Merced College board takes up status of professor

The status of a Merced College professor who is linked to a controversy over an anonymous letter was the focus of a special, closed-session meeting by the school’s board of trustees Thursday, according to the woman’s lawyer.

While board members declined to name the employee being discussed, Ernest H. Tuttle III, the attorney for business professor Karen Fritz, confirmed that his client’s status was the topic of the single item on the agenda, “Public employee discipline/dismissal/release.”

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

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 Patrick Mitchell, president of the Merced College Faculty Association.

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 letter and photo set off a chain of events that ended up with the college hiring a private detective to lift fingerprints from the letter and its envelope in March, a step the Sun-Star uncovered through a public information request.

Three weeks ago, Mitchell said, Fritz took part in a Skelly hearing, a conference that must be held before a tenured teacher can be disciplined. The reason for possibly disciplining Fritz has not been made public.

Speaking to the board Thursday before its closed-door session, Mitchell referred to the Skelly hearing, saying “that hearing did not go well for the administration.”

He said a list of complaints made against Fritz appeared to be “hastily put together,” noting a number of the items occurred before the college awarded Fritz tenure in 2014.

“In one of the more ridiculous instances, the administration went into an old set of student evaluations and found where a student referred to the faculty member as a ‘dope teacher,’ and presented this as a criticism,” he said. “As nearly everybody knows ‘dope’ is slang for ‘cool’ or ‘good.’ ”

Not all of the people who addressed the board Thursday spoke favorably of Fritz. Corinthia Hurley, a former student, said she dreaded attending the business law class she took this year.

“From the very first day, she fostered an environment of intimidation and disrespect of her students,” Hurley said.

Board trustee Wayne Hicks and human resources director Tracie Green declined to say whether Fritz is still employed with the college, although such status is a matter of public information. They cited personnel matters as their reason for remaining mum.

Tuttle, Fritz’s attorney, did not return a phone call from the Sun-Star. An attorney for Merced College, A. Christopher Duran, also declined to speak with the Sun-Star.

This story was originally published September 1, 2016 at 5:01 PM with the headline "Merced College board takes up status of professor."