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In an open letter addressed to the Board of Trustees, the administration, faculty and staff, Academic Senate President Edward Martinez said members of the Senate had been “intimidated” by events surrounding the group’s Feb 27 meeting.

Many Senate members had expressed anger at the time, the Courier reported on March 1.

“Some members of the Senate Board, including  the Senate Secretary and the Senate Treasurer, were angered that our normal procedures were so blatantly interfered with and that a situation of intimidation had been created,” Martinez wrote. “Both of these officers and other representatives left the meeting in protest. Roger Marheine, as an English division representative, moved to cancel the meeting, but I had to overrule the motion after a vote since it had not been properly agendized.”

At a meeting of the Senate Executive Board on Monday, Martinez declined to elaborate on the letter. ” We have nothing further to add. We already send a response to Mr. Rocha’s letter.”

Martinez added that the Senate was an independent organization “It is the Academic Senate that will decide when and where we meet. We will decide the circumstances of our discussions,” he wrote. “Furthermore, I must make it clear to the College President that he is a guest at our meetings.”

In a Feb.29 letter to the Martinez, PCC President Mark Rocha had apologized.

 I write to offer my sincere apology to you and the Academic Senate for the events that occurred last Monday’s meeting. Pure and simple the situation was mishandled and I assure you it won’t happen again.

The Senate meeting on Feb. 27 came as a surprise to many of its members as campus police were dispatched to guard the doors of C233, the usual location of the Academic Senate meeting. Chairs were removed and members of the administration were present, seated front row. A video camera was also present to record the meeting.           

The setting, according to Senate members, set an intimidating tone that prevented the group from functioning properly.

“The atmosphere was not comfortable, not collegial, and not appropriate for the Senate to carry out its responsibilities,” said Roger Marheine, President of the Faculty Association and also an Academic Senate representative for the English Department, in an email to the Courier after the meeting.

Marheine had motioned to postpone the meeting to a later date in order to accommodate other members but the Senate was told that the vote to adjourn was invalid under the Brown Act. The meeting was forced to continue despite the fact that the Senate secretary, treasurer, and two representatives dismissed themselves in protest.

In his letter of apology to Martinez, Rocha stated that the “situation was mishandled.” Rocha had requested to move the Senate meeting to the Creveling Lounge, but later discovered that there would be a conflict with the Associated Students Townhall. Campus police were then dispatched to the C233 location after having informed Rocha about their concerns regarding fire code regulations in the room and security.

“My intention was to insure the exact opposite of what occurred, that is to insure the broadest possible participation and comfortable environment for the Senate meeting,” Rocha wrote.

Martha Bonilla, secretary of the Academic Senate, addressed Rocha at the meeting, saying that his request to move the meeting was more of a command. She also said that his actions were an attack on the decorum of the Senate and the faculty.

“If you would like us to move, it would be a good idea to present that request at the first Senate, put it to the road of the faculty and its representatives rather than command our movement,” Bonilla said at the meeting, before dismissing herself from the meeting.

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