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The Pasadena Area City College District released a statement today stating that it needed more time before giving a full response about Oscar winner and PCC alumnus Dustin Lance Black’s allegation that he was “disinvited” to be the Spring Commencement speaker because of sexually explicit photos of him that surfaced years ago on the Internet.

Black wrote an open letter to PCC students yesterday that heatedly chastised the administration for overlooking him as the speaker because photos of him having sex with a former boyfriend were published on the Internet in 2009. Board of Trustees President Anthony Fellow said that Black was removed from consideration to give the address because the school did not want “to give PCC a bad name” by including Black in the commencement ceremony.

“As PCC Administrators attempt to shame me, they are casting a shadow over all LGBT students at PCC,” Black said. “While I deal with the legal and financial ramifications of this injury, I urge you not to let PCC’s Administrators get away with sending such a harmful message.”

Black also stated he would be taking legal action against the school.

Black took to social media Wednesday, Tweeting that he his fans should let PCC President Mark Rocha know their discontent with him not being the commencement speaker.

“Thank you all for your support. Now share your feelings with PCC PRESIDENT Mark Rocha, mwrocha@pasadena.edu,” the Tweet reads.

He is turning down interviews with other press outlets awaiting an official response from the college regarding his letter.

A district spokeswoman said the school would release an official response regarding the commencement speaker controversy on Monday, even though the administration was made aware of issues with the commencement speaker on Wednesday.

“Pasadena City College is busy today assembling facts on the chain of events connected with the choice by the College of a commencement speaker and will provide a statement on Monday, April 21, 2014 of what it has learned,” the statement reads. “It would be inappropriate to comment further on this subject until this review has been conducted.  Thank you.”

 

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3 Replies to “District needs more time to respond to Black”

  1. And…their response is up:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EZtpZzNVYY

    A “we’re not homophobes” Youtube video is a bit of a Band-Aid on a laceration. But that’s par for the course for this administration: make some hasty, ill-thought out decision, then once it blows up in their face scramble to remedy it with some half-hearted measure.

    1. And now it’s off of PCC’s front page. Boy, when our fearless leaders muck something, they really muck it up, huh? I guess I was wrong about that “half-hearted” comment; it presumes that you have a heart at all.

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