Merced College hired a private investigator in an attempt to trace fingerprints on an anonymous letter that was critical of the school’s administration.
In an invoice obtained by the Merced Sun-Star, the firm Cen Cal Investigations was paid $150 for three hours of work on the matter back in March. Cen Cal was hired after now-former campus police chief Vince Gallagher declined to do the fingerprint analysis because, he said, “no crime had been committed.”
Perhaps most worrisome is the fact that, according to the Gallagher, administrators “wanted to determine whether any faculty members were behind the anonymous letter.”
Signed by “Concerned Students,” the letter “demanded that the board of trustees reinstate President Ron Taylor, who had been placed on leave without explanation.”
The news of an invoice confirming that a private investigator collected fingerprints for the college is “absolutely horrifying,” according to Megan Igo, the vice president of the Merced College Faculty Association.
“I have never heard of this anywhere else ever except in bad TV shows,” she said.
The college may be overstepping its boundaries and onto the faculty members’ right to privacy, she said.
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[College spokesman Robin] Shepard confirmed Monday the investigation involved the letter. Citing personnel issues, Shepard said he could not further discuss the investigation.
“The letter is part of an ongoing investigation,” Shepard said.
Union President Patrick Mitchell said he was also dismayed by the investigation.
“It’s very sad that while faculty are out on the front lines helping our students succeed that the Merced College administration is using taxpayers’ money to treat us like criminals,” he said.
Chief Gallagher says the request to hire the P.I. came from Susan Walsh, the interim president of the college. Until yesterday, Walsh had been silent on the matter.
In the August 2 edition of the Sun-Star, Walsh defends the decision to use a private investigator saying it was “really due diligence on our part,” because “letters received by the college contained sensitive FERPA related material that initially seemed to implicate the health and safety of the student body.”
She noted the letter contained a photograph of a naked male student, and as such “the board needed to try to find out who had distributed it.”
An email from Walsh to the Sun-Star says “the letter in question included ‘students and personnel matters’ that prevent [her] from speaking to reporters,” and that “members of the Merced Community College District should not fret.”
“The college community and the public should remain assured that the MCCD continues to be focused on student success, supporting faculty and engaging the community,” she adds.
Read the Aug. 1 and Aug. 2 Sun-Star articles.
h/t to Adam Kissel
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