This has to be one of the most bizarre and disgusting attempts by a college president to take back a GLBT student non-discrimination protection - ever.
It all started when Andrew Doherty, a gay employee of Westmoreland County Community College in Youngwood, PA who was legally married in Massachusetts, was denied health insurance for his spouse. His union filed a grievance on his behalf referring to the schools own non-discrimination policy that has been published on the school's website as well as in its catalog and student handbook. The statements published in all of the school's materials clearly say that the school will not discriminate against individuals based on their “sexual orientation” and “union membership.”
Well, in response to that grievance, newly appointed President Daniel J. Obara (pictured above) decided that the only way to handle the situation was to declare that the policy was an "accident" and shouldn't have included sexual orientation as a protected class.
The only problem with this absurd claim is that the policy has been used as a recruitment tool and touted as an incentive to join the college staff since it was adopted in 2000 - NINE YEARS AGO!
Obara at first tried to claim that the original policy wasn't supposed to include "sexual orientation" and then accused "the one who is not here anymore" of slipping it in without his "informed approval." But, of course, there's a real problem with those claims as well.
LezGetReal.com has reported that "the one who is not here anymore," who turned out to be the schools now-retired affirmative action officer, Mary Stubbs said that she was not happy about being rolled under the bus and has publicly stated that any revisions to the catalog and website she proposed would have been forwarded for review to the public relations staff and others, including the then vice president for academic affairs and student services - the one, the only - Dr. Daniel Obara.
“I would never take it upon myself to change a statement in the college, and anyone who told you that ought to know better,” Ms Stubbs said. “Of course not — not without having it approved.”
Asked about Stubbs' statement, Obara was forced to admit that the proposed wording change might have crossed his desk and that he may have signed off on it without noticing it.
Give me a break! He's either grossly incompetent or a pathological liar.
Doherty, who has been an employee for nearly five years, said it doesn’t make sense, “why now after nine years? How many institutions do you know that are taking people out of a non-discrimination policy?”
None of this seems to bother Obara though. He's clearly a member of the infamous Reagan/Bush/Cheney/Rove cabal - if history doesn't suit your purposes, well then - just ignore it or rewrite it.
Obara chose to rewrite it and has ordered the IT Department to remove all references to sexual orientation from the college's non-discrimination language, including the college’s Web site and all printed materials. No small undertaking - not a cheap one either. When all is said and done and court costs and legal fees are paid (because he WILL LOSE his case) and all of the materials are rounded up and disposed of and then reprinted and redistributed, it will probably cost the college in the neighborhood of tens of thousands of dollars - at least. This at a time when virtually all educational institutions are already desperately strapped for cash.
Obviously Obara believes that personal ideology is far more important than sound, intelligent and compassionate academic leadership.
I totally agree with Zemanta of LGR:
"You know if I were Mr. Doherty or any other gay facility member or student at Westmoreland County Community College, I’d be telling my attorney... to look into suing the school for false representation… because the original non-discrimination policy was the only reason I came to WCCC in the first place."
This joker has to be one of the biggest bozos in the entire country!
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