There are some new questions being raised about how the firing of a diversity official at the College at Brockport has been handled.
The law firm representing Cephas Archie, the college’s former chief diversity officer who was fired from his job three weeks ago, says that last Friday the Chief of Police at the college had contacted Sabrina Lewis, who had previously worked with Archie at a community college in Houston.
Lewis released a statement saying that the chief, Daniel Vasile, told her he had been told that Archie had fired her. Lewis replied that Archie was not her supervisor in Houston.
Archie’s lawyer, Andrew Burns, says the whole episode is disturbing and contrary to the changes that the college president, Heidi Macpherson, has said she is making in response to concerns about bias and diversity on campus.
“Dr. Archie has not commenced any lawsuit, not filed any EEOC charge, or any complaint with the New York Division of Human Rights, and yet three weeks later, they’re investigating Dr. Archie, trying to dig up dirt on him," Burns said.
On Monday, the College at Brockport issued this statement:
The President’s Office recently received an anonymous voicemail from an individual who claimed to have information about a former employee of the College. Because of the nature of the allegations, the voicemail was shared with our chief of police for his records. While the police chief did look into this allegation, our own review revealed that since this employee no longer works for the College and the allegations pre-date their employment, the inquiry should not have occurred. The President has ordered the chief to cease this inquiry.
