Teacher leaders at the state's largest community college district are calling for a review and “survivor-centered approach” to how the Los Angeles system responds to sexual harassment complaints after a jury awards $10 million to a professor. who accused a high-ranking administrator of sexual misconduct.
Angela Echeverri, president of the Los Angeles Community College District Academic Senate, said the group is also seeking an independent review of the nine-campus system's sexual harassment policies, even after university officials said there had been improved past deficiencies in the way complaints are handled. .
Echeverri said in an interview that he doesn't think those actions go far enough.
“I don't care how many investigators they have, if people are being protected,” he said. “At this point, external oversight is really needed.”
The Academic Senate is still weighing what additional oversight would look like.
In December, the district's Academic Senate passed a resolution calling on the Board of Trustees to improve efforts to prevent sexual harassment and discrimination by conducting timely and impartial investigations and taking disciplinary action if violations are found. The resolution also called on the board to “periodically review its policies and procedures regarding sexual harassment and discrimination to ensure their effectiveness and compliance.”
The resolution came after the Times in October published an article detailing a civil case against the district in which a jury found it failed to prevent or investigate harassment complaints against Howard Irvin, former vice president of student services at Los Angeles Southwest. College.
The jury also found that the district was negligent in hiring Irvin and had retaliated against Sabrena Turner-Odom, an English teacher who accused Irvin of sexual harassment and sued the district over its handling of her complaint.
Turner-Odom said Irvin repeatedly made lewd comments and gestures during private meetings at Southwest College. Turner-Odom testified in court that during several meetings he watched him “squirm in his chair, rub his genitals and just make movements trying to please himself while he spoke.”
The district is appealing the verdict. During the trial, district attorneys claimed that Turner-Odom's allegations could not be proven. He also faces three other ongoing retaliation and discrimination lawsuits involving Irvin, who was fired from the district at a December 2022 board meeting.
In a statement, the district said it has implemented improvements to the way it processes sexual harassment complaints based on recommendations from a 2018 task force.
“LACCD remains unequivocally committed to a zero-tolerance policy for sexual harassment of any kind in our classrooms and workplaces, and to fostering a campus climate that promotes respect and civility,” the statement said.
Janice Brown, an attorney representing the district and Irvin, did not respond to a message seeking comment. Irvin could not be reached for comment.
In a letter to the Board of Trustees that shared the resolution, Echeverri cited the Times article and said that trustees and Chancellor Francisco Rodríguez “have yet to explain how the District plans to ensure that teachers, students and staff are protected from the sexual harassment. discrimination and retaliation.”
She also said Irvin was recently a finalist for the position of vice president of student services at Los Angeles Trade-Technical College, another campus in the district, a fact she said “was met with disbelief, shock and outrage.”
A district spokeswoman, Juliet Hidalgo, said Irvin was not a finalist for the Trade Tech position, but declined to say how far he went in the interview process.
Echeverri added that the Academic Senate would consider a vote of no confidence against Rodríguez and the trustees at its February meeting if administrators do not adequately address concerns about the district's handling of sexual harassment and discrimination cases.
On Dec. 8, Rodriguez and David Vela, who was then president of the Board of Trustees, sent an email to employees across the district to reaffirm the district's “commitment to a harassment-free environment,” according to a copy of the email. electronic. The email provided an overview of the behavior that constitutes sexual harassment and outlined the policies and resources in place to protect and educate employees.
“LACCD remains unequivocally committed to a zero-tolerance policy for sexual harassment of any kind in our classrooms and workplaces, and to fostering a campus climate that promotes respect and civility,” the email said.
Days later, during a presentation at a Dec. 13 trustees meeting, Natalie Mason-Kinsey, director of the Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility, acknowledged deficiencies in the district's handling of sexual harassment complaints and discrimination in the past.
Mason-Kinsey, who took office about a year ago, said her office has worked to implement the series of recommendations from the 2018 task force created to improve the system's response to sexual harassment complaints.
One deficiency stemmed from the way the district tracked complaints of discrimination and harassment, the task force reported. Before the district began using a centralized system for complaints in 2022, Mason-Kinsey said, complaints were recorded in Excel spreadsheets or other files where they were not easily tracked.
“I'm still looking to make sure we've discovered all the cases,” he said. “Record keeping was not where it should be.”
Since she started in the position, Mason-Kinsey said, she has heard from students and staff who filed complaints of sexual harassment or discrimination and never received any follow-up. The office, she said, had become “the place where things went to die.”
The district also hired two senior compliance investigators last year and is in the process of hiring two more compliance investigators.
“This office is not supposed to make life more difficult for our students or our staff and faculty,” Mason-Kinsey said. “We're supposed to be helpful. “We’re supposed to be receptive.”
