Did Merced College violate public-meetings law?

The head of the faculty union at Merced College says the school’s board of trustees violated the Brown Act, the regulations governing public meetings and employment, by failing to publicly report a decision this month to place a professor on unpaid leave.

The college board of trustees met on Sept. 1 for a special meeting on a single closed-session topic. The board members declined to name the employee being discussed, but Ernest H. Tuttle III, the attorney for business professor Karen Fritz, confirmed that his client’s status was the topic.

Board President Dennis Jordan announced the board took no action that was publicly reportable during the closed session, which lasted about 45 minutes.

But, Tuttle confirmed, he and his client were notified the next day that Fritz, who was on paid leave, had been placed on unpaid leave effective Sept. 1.

Tuttle said Fritz intends to contest the move.

“There’s still a hearing. We demanded a hearing,” Tuttle said on Thursday. “They, in fact, took action at that meeting.”

In a letter to the board this week, Merced College Faculty Association President Patrick Mitchell called the unreported action on Sept. 1 a violation that could ultimately render the decision moot.

The letter pointed to State Code 54957.1.

“The legislative body of any local agency shall publicly report any action taken in closed session and the vote or abstention on that action of every member present, as follows. ... Action taken to appoint, employ, dismiss, accept the resignation of, or otherwise affect the employment status of a public employee in closed session.”

Mitchell’s letter demanded the reinstatement of Fritz.

Merced College interim President Susan Walsh denied any violation, saying, “We have legal advice and we are not in violation of the Brown Act.”

The college has not commented on why Fritz potentially faces discipline.

Fritz was put on leave Feb. 18, according to a Merced County Sheriff’s Office report obtained by the Sun-Star. That was 17 days after an anonymous letter accompanied by a photo of a partially undressed student was delivered to the board, according to sheriff’s Sgt. Vince Gallagher.

The student in the photo was in a business class taught by Fritz, according to Mitchell.

The letter in question criticized how administrators handled the discipline of the student, whose photo was circulated through an online educational platform to dozens of classmates in spring 2015. The college has called the student a victim of apparent hacking.

The anonymous letter set off a chain of events that included a private investigator hired by the college to search for fingerprints, which resulted in no usable prints. The college has not said what it would have done with such fingerprints.

This story was originally published September 15, 2016 at 5:47 PM with the headline "Did Merced College violate public-meetings law?."