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· -~~ Volume 4 Issue 28 ~ © Metropress April 28,
Baca's affirmative· action suit lingers Art instructors refuse precedent-setting settlement
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Jaywalker, motorcycle collide: injuries small but concern grows by James Powers
An unwatching force met a slowly moving object. Pedestrian John Linley was jaywalking his way across the intersection of 10th and Lawrence streets shortly be(ore noon on April 23. Motorcyclist Matthew Mieszala was rolling slowly along Lawrence Street. Mieszala who had the green light right-of-w~y. was traveling about five miles per hour, according to the Denver Police Department report. No estimate was made of Linley's speed.
Pedestrian Linley managed to cross three-quarters of the intersection before hitting Mieszala and his motorcycle. Injuries were minimal. "The accident was so minor that it wasn't even reported to me initially," Sgt. Don Imes of the DPD's Pedestrian Safety Unit, said. The large number of jaywalkers on the Auraria campus continues to be a concern for Pedestrian Safety. "We have three people listed as witnesses on our report," Imes said, "so there were probably four or five times that many in the intersection at the time."
In the ambulance: John Linley and Matthew Mieszala, left to right, are ' . checked for Injuries attar their colltslon. .
by R.P. Bellizzi An affirmative action grievance that won' t go away is causing M.sc administrators and faculty considerable grief. While the administrators have tried unsuccessfully to settle the twoyear-old case before the new MSC presi1dent takes over, the three respondents in the case are questioning the administration's priorities. The suit, filed by Eric Bae~ in April 1980, alleged racial discrimination by Craig Smith, MSC associat~ professo~ of art, for giving Baqa a D m a drawmg class Smith taught in the fall of 1979. The grievance was amended by B~ca in November 1980 to include J. Thomas Logan, art professor and department chairman, and Barbara J . ~oughton, associate professor of art. Baca s amended grievance referred to "harassment and intimidation" toward Baca by Logan and Houghton in response to the grievance filed against Smith. Baca claims the Ds Logan and Houghton gave him for two classes in the spring of 1980 were forms of harassment. "They were trying to harass me, " Baca said. "They were taking a vindictive attitude. When people constantly abuse their position and authority, they have to be challenged." In Au~ust 1980, the art department filed a counter grievance through MSC Affirmative Action citing "misadministration and obstruction of the Affirmative Action Grievance Procedure" by Bill Moland, affirmative action director, and several members of the MSC Affirmative Action Council. The grievance requested that "the entire Council disqualify itself from further action concerning this grievance (Baca's) ... basis for this request is that a person should not be both the accused and the judge or prosecutor in the same · proceeding." Art faculty complaints against Moland included alleged violations of confidentiality and failure to attempt to resolve the grievance informally as required by affirmative ac?on guidel~nes. "Affirmative Action terribly mishandled the situation," Hougliton said. "Moland should be reprimanded." Moland claims he did everything he could to resolve the grievance informally. Nevertheless, the Colorado Attorney General's office decided to assume jurisdiction of the suit. The art faculty members believe that action was a result of their grievance against Moland. Moland feels otherwise. "The attorney ·general decided it wanted to hear more testimony, so it assumed responsibility of the Baca
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case," Moland said. In late March, Curtis Wright, acting MSC president, suggested a job reassignment to Moland. Moland was to leave Affirmative Action and begin working under Jim Vanderhye, associate vicepresident of business and finance for MSC, with the suggested title of "coordinator of community servictfs." The Baca case remained unresolved. " This thing has taken on a life of its own, i~ seems," Wright said. ''I'd like to get it resolved before the new MSC president (Richard Fontera) assumes office. We tried to come up with a solution that would be acceptable to the art department and reasonably acceptable to Baca." Meanwhile, the three faculty members had trouble accepting the administration's eagerness to settle the matter quickly after two years. Part of the proposed quick solution included expunction of Baca's grades for the three classes and a tuition refund. The three art professors are having a hard time swallowing this solution. "When you are hired to use your professional judgement and the administration questions that judgement, it reflects on your integrity," Houghton said. "Faculty are hired to give grades," Logan said. "What would happen if every student disputed their grad~?" The three instructors feel that in making such unprecedented concessions ,to Baca the administration is tarni'shing the art department's reputation. In response to Houghton's expressed concern over the administration's hesitancy to stand behind its faculty, Stan Sunderwirth, MSC academic vicepresident, sympathized with Houghton, but suggested "what an excellent gift to ~tinued on page 17