On Feb. 13, Oswego State students received an email from President Deborah Stanley stating the chief diversity and inclusion officer Rodmon King would be temporarily working at The College at Brockport part time as well as keeping his position at Oswego State.
This was after The College at Brockport fired their chief diversity officer, Cephas Archie, on Jan. 27. The university has not disclosed why he was fired at this time.
He was fired before another Brockport faculty member, Vicki Elsenheimer, filed a discrimination charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, according to Rochester First. Archie had been reportedly meeting with Elsenheimer prior to being fired.
Many students and staff at The College at Brockport found the firing of Archie to be sudden. This sparked protests by students, many of whom felt Archie was an asset to The College at Brockport community, and that his firing was unjust and surprising.
“There have been no answers given as to why Dr. Archie was fired and even he doesn’t seem to know. I heard him speak on a radio podcast and he said that he only knows that the firing has to do with his ‘performance,’” Mary Fish, a senior at The College at Brockport, said. “We are still fighting for Dr. Archie. We want answers. We want him reinstated.”
Another student from The College at Brockport, Adrianna Thrasher, was able to intern in the office with Archie and Sandra Vasquez, The College at Brockport’s diversity recruitment and retention specialist.
“I’ve spoken many times with many people – with Dr. Archie before he left. He was one of those people that had no problem letting people know when there were shortcomings, including himself, including the people he worked with, everybody,” Thrasher said. “But he was also one of those kinds of people that once he said ‘here’s an issue I see,’ he didn’t just say, ‘that’s an issue,’ he said, ‘let’s work together to find a way to fix it.”
According to Thrasher, making changes, such as “diversity classes,” which are part of Brockport’s core educational requirements, has proven to be difficult. She said the diversity classes have not been changed in almost 20 years, despite more research being done into types of diversity.
The protests on campus have been occurring intermittently since the end of January, when the university announced the firing of Archie. Since the protests began, students have been discussing ways to improve equity, diversity and inclusion on campus, according to Fish.
Fish said this conversation started when students were able to voice their opinions to The College at Brockport president, Heidi Macpherson, during a town hall session she set up. During this meeting, Fish noted the presence of university police officers which she found unsettling.
“This was very unnerving considering that we were talking about racial concerns on campus, and there is not a strong relationship with people of color and police on this campus,” she said. “I have several friends who have had problems with university police.”
Thrasher had a similar story to Fish. She discussed an event that occurred last semester, where someone called and reported possible fighting occurring in the student union. University Police arrived and began questioning students to see if fighting had happened. Thrasher spoke to officers, and said she was there the entire time, and there was no fighting.
“They were questioning people. They didn’t ask me for my ID, but proceeded to ask multiple students of color for their ID and asked people to leave, but there was nothing going on,” she said. According to Thrasher, the police had been investigated for racial bias.
Since Archie’s firing, it has been reported that University Police began looking into Archie’s history, and reaching out to previous employers. However, due to the fact that Archie is no longer an employee of the university, and investigation started after he left the university staff, President Macpherson called off all investigations.
While all this was occuring, students continued to make their voices heard. The most recent protest, according to Fish, was last Thursday, when students held a sit-in in the building where Macpherson’s office is. She invited students in 15 at a time to hear their concerns, which reportedly took hours.
On Feb. 11, Vasquez resigned from her position, after saying it was “nearly impossible,” according to her resignation letter.
“Dr. Vasquez mentioned that the climate over the years has been difficult to work in. But with recent firing of Dr. Archie, it seemed impossible to have the proper help to be successful in her position,” Fish said.
SUNY Chancellor Kristina Johnson has responded to the situation at Brockport, but has not yet gone to the campus, according to Thrasher.
“The mayor said something, and then she showed up. She was at the town hall, she keeps showing up on TV, she writes letters, but then she shows up,” Thrasher said. “But kind of like our president, the chancellor said something, and said she was going to be here, but she hasn’t been here. If you really think it’s an unacceptable situation, why aren’t you here?”
According to Wayne Westervelt, the chief communications officer at Oswego State, King will be serving in an advising role at Brockport.
“Dr. King was asked to serve on a limited special assignment, as a consultant, to advise Brockport President Dr. Heidi Macpherson and her leadership team, as well as mentor and support the interim chief diversity officer at Brockport,” Westervelt said.
In an email sent to Brockport students, it was explained that King will have full “decision-making authority” to implement any changes necessary to improve Brockport’s inclusion and diversity on campus.
Although many students and staff want to solve the inclusion and diversity issues on campus, some believe King going over will not fix the main issues on the campus at the moment.
“We have a diversity officer. Give him back,” Thrasher said.
King will begin his temporary role in March of this year, and finish by May. However, he expressed he would still be available to Oswego State students and staff.
“The Oswego campus community will remain my priority, and I will still be available to meet and to work with members of the Oswego community,” King said.
Brockport currently has an interim replacement for Archie, but according to Fish, both Archie and Vasquez are greatly missed.
“These are key people who helped the underrepresented students on campus, and now they are both gone,” Fish said.
Photo provided by Wayne Westervelt
