VOLUME 111 ISSUE 2
ONLINE EXCLUSIVES AT PCCCOURIER.COM
January 29, 2015
COURIER 6
(100
\ YEARS
Serving Pasadena
PASADENA CITY COLLEGE
Instructor placed on leave
Philip McCormick
Editor-in-Chief
Architecture instructor
Coleman Griffith was placed
on paid administrative leave on
Jan. 20, pending an investigation
involving sexual harassment
allegations, according to school
officials.
Both students and teachers
complained about Griffith in
early December, just before win¬
ter break, Senior Vice President
Robert Bell said.
“This alleged violation falls
under Title 9 of the federal
registry,” Bell said. “Which are
potential sexual harassment
charges. The District is obligated
to conduct a thorough and fair
investigation.”
In a brief statement to the
Courier, Faculty Association
President Julie Kiotas said that
Griffith “denies the allegations”
against him and that no investi¬
gation had occurred.
“The faculty is extremely
disappointed that Bell would vi¬
olate confidentiality in personnel
matters,” Kiotas said.
Bell said that Griffith had to
be placed on administrative leave
so that the investigation could
be as fair as possible. He also
said that the District was using
an outside investigation firm.
“My hope and my goal is that
the investigation will be done as
quickly and as expeditiously as
possible,” Bell said. “So when we
bring it to closure, we’ll then see
the results of the investigation
and then reengage with Griffith
to see what the next steps are.”
PCC General Counsel Gail
Cooper said that she could not
comment on the investigation,
GRIFFITH page 2 ►
Connect with us
@pcccourier
o
tumblr.com/
pcccourier
n
facebook.com/
pcccourier
@pcccourier
Tiffany Yip/Courier
Coleman Griffith, an archi¬
tecture professor has been
placed on leave.
Makeup, masks and prosthetics, oh my!
Daniel Valencia/Courier
John Hanna holds up a reptilian face mask in front of his Makeup for Stage and Screen class as he poses in room
С-
1 72 on
Tuesday. Story on page 7.
FA and
District
reach
possible
settlement
Matthew Kiewiet
Asst. News Editor
After years of tense negoti¬
ations, the District presented a
contract to the Faculty Associa¬
tion during a closed session of
the Board of Trustees meeting
on Wednesday that FA President
Julie Kiotas said the union is
poised to accept.
Kiotas read the updated con¬
tract, which would likely be rati¬
fied in the next 12 weeks, during
the FA meeting on Thursday
afternoon and was met with
thunderous applause.
“I am happy to tell you that it
is a new day,” said Kiotas. “It is a
new, new day!”
The contract would be the
best offer from the District in
FA page 2 )$*>
Academic
Kristen Luna
Managing Editor
The Academic Senate voted
17 to 14 last month not to certi¬
fy the final draft of the Accred¬
itation Self-Evaluation Report
after Academic Senate President
Eduardo Cairo refused to sign
the document because he said it
was improperly created.
In a recent email sent to facul-
Senate votes against
bers disagreed since a draft of
the self-evaluation was made
public to the campus commu¬
nity in mid-September, which
gave the Academic Senate nearly
three months to look over the
document for revisions.
“. . .The letter claims that
the Senate only had three days
to vet the hard copy of the
document, when, in reality, an
electronic copy of the final draft
had been available for weeks,”
accreditation report
wrote Accreditation Coordina¬
tor and Priorities & Planning
(P&P) committee co-chair
Stephanie Fleming in an email.
“I am extremely disappointed
because this process took place
over a two-year period, allowed
for widespread participation,
appropriately addresses the
positive and negative aspects of
the college, and involved faculty
ACCREDITATION page 2
ty, Cairo outlined many reasons
for not signing the document.
“The process that was
established by the PCC admin¬
istration to produce an accurate
document was a failure,” Cairo
said. “The Senate did not have
adequate time to review, revise,
or submit changes to produce
a document that is reflective of
the reality at PCC since our last
accreditation report.”
However, many faculty' mem-
File photo by Ryan Kevin
Academic Senate President
Eduardo Cairo.
SPEAK OUT!
Should parents vaccinate
their children?
Vote at
PccCourier. com
