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Update: I’ve put up a follow-up post with new details and links on this story here, and a discussion of Chopra’s actions here.
Wow. This is … wow.
Four professors at Southwestern College, a community college in Chula Vista, California, have been suspended from their jobs and barred from campus — apparently for supporting a peaceful student budget protest.
The protest took place last Thursday, and drew the participation of several hundred SWC students. By Friday, the four professors had all received letters saying that they had been suspended effective immediately. The letters suggested that each of the four had violated a California state law prohibiting the willful disruption of “the orderly operation of the campus.”
English Professor Philip Lopez, the president of the college’s faculty union and one of the four suspended professors said he had been given no clear explanation for his suspension, but was sure it was an act of retaliation for the protest. “Clearly,” he told Inside Higher Ed, “the administration doesn’t think there is such a thing as the First Amendment.”
Another of the suspended professors, creative writing instructor Andrew Rempt, told the San Diego Union Tribune that the college’s head of human resources showed up at his home on Thursday evening with a police officer in tow to deliver his suspension letter by hand.
The president of the college, Raj K. Chopra, is on vacation, and the position of college spokesperson is currently vacant. Inside Higher Ed was unable to reach any other college official for an explanation of their action.
Update | A short, cryptic statement from Chopra’s executive assistant claims that the university is conducting an “investigation” of a matter “unrelated to the student rally.”
Second Update | This story keeps getting weirder. According to the blog Save Our Southwestern College, Chopra and HR director Jackie Osborne both went on vacation on Friday morning, hours after putting the faculty suspensions into effect. Chopra is expected to be gone from campus for three weeks.
Third Update | A post at Save Our Southwestern College identifies all four suspended professors. An anonymous comment on that post states that three of the four suspended professors participated in the budget rally, and that the suspension of the fourth was lifted when it was learned that she had not been in attendance at the protest. That commenter also claims that “at least one student … has received a letter warning him of the consequences of speaking out at SWC.”
Fourth Update | In a new interview with a local television station, targeted professor Philip Lopez calls the suspensions an act of “union busting,” and says all four profs were critics of Chopra’s policies.
Tuesday Update | As noted at the top of this story, I’ve now written a follow-up post with new details and links.
The student government at Idaho’s Boise State University has passed a resolution asking BSU’s faculty senate to amend a proposal that would reportedly end student participation in the academic grievance process.
Under current procedure, if a student’s complaint about an academic issue cannot be resolved through discussions with his or her professor, the chair of department, or the relevant dean, the dispute is brought to an Academic Grievance Board composed of seven faculty members and seven students.
But under a proposal currently under consideration by the faculty senate, students would be removed from the grievance process entirely.
Under the new setup, the final decision on any academic grievance would be made by the provost’s office, with the provost empowered, “at his or her discretion,” to “convene a panel … of three deans or associate deans” to assist in making a judgment.
One BSU administrator called the existing process cumbersome and antiquated, with a vice president of the university’s faculty senate saying that it is often difficult to find seven student members to sit on the grievance board.
But student government leaders rejected the idea that students should be removed from the process entirely, proposing that a six-member panel, including three students selected by the BSU student government and three faculty members selected by the provost, be given ultimate responsibility for grievance appeals.
Hat tip to the National Student News Service for bringing our attention to this story.
studentactivism.net 
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