I posted back in June about Yves Magloe’s firing, and mentioned in early July — prematurely, as it turned out — that he had been reinstated. The first link should give you background on the case. After that July post, I was told very firmly that I was not to post about this subject again until a series of complicated negotiations were finished. I’ve stayed silent for two months, waiting for a final, final resolution which at last has arrived.
I can report that the Pasadena City College Board of Trustees finally formally reinstated Yves last Wednesday. He’s back, he’s safe, he’s doing well, and everyone can now comment. He’s getting back pay too!
In light of Friday’s post, it’s truly miraculous to consider that I was never fired during my turbulent years of struggle with mental illness. Of course, I’m from California, and Yves is from Togo, West Africa. I suspect, but cannot prove, that I was handled more gently because of my white privilege.
Maybe you weren’t fired because you were better at hiding it. Didn’t you say you were one person in public and another in private?
What great news!
“I suspect, but cannot prove, that I was handled more gently because of my white privilege”
i suspect maybe he deserved termination and his minority privilege enabled him to retain his employment. is that tactless too?
Paul, “white privilege” gave me a network of friends and family who viewed my chronic mental troubles with sympathy. The doctors who cared for me and the administrators who “covered my ass” here at PCC shared my color and my background — it’s not a stretch to say that that shared heritage and shared language led to an increase in compassion.
Yves was reinstated because a lot of us worked our butts off to get him reinstated. We did it because he was a faculty member who was fired in clear violation of rules of tenure and of the Americans with Disabilities Act. I’m bringing up race here, but it was never brought up in the discussions with the Board or Human Resources. We didn’t need to play a race card to get him reinstated — we needed to appeal to the Board’s sense of decency, backed up with a blunt threat of litigation (that based on the case law, they would lose.) They did the right thing.