San Jose State students stage sit-in in protest
SAN JOSE » More than 20 students staged a sit-in at San Jose State University on Monday afternoon to protest the possible return of a professor who had been suspended for sexually harassing a student.
Lewis Aptekar — who taught in the counselor education department — was put on leave for acting inappropriately toward a student in 2015. He was originally slated to return to teaching this semester after serving out a suspension, but the school abruptly reversed that decision days before he was scheduled to give his first lecture.
It remains unclear, however, whether Aptekar will be involved in other departmental tasks. He is still employed by the university.
“We don’t want him being a part of the institution at all,” said Valerie Lamb, a student in the department who helped organize the sit-in.
Paul Cascella, the interim dean of the College of Education, which oversees the counselor education department, sat on a bench nearby as the students gathered in the courtyard of the department’s building.
“It’s important that I hear their concerns,” he said. After students voiced their displeasure at Aptekar’s return, the department re-evaluated it. News of his impending return had been met with vocal opposition from students and some faculty.
Cascella declined to say what Aptekar’s involvement will be with the department moving forward, but said he will not be teaching, advising or mentoring students this semester. “We’re currently deciding what his obligations will be,” he said. “He and I are still talking.”
The school’s response isn’t enough for Diana Castro, a graduate student in the department. “It’s not OK,” she said, shaking her head.
During the sit-in, which lasted about half an hour, students held homemade signs bearing phrases like “student voices matter” and “sexual harassment” overlaid with the red no symbol.
One of the courses Aptekar was scheduled to teach will now be taught by another professor but the other was canceled. The school offered to let students take a similar course in another department, but the timing was not the same and unworkable for some students.
While students say they are happy the professor won’t be teaching two courses as originally planned, they are concerned it will throw off plans for students who needed the course to graduate. And they are frustrated by what they say is a lack of clear information from the school.
Nancy Becerra, a graduate student in the department who attended the sitin, doesn’t think students should have to continue to pay for Aptekar to remain on faculty. “Why should our dollars be going to that?” she asked.
Aptekar did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The beleaguered professor’s return is just the most visible of a number of problems plaguing the department, say students.
Last week, Cascella emailed a note to students, faculty and staff acknowledging, “Students (and faculty members) have expressed myriad concerns about, for example, the department’s admissions, advising, course offerings, communications, instructional quality, curriculum, program reputation, and student-faculty dynamics…More recently, other concerns have been raised which also deserve to be addressed. We have taken short-term steps to respond to the immediate concerns. Our long-term goal is to carefully examine and work toward repairing all concerns within this department.”
For Eduardo Castaneda — a 24-year-old Mexican American Studies graduate student from Washington who just started at San Jose State — the whole thing leaves a bad taste in his mouth. “As a new student,” said Castaneda, who attended the sit-in as a show of solidarity, “it’s a bad first impression.”