articles in March, one senator called for Caitlin Serpa, one of the faculty leaders who was quoted in the articles, to step down from her position as president of the academic senate.
The comment from that senator then sparked even more reaction. The senator, who attended the meeting virtually but left after giving public comment, was marked absent in the meeting minutes. This resulted in an HR investigation that looked into claims that the marked absence was an act of retaliation and discrimination against them.
During last August’s meeting, Merced College’s Vice President of Human Resources, Kelly Avila, told the senate that the investigation found evidence supporting the allegation of retaliation.
“Retaliation is a significant finding,” Avila said. “I don't think I need to tell you that. It should not be minimized, explained away, converted into another institutional conflict.”
At the meeting, Avila presented a number of next steps to resolve the matter, including correcting the marked absence, adopting new written policies for attendance and public comments, and providing training on the Brown Act, California’s open meeting law.
Serpa spoke to KVPR and The Merced FOCUS after the meeting.
She said allowing senators to speak in public comment is a good thing because it gives them a way to speak about issues under the same protections members of the public have when speaking.
“A lot of people feel like their side of the story wasn't told, and they're hurt by that,” Serpa said. “I think just speaking out in general is giving people that platform to finally figure out what they're feeling and hear what other people are feeling, and I would hope that this will help us all start to heal.”
Administrators express concern
The Academic Senate meeting wasn’t the only place where faculty appeared at odds with the college. A flurry of heated emails was exchanged among faculty and administrators in the spring.
In a series of emails to academic senate leaders and the faculty at large, administrators called out faculty leaders for creating a “divisive environment” by sharing outstanding issues with media outlets.
The administrators, which included Merced College President Chris Vitelli, Vice President of Instruction Dee Sigismund and Vice President of Student Services Mike McCandless, also raised concerns about faculty leaders removing a slot for the college president to give a report during the academic senate meetings.
“Through Academic Senate discussions, both in public meetings and in check-ins with administration, it has become increasingly clear that the current tone and direction of faculty leadership are contributing to a more divisive environment,” Sigismund and McCandless wrote in one email sent on March 25.
In another instance, Vitelli used his weekly Monday email sent to all staff campuswide to air his grievances.
“I have been concerned by recent actions by current faculty leadership that move us away from
that standard, including decisions that limit established opportunities for communication and transparency,” he wrote. “We cannot call for greater communication while simultaneously removing spaces where information is shared and dialogue can occur.”
Faculty leaders then replaced the president’s report on the agenda for the academic senate meeting in August.
The president’s report serves as a way for faculty to engage and communicate with the president, Jill Cunningham, the college’s spokeswoman, said in a statement. College administrators believe it’s important to maintain those types of opportunities, she added.
“The Academic Senate is a faculty-governed body, and we respect its authority to determine its agendas,” Cunningham said. “At the same time, we continue to believe that regular, direct communication between faculty leadership and administration benefits our institution and, most importantly, our students.”
