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Discriminatory, harassing comments lead to Foothill-De Anza trustee Gilbert Wong's censure

Original post made on Apr 1, 2023

The Foothill-De Anza Community College District's board voted this week to formally censure board member Gilbert Wong over harassing and discriminatory comments that he made to De Anza College's president.

Read the full story here Web Link posted Friday, March 31, 2023, 7:31 PM

Comments (7)

Posted by Andy Sanderson
a resident of Green Acres
on Apr 1, 2023 at 10:04 am

Andy Sanderson is a registered user.

Something is fishy. These people are supposed to be public servants why are they working so hard to keep secrets from us? To pressure a single committee member about mere words that were said and the tell him to resign but never reveal why he resigned? And threaten him if he doesn't follow their plan is plain wrong.
This a manipulative ploy with a cover up built-in to it. Our public servants should not be hatching plans for secret agendas and still never releasing the statement the report we paid for as clients. The public servants are not the clients, the taxpayers are the clients and we don't enjoy people spending our money and then keeping secrets from us. The committee should either release the information or resign.


Posted by MyFeelz
a resident of another community
on Apr 1, 2023 at 5:25 pm

MyFeelz is a registered user.

Slap on the wrist. Its not who you know, its who you b --- oh wait. Cant say that on the air. But he could, and get away with it! Theres no hill too high to catch these overblown egos and prevent them from using censure as a stepping stone to further glorify themselves.


Posted by HM
a resident of Old Palo Alto
on Apr 2, 2023 at 7:50 am

HM is a registered user.

How do we know they are "Discriminatory, harassing comments"? What we know is that an outside law firm concurred that he made an inappropriate comment on skin color. They did not find enough evidence to back up the allegation of harassment. Mr. Wong was elected by his constituents. Shouldn't they access to the report? And a say?

And, there is an interesting and relevant article by the ousted Director of DEI at Foothill, Tabia Lee, in Compact Magazine which addresses the current climate at Foothill-Deanza.


Posted by Barron Parker Too
a resident of Barron Park
on Apr 3, 2023 at 10:29 am

Barron Parker Too is a registered user.

@HM

You are exactly right. Why the secret tribunals? Here is the article you referenced on Tabia Lee, who was fired as DIE director at De Anza College in Cupertino:
Web Link

This gives a clear picture about the extreme positions on identity politics in the current De Anza culture, and why we should be suspicious about these secret accusations against Mr. Wong.


Posted by Forever Name
a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on Apr 3, 2023 at 11:33 am

Forever Name is a registered user.

Thank you to those commenters (Barron Parker and HM) who mentioned and shared the link to Tabia Lee's article in Compact. A valuable essay, articulate, and nails the issues. Any college should've been grateful for Tabia's DEI approach and has lost a smart, educated, valuable resource - not to mention a woman of color which is the ultimate sad irony. Those students/admin/whoever at DeAnza who pushed out Tabia appear extremist, short sighted, and ignorant of the big picture. DeAnza's loss is hopefully another institution's gain. If Wong is subject to the same dogmatic extremist criticisms as Tabia, perhaps DeAnza did him a favor and he can escape that toxic environment to bring his skills where they are appreciated. If DeAnza (or any institution) will not disclose what the issue is, I suspect they can't defend or justify their actions in regards to Wong.


Posted by Screeedek
a resident of Stanford
on Apr 4, 2023 at 6:15 pm

Screeedek is a registered user.

So what did he say?


Posted by Tony Favero
a resident of another community
on Apr 5, 2023 at 5:44 pm

Tony Favero is a registered user.

Well, all this boils down to the pervasive wokeism that pervades our country with acres of DEI staff throughout numerous colleges. Woke is the new buzz word for political correctness.


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