Student Rep Cries ‘Foul’ in Commencement Controversy

The controversy surrounding the “disinvitation” of Oscar-winning writer/producer and Pasadena City College alumnus Dustin Lance Black as the college’s commencement speaker took on another level of intrigue as student trustee Simon Fraser sent a heated e-mail to the PCC Board of Trustees, denying that the invitation he sent to Black was unauthorized.

Black, who earned an Oscar for his work on “Milk” and who is a LGBT rights activist, says he was axed from the commencement ceremony over fears that sexually explicit photos of him with his ex-boyfriend made public in 2009 would tarnish the school’s reputation.

The removal of Black from consideration as the commencement speaker has become a viral and global mud fight as Fraser, Black, and Board of Trustees President Anthony Fellow have all issued statements regarding the invitation.

At issue is whether or not Black was properly invited by the college in the first place.

Student trustee Fraser asserts that he sent the authorized official invitation to Black on March 11 as instructed by Heba Griffiths, Interim Associate Dean of Student Life at Pasadena City College.

He said he asked for a template to use when sending the email, and when it was provided, he made minor grammatical changes to it and sent it.

“It read to me as a formal invitation, and it … indicated that it was indeed an invitation. I simply acted as the messenger,” said Fraser.

He said he copied Griffiths when he issued the email.

“On behalf of Heba Griffiths, Interim Associate Dean of Student Life at Pasadena City College, we would like to formally invite Mr. Black to conduct the commencement address to the students as we celebrate our theme of ‘Proud Past, Global Future,’” the email sent by Fraser read, in part.

Black, receiving the email, reacted by thinking he had been invited.

Then on April 15, according to the PCC Courier newspaper, Dr. Robert H. Bell, Senior Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs for Pasadena City College, sent an email to Black’s personal assistant, Neville Kiser, which effectively disinvited Black from speaking at the commencement.

“I am contacting you to follow up on previous communications regarding Mr. Black appearing as commencement speaker for Pasadena City College on May 9, 2014 … As you have undoubtedly discerned, there have been a number of discussions that have occurred within the college surrounding the decision of the commencement speaker, which have contributed to the delay in providing you and Mr. Black with a more timely response. I wish to inform you that Mr. Black will not need to rearrange his busy schedule to appear as commencement speaker,” Bell said in his email.

Fraser said that PCC Board President Anthony Fellow now says “the real reason Mr. Black is not the commencement speaker is that he was never invited to be the commencement speaker by the person who makes that decision–the president of the college.”

The decision not to allow Black to deliver the commencement address has generated an angry reaction not only from the worldwide LGBT community, but from film professionals as well.

“Shame on you for undermining the reputation of Pasadena City College as a place for free and open discourse. Shame on you for embarrassing your faculty, students and staff and all those at your school who stand for free speech, cultural diversity and the importance of social engagement. They deserve better,” wrote Robert Rosen, Dean Emeritus and Professor, of Film, TV and Digital Media at UCLA in an e-mail today to Trustee Fellow.