Cal Poly’s response to discrimination suit reflects culture of intolerance

We are writing in response to the Sept. 24 Tribune article about Roslyn M. Caldwell, a tenured professor at Cal Poly. From the article: Dr. Caldwell’s lawsuit asserts her employment rights have been violated. University legal counsel Dawn Theodora’s response — to publicly violate Dr. Caldwell’s privacy — illustrates Dr. Caldwell’s claims.

Ms. Theodora’s action toward Dr. Caldwell is particularly perplexing in light of Dr. Caldwell being named in 2010 by The Tribune as a Top 20 Under 40 awardee and whose Bakari Mentoring Program for at-risk youths provides a valuable community service and was awarded the 2012 Cal Poly Presidential Service Learning Award.

Dr. Caldwell refrained from publicly discussing her unresolved employment dispute with the press, resulting in the one-sided nature of The Tribune article. We find it sad and unnecessary that Ms. Theodora impugned Dr. Caldwell’s character in the article. This response is consistent with efforts to protect the university’s public image, but is neither consistent with our policy prohibiting retaliation, nor The Mustang Way “to face all actions and decisions with perseverance, honor and character.”

We are concerned about the violation of any employee’s rights. Further, we are concerned that Dr. Caldwell’s treatment reflects a culture that lacks tolerance for differences. Such a culture may be why our Cal Poly community has recently lost so many employees from nondominant groups. For example, we lost 40 percent of our black staff in the last 18 months, as described in the Sept. 15 New Times article, “Out in the Open: Cal Poly SLO confronts its diversity problem.”

When an institution’s culture is intolerant of differences, those in nonmajority groups may naturally find the institution racist/sexist/discriminatory, even if the institution values diversity. Thus, in order to foster diversity, it is important for all community members to welcome diversity in all its forms, beginning with dissenting points of view — that is, freedom of speech.

If the administration responds to criticism by shifting the investigation to the character of the complainant, not only does it stifle our civil liberty of free speech, it also eliminates the possibility of authentically looking into the claims, learning, and improving the campus climate. Thus the administration’s actions may be reducing the very diversity Cal Poly openly endorses.

We call upon Cal Poly’s administrators to cease targeting individuals for exercising their rights, to welcome criticism as a source of learning, to responsibly facilitate reconciliation where conflicts arise and to open an authentic dialogue to examine apparent patterns of discrimination on campus.

This story was originally published October 11, 2016 at 10:03 PM with the headline "Cal Poly’s response to discrimination suit reflects culture of intolerance."