Clarion 9/26/18

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CITRUS

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CLARION

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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2018 | VOL LXXII ISSUE 3

tccclarion.com f/ccclarion T@ccclarion

Free printing up in smoke?

Ex-HR employee sues college for harrassment Lawsuit alleges Citrus bosses fired her for pregnancyrelated medical issues BY NATALIE MALINS STAFF REPORTER

NMALINS@CCCLARION.COM

Free printing at Citrus could be a thing of the past if the proposal for printing charges is approved.

Photo by Kara Elder, Illustration by Michael Quintero Clarion

Librarians propose charging students for printing in the library BY SAMMY FERNANDES STAFF REPORTER

SFERNANDES@CCCLARION.COM

& VICMAN THOME PHOTO EDITOR

VTHOME@CCCLARION.COM

Library representatives proposed charging students to print at an Academic Senate meeting on Sept. 12. Public services librarian Sarah jk, and instructional design librarian Elizabeth Cook said by charging students they intend to reduce paper waste, printing and labor costs. “This is a dumpster fire that we fight everyday with the impacts of unlimited printing,” Cook said. She said library staff have to refill paper many times per day. Library staff otherwise devoted

to aiding student research frequently spend much of the day replacing cartridges, explaining the new print management process on library computers, and trying to repair overused printers. Bosler said the top 10 transfer universities with Citrus all charge students to print. “We want to prepare them for transfer so they don’t get there and think, ‘boy, everything is not free?’ Bosler said. Economics professor Christine Style defended giving students a limited number of free pages at the Academic Senate. “I don’t have a problem with reducing unlimited printing, but I have a problem with removing it altogether,” Styles said. “Because we

have a low income group of students. At least giving 50 sheets or something would mean they would be frugal if they understood they had a limit.” The librarians proposed a print management vendor, WEPA to the Academic Senate. WEPA is a printing system used at other college campuses where students pay to use printing stations around campus. Students must upload documents to the internet or use flash drives to print from multiple print stations located around the campus. WEPA is currently used at University of California, Los Angeles. UCLA political science major, Hannah Brenchley, said WEPA is “highly unreliable” and a “clunky system.” She said despite many student

complaints, WEPA printers are not serviced for repairs. “For the business side of things it’s very unreliable,” Brenchley said. “They break down and no one fixes them.” Though she said it’s nice that they are located around the UCLA campus. Other UCLA students said they refuse to use WEPA. “I would miss class by the time I got the printer to print out my essay,” said Simon Ramirez, UCLA anthropology major. Ramirez said he preferred to walk to printers miles away than use WEPA printers and its complicated user interface. S E E P R IN T • PAGE 6

A former Citrus College employee is suing the college for allegedly firing her due to her pregnancy. Crisanta Serrano was hired at Citrus in July 2008 and was terminated Jan. 20, 2016. The case was filed a year and a half later on June 22, 2017. The lawsuit accuses the college of wrongful termination, emotional and physical distress done by faculty of Citrus College during and after her pregnancy. Director of human resources Robert Sammis said the complaint’s allegations were unfounded. Serrano’s complaint says harassment for her pregnancy began on July 21, 2014. She included accounts of aggressive verbal conduct, forced isolation, failing to share event dates and information on her medical leave. The complaint alleges the termination caused Serrano to lose money and made her pregnancy even more stressful. The complaint says Serrano was admitted to a hospital for bleeding on Oct. 13, 2014. Citrus employees Sammis, staff diversity officer Brenda Fink, and confidential administration assistant Sandra Coon are all named in the complaint. Allegations against the employees range from verbal abuse to forcing Serrano to work in a basement. Serrano’s complaint said Coon made hostile comments about her health issues. After a visit to the emergency room for stress-related bleeding Serrano alleges Coon told her she is “going to be stressed after the baby...you might as well adjust now.” Sammis is also accused of making hostile remarks in the complaint. “Serrano was speaking to a co-worker when Sammis yelled at her, ‘Don’t you have any work to do?’ and ‘Don’t you have any filing to do or something else, Crisanta?’” the complaint says. The complaint claims Fink and Coon purposely isolated Serrano from her coworkers. According to the complaint, Fink “emailed Serrano and told her that she could attend the convocation event, a campus-wide event that most faculty and students attend, only if she accepted her ‘Collaboration’ award and immediately went straight back to work.” Sammis denied all allegations in an interview. “The individual was dismissed from employment for cause,” Sammis said. “She went through a hearing before a neutral arbitrator, and that arbitrator found there was sufficient cause for dismissal.” S E E LAWS UIT • PAGE 5


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