A City College staff member is accusing the college’s personnel director and legal adviser of job discrimination and institutional racism.
David Stone, inventory control technician, is charging that Sue Ehrlich, vice president of Human Resources and Legal Affairs, singled him out based on his race when she asked him to stop circulating campuswide e-mails unrelated to school business.
On April 21, Stone sent a 446-word e-mail publicizing a series of multicultural dances and events based around Santa Barbara. The events were not campus-sponsored.
He stressed that he had no financial stake in any of the activities.
Stone, who is black, said he plans to sue the college because the e-mail is just the latest example of institutional racism he has faced in the last four years.
“Some covert bull**** led to this mess,” Stone told The Channels. “I’ve known for a while that I would nail them, and now, I am going to nail them, baby. This is going to stop now. One way or another, this is going to stop.”
Ehrlich was unwilling to talk specifically about Stone’s case, saying it “may have to be handled in another forum.” She did, however, talk briefly about the college’s enforcement of its e-mail policy.
“I don’t know of anyone who has been disciplined for e-mail use,” Ehrlich said. “The college isn’t trying to censor anyone about anything. We are not trying to silence anybody.”
Like most work sites in America, City College grapples with exactly where to draw the line between appropriate and inappropriate e-mails. Some people resent anything cluttering their electronic mailboxes not directly related to their work. Others enjoy the free flow of information that adds to an academic institution’s marketplace of ideas. And many fall somewhere in the middle.
Stone is known for his regular campuswide e-mails. In them, he discusses everything from Ivy League financial-aid packages available for black students to the trash building up around his office.
Referring to himself in a later e-mail as the “Dr. King and Tupac Shakur of 721 Cliff Drive,” Stone called Ehrlich’s e-mail to him both “prejudicial and admonishing.”
Campus policy regarding e-mail use states, “The district encourages the use of electronic communication to share information and knowledge in support of the District’s mission of education, student support, public service and to conduct the District’s business.”
Restrictions include a sender using e-mail for, “Commercial purposes not under the auspices of the District.”
The Channels conducted an informal e-mail survey asking selected employees whether administrators ever contacted them asked them to use the message board instead of e-mail. One professor, Peter Georgakis, said a former dean cautioned him eight years ago when his daughter tried to sell her Girl Scout cookies campuswide using his e-mail account.
Several others acknowledged using e-mail for non-college purposes, and of those, 10 said they never received a personal memo asking them to stop.
Ehrlich would not confirm whether her e-mail to Stone was the first of its kind.
She said college policy does not prohibit the dissemination of personal information, but added the college relies on employees to practice proper Internet etiquette.
“We are dependent and hope that people will self-regulate their use of campus-wide e-mail,” she told The Channels
After his April 21 memo promoting the dance events, Ehrlich sent Stone the following message on April 25: “David, This is not related to school business. It would appear that you are using your access to GroupWise to advertise a private venture. Such use is not consistent with college policies.”
Stone then forwarded Ehrlich’s personal message to the entire school. After this, some 25 college employees responded, some agreeing with Ehrlich, but most siding with Stone.
Wrote English Professor Sandy Starkey, “I have no objection to an e-mail regarding a community event. We constantly receive e-mails on items unrelated to ‘college business’ …advertising house exchanges, vacation homes, concert tickets.”
Countered Physics Professor Dr. Mike Young, “I strongly support a policy that prohibits non-school business. [Stone’s] e-mail is borderline and that is why John Romo set up [the message board.] Please use it.”
The college message board is a site reserved for discussions, community events and free classified-type advertisements.
In an April 27 e-mail, Stone discussed the impact Ehrlich’s request had on him, saying he was home sick “fearing convulsions.”
“This is a very stressful time for me,” he wrote. “I shake as I write…It is my charge that this college is practicing job discrimination as well as institutionalized racism….This is a serious charge that I intend to pursue assiduously.”