S.F. State dean’s suit claims harassment

The dean of San Francisco State University’s historic College of Ethnic Studies sued the university Wednesday and accused its president and California State University of harassing, retaliating and discriminating against him because he is a gay black man trying to keep his program afloat.

The suit comes 18 months after a campus dispute in which students protested and staged a hunger strike over their suspicion that ongoing budget deficits at Ethnic Studies were because San Francisco State was starving it of cash and planned to shut down the unique, 48year-old college. At the time, campus President Les Wong denied such a plan and vowed to help the College of Ethnic Studies financially. San Francisco State is the nation’s only university to group ethnic studies programs under a standalone college, and students and faculty prize its status.

In his suit filed in San Francisco Superior Court, Dean Kenneth Monteiro claims that Wong and other campus officials blamed him for the student protests and for causing persistent budget deficits of $500,000 a year by overspending. As a result, says the suit, Wong has threatened to fire the longtime dean. Although Monteiro doesn’t explain in his suit why he believes Ethnic Studies has recently operated at a deficit, he says the recession last decade was at fault at that time. The suit says former President Robert Corrigan, who retired in 2012, always patched up the financial gaps.

Now, says the suit, Wong blames Monteiro for the recent budget deficits, and for the student activism in support of Ethnic Studies. As a result, Monteiro says in his suit, he has lost out on the opportunity to become provost at San Francisco State, and has lost out on job prospects at five other universities.

“Wong’s actions are discriminatory, harassing, arbitrary and taken in retaliation” against the dean for “seeking to correct the historic underfunding” of the College of Ethnic Studies, says the suit, which calls the actions a violation of California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act.

Elizabeth Smith, a spokeswoman for San Francisco State, said, “the university was not aware of the complaint and has not had an opportunity to review or respond to it. However, the university remains resolute in its commitment to equity and to fostering a positive work environment for all employees.”

Smith said the campus closed this budget gap at the College of Ethnic Studies and at all others that had financial gaps.