Adjunct Spanish professor Maria Perez was hired by the university in 2015 and abruptly resigned Nov. 13 with only three weeks left in the semester. Courtesy of USFSP World Languages Program’s facebook
By Anna Bryson
Citing “harassment and hostile working conditions,” an adjunct Spanish instructor abruptly resigned Nov. 13 with only three weeks left in the semester.
In a disjointed Canvas message to one of her classes, Maria Perez said, “Life is short. I will not spend it under miserable abuse by French 2 bosses that think they are superior, racists and do not show respect for America, their melting pot people and your free choice for a profitable major at school.”
In a message to another class, she wrote, “Effectively (sic) today, I am resigning for the rest of fall 2018 due to harassment and hostile working conditions from (the) world languages program. They must find a substitute for the rest of Fall 2018.”
Perez’s sudden departure left students in her four classes debating her style and effectiveness as a teacher and the university scrambling to replace her as final exams neared.
“We’re doing all we can to make sure students get all the content they need,” said Joan Reid, chair of the Department of Society, Culture and Language. “Things like this happen and we’re fortunate to be able to finish out the semester.”
Susan Toler, associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, declined to comment on Perez’s departure, saying the university does not discuss personnel issues.
Frederic Leveziel, program coordinator of the world languages program, has taken over all four of Perez’s classes.
He and French professor Martine F. Wagner were singled out for criticism in Perez’s Canvas message to one class.
Leveziel did not respond to several emails and phone messages from The Crow’s Nest. Wagner did not respond to two emails.
Although university officials were tight-lipped about Perez’s departure, documents in her personnel file show that she was issued a reprimand on Dec. 8, 2017.
The document reads, “This oral reprimand is in response to concerns that were raised by other staff and a student in your class regarding behavior that caused the student to believe they were being discriminated against and/or harassed because of their race.”
The two-page document outlining examples of Perez’s inappropriate behavior was signed by Frank Biafora, then dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and Toler.
It noted that “the vast majority” of the anonymous, end-of-semester evaluations by students in her classes were positive and did not allude to the kind of behavior that drew the reprimand.
But excerpts from four critical student evaluations were included in the reprimand.
“… one can assume that she is homophobic, transphobic and just overall rude,” said one of the anonymous evaluations, which came in fall 2015. “(She) always had something rude to say about the LGBT community and not one day passed that she didn’t say something disrespectful about Caitlyn Jenner. Also, she very much picked on students and made them feel uncomfortable.”
“Sometimes (she) could be very aggressive and seemed to target certain students over others,” said a student evaluation from fall 2016. “It made going to class a very anxiety-filled, belitting (sic) experience. While I did learn a lot from the professor and some days were fun in class, other days I left really upset, almost feeling attacked.”
As part of the reprimand, Perez was directed to participate in sensitivity and diversity training with the campus’ diversity officer.
Perez was hired by the university as an adjunct professor in 2015, teaching three classes at a salary of $10,083, and has taught every year since then. Her fall 2018 contract called for her to teach four classes at a salary of $14,667.
According to her profile on the world languages program website, Perez is a native Spanish speaker from Medellin, Colombia. She has a bachelor’s in journalism from a university in Colombia and was a TV news journalist and anchor for 10 years.
She received a master’s in modern languages from Wayne State University in Detroit, according to the profile, and has received fellowships, scholarships and awards for teaching.
“She was born to be a teacher and loves teaching,” the profile says.
The Crow’s Nest tried unsuccessfully to reach Perez through email, Facebook and former faculty colleagues. There is no street address or telephone number in her personnel file.
Some students were crestfallen upon learning that Perez resigned.
One of them, Shannon Preston, a junior political science major, started a fundraiser for Perez through Facebook.
“I think everyone is pretty devastated. It’s so abrupt, it’s just kind of heart breaking,” Preston said. “We all really love her and this has all been super sad for all of us.”
Preston said that Perez never brought up race in class.
“I think a lot of things she said were adult humor, but I was never offended by it. She treated us like adults and not children,” Preston said. “In class we don’t always stick strictly to curriculum. She likes to talk about our lives and she likes to be very personal with her students.”
Olivia Ocampo, a junior psychology major in the same class as Preston, shared her sadness about the situation.
“I don’t really know how to feel about this whole thing, I’m just sad she had to leave. But I can understand that she probably couldn’t take it anymore,” Ocampo said in an email.
“The crazy part is, we have her old boss, the French professor (Levéziel) taking over the class. Nobody in the class likes him after what we heard professor Perez say about him. I think what she did was kind of awesome, how she stood up to the man and told them what she really felt about him to everyone. Perez has always been dramatic like that.”
Some students aren’t so sad to see her go.
Olivia Hansen, a junior anthropology major, said she disclosed to Perez that she has dyslexia before the semester started, as she does with all of her new professors. Hansen said that Perez repeatedly made inappropriate comments about dyslexia in front of the class.
“I’m actually dyslexic, so that’s a little offensive,” Hansen said. “She wanted me to leave classes sometimes. She would say, ‘You can go.’ I didn’t go anywhere.”
Hansen also said that Perez once had a foot injury and acted erratic during classes, saying that her pain medication made her feel like she was “on a rollercoaster.”
“It was ridiculous,” Hansen said.
Justine Ortiz, a junior political science major, said she switched out of Perez’s class after a conflict with the professor that prompted Perez to say she had put the issue “in the hands of her lawyer.”
Ortiz said that she would often speak up against what she called Perez’s racist comments in class, to which Perez would tell her to “calm down.”
“She is completely racist and I think it’s hilarious that in her statement, she called her bosses racist and that they’re not Americans,” Ortiz said. “We’d be talking about Japan and she’d be like ‘ching ching ching ching chong,’ literally making racist noises when we have an Asian chick in our class.
“In those emails (to her class), (Perez) said, ‘I learned so much more about you than you’ve learned in my class.’ No shit. Because you didn’t teach us anything, you just asked us questions about our personal lives trying to psychoanalyze us.”
This article reads like a gossip column in a tabloid. You have simply allowed the vilification of three faculty without any substantial proof. Instead of actually finding out what happened, you simply let students vent – but words can harm. I am surprised to see such irreponsible reporting.