Fear is the Path to the Dark Side

Here was the certified mail response I sent to Santa Monica College Dean of Judicial Affairs, Judith Penchansky, after Dean Katharine Muller's unwarranted denial of my computer lab privileges at the Academy of Entertainment and Technology. To date, my AET computer lab privileges have not been reinstated. However, on or about August 10, 2005, a week after this email was sent, both I and SMC student Dustin Curran photographed individuals who were not enrolled at AET using the same computer lab.

As one my confidential informants told me, Stu Seldon informed several of his friends that they could no longer use the computer lab. Why were Stu Seldon's friends allowed to use the computer lab for their own purposes and I, a paying Academy student, denied my rights to the same? To date, I have received no legitimate answer to this pressing question. Was it because Dean Muller feared that I would use the computers to browse the SMC's Board of Trustee minutes and other crucial documents? At the time my privileges were denied, I did not have internet access at home. Dean Muller allegedly knew, or should have known, this information. As Jim Keeshen had stated, I was "scaring the hell out of everybody" for requesting simple public records belonging to SMC. As Yoda informed Anakin in Star Wars: Episode I: "Fear is the path to the dark side... fear leads to anger... anger leads to hate.. hate leads to suffering." Yet, it is I who has suffered at the hands of injustice.

As Professor Jim Keeshen had told me, Dean Muller was afraid that I had "superhuman powers" regarding computers. I have no more powers than anyone else. It is just my burning need to know what is behind our school which drives me to seek the truth. As Anakin Skywalker so eloquently stated in Star Wars Episode I: "Fear attracts the fearful. He was trying to overcome his fear by squashing you... be less afraid." Was this Dean Penchansky's and Dean Muller's intent, to squash me so that I would go away? If so, it failed miserably as I am still here with all of you. I hope you follow the valuable links I provide on this weblog as well as doing your own homework regarding the public records belonging, and endlessly withheld, from SMC's administration. Our education depends on it.

-- Des Manttari,
Editor-in-Chief,
Phoenix Genesis

(c) 2005: Phoenix Genesis/MBS LP

----------------MY LETTER TO JUDITH PENCHANSKY-------------------

August 3, 2005

VIA CERTIFIED MAIL
RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED

Judith Penchansky, Dean
Student Judicial Affairs / College Disciplinarian
Santa Monica Community College
1900 Pico Blvd.
Santa Monica, CA 90405-1628

RE: Closure/Warning Letter

Dear Ms. Penchansky,

I am in receipt of your letter June 6, 2005 and hereby respond to the same. No point would be made by individually refuting the allegations contained in your letter, each of which is categorically denied. Suffice it to say, the Santa Monica Code of Student Conduct is silent as to the issue of computer lab privileges. However, if a policy was actually in place, I would be entitled to use the computer lab by dint of my status as both an enrolled student and as a teaching assistant. As you may know, at that time, I was an enrolled student at the Academy of Entertainment and Technology (hereinafter, "AET") in addition to being a teaching assistant for Professor Jim Keeshen in two of his AET ground courses, to wit, ET2 Storytelling and ET61 History of Animation.

This information was well known to Santa Monica Community College and its staff, as both Stu Seldon and Tim Ryan knew, or should have known, that I had used the AET computer lab during Spring Semester 2005 for the legitimate purposes of doing coursework, performing duties as Jim Keeshen's teaching assistant, and, per Mr. Keeshen's request, conducting cancer research for his father who was terminally ill at the time. Accordingly, no one objected to my use of the computer lab, either verbally or in writing, until the Campus Police was called for my alleged violation on or about April 20, 2005.

Regarding your not-so-thinly veiled attempt to disparage my credibility by accusing me of making threats to staff members, nothing could be further from the truth. The fact is that, at the May 6, 2005 meeting, despite being under threats and coercion, Professor Keeshen refused to submit to your intimidation and blackmail. Instead of confirming the defamatory statements against me as you and Dean Muller demanded, Professor Keeshen was forced to consult an attorney to protect his legal rights in this matter.

My service as a teaching assistant was well-documented until May 6, 2005. Thereafter, there have been systematic deletions of information pertaining to my postings as a teaching assistant for both the ET2 and ET61 courses, and of most of the courses in which I was a teaching assistant in a further alleged attempt to conceal and/or destroy this evidence.

Furthermore, on or about May 18, 2005, someone at SMC obtained, without my permission, my online History of Animation website from my vtutorials.com/clients/des/manttari, et. al. server and uploaded it to the your smconline.smc.edu server. Prior to uploading it to said server, this person or several people made unauthorized modifications including, but not limited to, removing my copyright notices from each and every page where they were posted at the bottom.

In response to this, I sent a cease and desist notice via email to the webmaster@smc.edu as well as to Jim Keeshen on or about July 11, 2005 regarding the copyright infringement and requesting that these webpages be removed from your server. SMC acted with malicious intent and retaliation by going so far as to remove my name, my revision dates, and the copyright comment tags from the underlying source code of each infringing page. Despite the fact that I have sent a second cease and desist notice via email to the webmaster@smc.edu and to Jim Keeshen on or about July 16, 2005, the infringing website remains on your server at smconline.smc.edu.

By not allowing me to use the AET computer lab for the second half of the Spring 2005 semester, I have suffered irreparable harm in that I was prevented from completing my course requirements for my Game Development course. Until the time of this unreasonable denial of computer lab privileges, I held an A in that course. Because of your denial of computer lab privileges and your defamation of my character by sending Professor Novak a copy of your June 6, 2005 letter alleging that I threatened several staff members, Ms. Novak no longer graded my work or returned my emails, and gave me an F for the course. As you are well aware, I was working on a teaching game dealing with the Holocaust entitled "The Roar of the Beast." To add insult to injury, you and Dean Muller drag me into a mock disciplinary hearing on May 6, 2005 which was Yom Hashoah, also known as Holocaust Remembrance Day. To deny me my rights to work on this important Holocaust project on this date and to deny my use of the AET computer lab for the stated reasons can only be seen as racial discrimination, retaliatory, and malicious.

By copy of this letter, I am requesting that my use of the AET computer lab be reinstated forthwith, that the courses in which I was a teaching assistant be reinstated on my smconline.org homepage, and that the infringing webpages on your smconline.org server be removed immediately. I further request that SMC and its agents, employees, and staff cease and desist both its harassment against Mr. Keeshen and myself.

Thank you for your prompt attention to the foregoing.

Very Truly Yours,


Des Manttari,

cc: Santa Monica Community College
Academy of Entertainment and Technology
1660 Stewart Street, Santa Monica, California 90404

1. Professor James Keeshen (email: animatics@aol.com, anihist@yahoo.com)
2. Professor Jeannie Novak (email: jeannie@indiespace.com)
3. Dean Katharine Muller (email: muller_katharine@smc.edu)



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