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• THE METROPOLITAN • NOVEMBER 12, 2009 • NEWS • A7

Professor challenges charges of academic dishonesty On the street

Continued from A3
The National Social Science As-
sociation, a group that promotes ex-
changes of ideas between academics
by holding several conferences each
year, has two publications: the NSSA
Journal and the NSS Perspectives Jour-
nal.
De La Torre attended the October
2005 conference, presented a paper
and wrote a $25 check in order for
her paper to be published.
De La Torre made several mis-
takes in reporting the issue number
she claimed to have been published
in and failed to properly confirm that
the article had been published, the
file says. The proceedings of the con-
ference De La Torre attended were
published in Vol.31, Issue 1, of the
NSS Perspectives Journal: wrong vol-
ume, and wrong publication.
Communication breakdown
De La Torre said she called the
NSSA in 2008 when she was com-
pleting her dossier to ask what vol-
ume and issue contained her article,
and NSSA Director Jerry Baydo told
her the numbers she included in her
record.
The school investigation says it
is doubtful the NSSA director would
have told her the wrong volume and
journal name.
De La Torre had published in
1994 with the NSSA, and though
the association’s publishing rules
had changed, the NSSA would have
advised De La Torre of the new rules,
the investigation report said. The
new rules stated papers submitted
would not be included unless the pre-
scribed format was used, and that the
By Adriana Carlson
NSSA would provide no notification 30, Issue 1, contains an article pub- she did publish the article in ques- “How thoroughly
to the author if guidelines were not lished by a professor, Nena Torrez, a tion with the NSS Perspectives Journal
followed. name which could have been con- in the August 2008 issue after she should a college
Nancy Connick, the faculty dis- fused with Angelina De La Torre, found out that it hadn’t been pub- check a professor’s
missal hearing officer concluded De
La Torre “either knew” or “that she
with the accent falling on the sec-
ond half of the words—as is done in
lished in 2005. The investigation re-
port also does not mention this.
credentials before
made no effort to determine publica- Spanish, and on the telephone, De La he or she is hired?”
tion and simply invented citations.” Torre said in her defense. Nina Tor- Proving intent
De La Torre has a copy of her rez wrote a letter in support of De La “By intentionally and clearly
Metro phone record showing the Torre, saying their names could have misrepresenting in her dossier that
she had published an article as part
Reasons cited by metro of her professional development
when she had not done so, Dr. De
for termination La Torre did not practice intellectual
In the “Handbook for profession Personnel,” the conduct honesty, in violation of the hand-
book for Metro faculty, section XIII outlines the grounds book…,” the college’s initial decision,
for termination of faculty. Angelina De La Torre was cited which the board agreed, said.
with the following three infractions of the handbook. The ruling, focused on De La
Torre’s intent to misrepresent, said,
“ h. Failure to fulfill any written provision of any “Sloppiness is an inadequate expla-
employment contract. nation … leading the hearing officer “They need to check the creden-
i. Unprofessional conduct as described below to conclude that the misrepresenta- tials and not just take them at face
tion here is intentional.” The num- value. They should also check with
if the nature, gravity and/or frequency of the previous employers.”
ber of mistakes De La Torre made in
unprofessional conduct justifies termination - Lindy Hargrave
reporting the publication prove she
j. Failure to abide by any policy set forth in this Metro Junior
handbook. ” intended to deceive the school, Con-
nick’s report said.
The Handbook for Professional Personnel can be found online at http:// De La Torre’s motive, the school’s
www.mscd.edu/trustees/policies/ file says, was promotion. President
Stephen Jordan met with De La Torre
phone in her office was used to call been confused. Put in charge of the after the initial investigation.
the NSSA’s number in California for investigation, Professor Luis Torres “She had sought benefit in the
3 minutes and 20 seconds on the day also included the name-confusion post-tenure review process,” the file
she testified she did. She has a copy of idea as a possible reason for the mis- said Jordan concluded from the meet-
the check that NSSA cashed in 2005, take in a report about the investiga- ing.
dated when she said she submitted tion of De La Torre. De La Torre said she had little to
the article for publication. Connick’s report does not men- win from the publication, the pub-
The investigation report said Bay- tion the issue of name confusion, lication was not required by her de-
do did not testify in the case, and the and De La Torre stated in her written partment, and she had enough other “They should check up on the roots
college’s report misspells his name as appeal to the board of trustees that material to put in her review. of where she came from, like the
Baxdo throughout the document. the issue hadn’t been taken seriously. The trustees heard a final appeal school she graduated from.”
-Johnny Burkin
Baydo responded to an e-mail de- As of press time, Torres had not by De La Torre’s lawyer, followed by a
Metro Freshman
clining to comment on the matter on responded to attempts to contact counter-argument from the college’s
legal grounds. him. legal consul, before voting unani-
Another contention is that Vol. De La Torre cites the fact that mously to terminate her contract.

