(Photo by: Dayana Manriquez/ Roundup)
Pierce College’s campus police removed two Roundup reporters from the monthly Pierce College Council (PCC) meeting by request of the council’s chair on Thursday, April 25.
The reporters, Erika Correa and Dayana Manriquez, were removed because they were disrupting the meeting, according to Lyn Clark, who is also the chair of the Computer Applications and Office Technologies (CAOT) department. Here is the original story.
Roundup reporter Teja Foster stayed for the duration of the meeting.
During a special meeting with Roundup advisers Stefanie Frith and Jill Connelly, Clark said that the PCC is not subject to the Brown Act and though the public is welcome, photography and recordings are not.
Clark said that photography and recording are not permitted because some members of the council have requested not to have their photos taken.
Rolf Schleicher, vice president of administrative services, said during this special meeting that there is a document from 2010 stating that the PCC is not legally obligated to abide by the Brown Act.
Frith informally requested the document on Monday, May 6, but Schleicher has yet to provide the document.
On Thursday, May 23, Manriquez was once again asked to stop taking photos.
Opinions Editor Nick McNamara and The Bull magazine staff member Jeremy Nation held documents pertaining to the PCC and its status under the Brown Act.
Clark again denied that the PCC is governed by the Brown Act.
Associated Students Organization President-elect Gus Sandoval, who is a member of PCC, asked Clark to consider looking at the documents that the two had presented.
After Clark said she would close the meeting, Sandoval said that the meeting could not be closed off without giving all the PCC members sufficient time’s notice.
“I don’t understand why you have to close the meeting to them,” Sandoval said to Clark.
Clark then said she would close the next PCC meeting if Manriquez continued taking photos.
Clark stated that if the Roundup did not comply with her request to stop taking photos, she would call the sheriffs to escort them out of the meeting.
“This is going to go up to the president, and this won’t happen again,” Clark said.
Shortly after, Pierce President Kathleen Burke-Kelly arrived at the meeting. After Clark explained the situation, Burke-Kelly agreed.
“This isn’t a Brown Act committee, and this is in the charter,” Burke-Kelly said.
McNamara told Burke-Kelly that the documents he brought to the meeting contradicted the charter.
Sandoval suggested that Burke-Kelly take a look and assess the documents.
“We’re not going to take time right now because it’s disruptive to the meeting,” Burke-Kelly said.
