“With the porno professor and the sex scandals we’ve had on campus this last year, it just didn’t seem like the right time for Mr. Black to be the speaker,” Board President Anthony Fellow said. “We’ll be on the radio and on television. We just don’t want to give PCC a bad name.”
The college recently went through two scandals involving professor Hugo Schwyzer, the “porno professor” who admitted to sleeping with students, and journalism instructor Warren Swil, who admitted to showing nude photos of himself to a student.
The administration decided to go forward and invite a safer pick: Pasadena Director of Public Health Dr. Eric Walsh, who accepted and is confirmed to be the commencement speaker, according to Robert Bell, a commencement committee member and vice president of academic affairs and student services.The PCC Board of Trustees continue to assert that Black was never formally invited, but instead was one of eight potential speakers who'd been tentatively approached for availability. Among other things, the letter that Black received read "... We would like to formally invite Mr. Black to conduct the commencement address to the students as we celebrate our theme of 'Proud Past, Global Future.'"
Once again, I'd like to point out that PCC simultaneously sent letters to eight different individuals with the among message in it. If you watch video footage of the PCC Board of Trustees meeting from 04/02/14 (starting at around the 02:08 mark), you will note that even PCC Board members were confused with a process that would simultaneously invite multiple people to serve as commencement speakers. It's also worth watching the footage to see open discussion that one of those invited (presumably Black) had accepted the invitation "weeks ago."
To his credit, Dustin Lance Black called out the PCC Board of Trustees in an open letter to the PCC campus:
This morning, I woke up to the headlinethat I have been disinvited to speak at my Alma Mater. The reasoning: that I was involved in a “scandal” in 2009 regarding extremely personal photographs that were put up on internet gossip sites of me and my ex-boyfriend.Black has repeatedly indicated that he will be pursuing legal actions against the college. I initially privately rolled my eyes at that assertion. Then I realized that he had purchased international plane tickets in order to attend the commencement ceremony and he reports that he has turned down paid engagements in order to attend this commencement ceremony. So it makes sense.
For too long now I’ve sat silent on this issue. That ends here and now and with this sentence: I did nothing wrong and I refuse to be shamed for this any longer.
In 2009 a group of people surreptitiously lifted images from my ex’s computer and shopped them around to gossip sites in a money making scheme. These were old images from a far simpler time in my life, a time before digital camera phones and internet scandals. They were photos of me with a man I cared for, a man who shared my Mormon background and who was also struggling with who he was versus where he came from. And yes, we were doing what gay men do when they love and trust each other, we were having sex. I have never lied about my sexuality. If you invade my privacy, this is what you will find. I have sex. It brings me joy, fosters intimacy and helps love grow. I hope anyone reading this can say the same for themselves and for their parents.
In 2010 I took the perpetrators of this theft to Federal court and Judge R. Gary Klausner ruled unequivocally that the defendants had indeed broken the law. The details of this case are readily available for anyone to read — including http://archive.recapthelaw.org/cacd/449819/
In the eyes of anyone who has seen the devastating effects this trespass has had on me personally, creatively and professionally over these many years, in the eyes of my mother and friends who have held me as I’ve cried, and under the blind scrutiny of the law of this land, I am the victim of this “scandal,” not the perpetrator.
With this cruel act, PCC’s Administration is punishing the victim. And I ask you this: If I was a heterosexual man or woman with this same painful injury in my past, would PCC’s Administration still be rescinding such an honor?
After a week of defensive positioning, the Pasadena Area City College District issued a statement late yesterday saying that they need more time to issue of formal statement about disinviting Dustin Lance Black to their Spring Commencement ceremony:
Pasadena City College is busy today assembling facts on the chain of events connected with the choice by the College of a commencement speaker and will provide a statement on Monday, April 21, 2014 of what it has learned. It would be inappropriate to comment further on this subject until this review has been conducted. Thank you.This is the type of story that I absolutely love: Scandal prevention attempts that themselves become scandals!