Attorney views firing as retaliation for earlier case

Continued from A3
Lane said there was a connection
between the cases, that the college
would have a hard time avoiding.
De La Torre said in a Nov. 8 in-
terview, her firing was retaliation for
standing up against discrimination
within the criminal justice depart-
ment.
“The college does not and can-
not discuss any personnel matter,”
college spokesperson, Cathy Lucas,
said in response to the accusation of
discrimination toward De La Torre.
Lucas said Metro was commit-
ted to diversity, citing statistics that
25 percent of all new faculty hired
since 2004 has been people of color.
“The college is very committed to di-
versity,” Lucas said. “It is one of our
key planning themes.”
During her appeal of the deci-
sion to fire her, however, De La Torre
submitted several letters from profes-
sors in support of the college retain-
ing her. Two of the letters specifically
mention unfair treatment by the col-
lege towards her: Professor Jackson
and History’s Charles Angeletti’s
dated in May.
“It seems to me …Dr. De La Torre
was given less consideration, support
and mentoring than other faculty
members,” Angeletti’s letter says. “I
am uncertain why the college con-
tinues to harass Dr. De La Torre, who
I have always found to be a capable,
professional and honest to a fault.”
Jackson’s letter says De La Torre
is an “outstanding colleague” and “a
highly professional faculty member.”
As to the department climate, Jack-
son, who has been at Metro for 27
years, is less subtle.
“I believe this whole process is
grounded in retaliation, vindictive-
ness, and pettiness, is both a travesty
and an embarrassment to MSCD,”
Jackson writes. “I see De La Torre’s
case as purely retribution for testify-
ing in my case,” Jackson said in an
interview.
Both Jackson and Angeletti
agreed to allow their letters to be
quoted by the Metropolitan.
The accusations come as the col-
lege is trying to receive designation
as a Hispanic Serving Institution, a
Federally funded program that sup-
ports colleges that have at least a 25
percent Hispanic population as well
as fulfilling several other require-
ments, including an open and recep-
tive environment for minorities.
“If you fire her today
… it opens up a giant
can of worms and I
make a living with
giant cans of worms.”
-David Lane, attorney
“The interest in diversity does
not match with the way Metro treats
its diverse community,” political sci-
ence professor Zia Meranto said.
Meranto, a Native American, said
while few professors dared to speak
out, “in a lot of minority minds, es-
pecially women, they see they are
treated different.”
De La Torre said she will take a
case to the Equal Employment Op-
portunity Commission, the federal
agency that investigates claims of
job discrimination because of race,
religion, sex, age, disability and re-
taliation for reporting discriminatory
practice.
“When you look at professor De
La Torre’s career—she has given
almost 20 years to Metro…the plau-
sible reason that is being grasped for
termination, in my best judgment, is
not that plausible,” Lane said. “And
this is coming out of the criminal
“Just enough so that you know for
justice department which is the sure they’re able to do their job.”
same department that got tagged last -Kameron Martinez
time,” he said. Metro Freshman
“If you fire her today … it opens
up a giant can of worms and I make
a living with giant cans of worms.”
Fred Kuhlwild, the colleges legal
counsel, said that the investigation
finding that De La Torre committed
intentional dishonesty, “ essentially
lying about ones credentials” and
“can’t be tolerated.” Kuhlwild said
that professors must be held to a
standard of conduct and truthful-
ness.
“The problems with failing to “I think all professors should go
uphold academic integrity with flow into a background check, not a
down and infect the institution if criminal background check, but
they are not dealt with,” Kuhlwild just to make sure their credentials
are true. If the university doesn’t do
said. He said the college should not
a good job the student could sue for
be “held hostage by the fear of litiga-
getting false information.”
tion” and had to protect the schools -Larissa Harvey
integrity. UCD Sophomore
The board voted unanimously to
uphold the termination.