Re “One Problem Down, One to Go at Pasadena City College?”
You published a flagrant lie about me and my position at (Pasadena City College). Specifically, you stated that I was terminated on Wednesday and that my mother being ill is merely a pretext for my not being on campus.
How dare you! My mother was recently diagnosed with primary peritoneal cancer and has been in and out of doctor’s offices and procedures for a month.
I took her to the emergency room on March 26, and she has been in patient there ever since. She is fighting for her life. I have been sitting with her and watching while she is struggling through chemotherapy and terrible symptoms of her cancer, including complete inability to eat or drink to the point that she was vomiting from swallowing her own saliva.
I am not on leave.
I have been with her day and night. I have been working remotely from her hospital room.
If you’ve ever had a close family member suffering with a terrible illness, you would know how very hard it is.
Had you bothered to contact me, I would have given you this information. I am not going anywhere, Mr. Noonan. I am hereby demanding a retraction and an apology and that you publish Board President Fellow’s and Superintendent-President Rocha’s recent statement: “We have the utmost confidence in General Counsel Cooper and look forward to her serving PCC for many more years to come.” And if you have a modicum of decency, you might even publish a kind wish for my mother.
Ms. Cooper may be contacted at GSCooper@pasadea.edu
Ari Noonan responds: Let us begin with your mother, to whom we offer a kind wish and a sincere prayer of recovery and receding discomfort. Regarding your employment, if our information, directly from the campus, is incorrect, we do indeed apologize. If you have not been separated from PCC, it is news to faculty members, the student body and other sources on the PCC campus. As for contacting you, this has been a hopeless task. For months, I have been requesting certain specific information about the college from you. In my file, I have multiple letters – dating back to January — requesting delays. My pursuit of available information has been in delay mode down to the present moment. We do, again, wish your mother comfort and enviable health.
