Faculty and staff at Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts (EMCVPA) are upset with the institution’s board over its treatment of Principal Dr Nicholeen De-Grasse Johnson, who has come under scrutiny since allegations of sexual harassment against a male lecturer became public in May.

The staff and faculty say they are particularly irked over the manner in which the board had sent De-Grasse Johnson on leave while the investigations into the allegations are ongoing. The Jamaica Observer was unable to confirm information that De-Grasse was in fact sent on leave.

While the staff met at the school’s Arthur Wint Drive campus yesterday, Director of Marketing and Communications Coleen Douglas stressed in an interview that it was not a protest. “It was really a meeting of our staff and faculty to discuss how we feel about hearing what’s happening at the college through the news media,” she said.

A source close to the developments said the board had met with the staff and faculty yesterday afternoon, but had not addressed concerns outlined in a statement issued to its chairman.

In a statement to the board, the staff and faculty said the situation was unfortunate as the suggestion of leave implies suspension or even dismissal.

“For a community to discover that its chief executive officer is being asked to demit office in this way is deeply demoralising; [it is] in many ways our sequel to May 26, where we discovered in the media that we were at the centre of a sexual harassment scandal and, moreover, accused as a community of a cover-up,” the statement read.

Douglas said that senior management had not been advised that the principal was being put on leave, but that one media house had a copy of the related correspondence.

“We are just asking for clarity on the matter and for a resolution to the situation, because we find it destabilising,” she stated.

Douglas emphasised that the staff is fully aware that the board has the power to sanction any staff member considered unprofessional or negligent, but “what we want is for due process to take place and for her (DeGrasse-Johnson) to be treated with some amount of dignity, because the truth is that she has been a good public servant to date”.

The director said the staff and faculty were also particularly concerned about the perception of a cover-up being given by the chair of the board.

“There is just a feeling of distrust with how the board chair in particular, how she conveys the information to the press. She is the only one who has been talking but when she talks you get the impression that there is a cover-up, so people are upset (because) the truth is, people are not aware of a cover-up,” she told the Observer.

The college wants to move on, Douglas said. “A lot of us feel like it’s becoming a soap opera — the person who is the alleged sexual offender has been in hearings and we haven’t got much details on what the outcome of those hearings are, but we know that he is on leave; we don’t know leave to what extent. We have not gotten a formal report about the hearings, so there is that anxiety.”

She said since the reports became public in May, there have been two meetings with the board, where people expressed opinions and asked questions. She said however, “I’m not sure if we got all the answers. We have not come to a resolve where we are all speaking the same thing.”

Douglas made it clear that she was speaking for staff, not herself. “The staff essentially just wants to move on, to use this situation to improve policies generally and ensure that policies are monitored. We have been attending workshops, we have been reviewing the policies, revisiting the procedures on the campus; we have been informing the students about being on the lookout for these things,” she explained.

At the same time, she believes there has been some positive impact on the college in terms of creating awareness and giving a voice to an issue that is usually shrouded in silence.

In the statement the staff and faculty said sending De-Grassse Johnson on leave now was poor timing, especially since it is the beginning of the new academic year, and given the redressive process that her office had engaged in over the months.

“Obversely, much time seems to have been invested in what now appears to be a well publicised head-hunting exercise. Staff at the college have neither received nor perceived any concomitant investment from the board in addressing the hurt of its constituents — neither students nor staff,” they said.

The issue has found its way into Parliament’s Public Administration and Appropriations Committee (PAAC), where the principal was summoned to answer questions in June.

The student who brought the claims also gave in-camera testimony to the PAAC. She said there was an absence of a clear-cut and accessible policy at the EMCVPA regarding sexual harassment, and made a number of recommendations for improvement.