My Email to Jim Keeshen Re: Ongoing Retaliation

Here's the recent email I just sent Jim Keeshen. I referenced my March 3, 2006 email to him, which you can read in my blog article HERE. We shall see if Jim Keeshen has the moral courage to retract his false statements to the SMC campus police and Judith Penchansky and to apologize for his hate speech or if he will continue his retaliation and harassment of me. I pray that God gives him the courage to admit his wrongs and to remove the hatred in his heart against me, someone who he formally admired, loved, respected, and promised to protect from harm. Is Jim Keeshen truly to blame or is it the SMC administration that first turned him against me with their blackmail threats almost a year ago?

I close with a quote from Jim Keeshen pertaining to his father: "He had a real strong sense of ethics, between right and wrong. He really loved his country, and fought for and put his life on the line for it." Jim Keeshen informed me on more than one occasion that I shared his father's strong sense of morality. I now hope he, too, finds the strength to follow in his father's footsteps.

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

(c) 2006: Phoenix Genesis/MBS LP


----------------------MY RECENT EMAIL TO JIM KEESHEN-------------------------------

ATTENTION: JIM KEESHEN, AET PROFESSOR,
SANTA MONICA COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT
FROM: DES MANTTARI, AET STUDENT, SANTA MONICA COLLEGE

RE: ONGOING RETALIATION, HATE SPEECH, DISCRIMINATION, AND FERPA VIOLATIONS

MARCH 15, 2006

Dear Jim,

By copy of this email, I am formally addressing several crucial issues that have been brought to my attention. I am writing to you in a good faith attempt to informally resolve this situation and to clear my good name and reputation.

On or about February 15, 2006, you allegedly denied me equal educational access to your ET 18 Storyboarding class. Although I had enrolled in this course with you, you switched sections and claimed that the course was full. I am informed and believe and thereon allege that at the time you denied me access, the course was not filled to capacity.

On or about February 22, 2006, you allegedly denied disabled student Dustin Curran equal educational access to your ET 18 course. At the time, you allegedly informed him that the class was full. I am informed and believe and thereon allege that the course was not filled to maximum capacity. Despite denying both Mr. Curran and myself, who were both enrolled to take the course with you, you allowed at least one other student access to your course. You allegedly provided an instructor authorization for at least one student to add your course.

On this same date, you allegedly asked students to raise their hands if they have not taken, or are not concurrently enrolled in, ET 2 Storytelling, a course also taught by you at AET. As you are well aware, ET 2 is a co-requisite for being legitimately enrolled in ET 18. Although several students raised their hands, admitting they did not meet this requirement to be enrolled in your course, you did not ask them to leave. Instead, I am informed and believe and thereon allege that you told them: "Lying is better than not lying" or words to that effect.

On or about February 24, 2006, my attorney Edward Y. Lee faxed a letter to Joshua Morrison, the attorney for Santa Monica Community College District. In this letter, Mr. Lee asked detailed your denial of educational access into your ET 18 course. He requested that you, and SMC, allow both Mr. Curran and myself into your course.

On or about February 24, 2006, Attorney Edward Y. Lee wrote a letter via fax to Attorney Joshua Morrison regarding SMC’s and your unauthorized use of my name and work in his ET 2 Storytelling course’s online eCompanion supplement for Spring Semester 2006. In this letter, Attorney Lee requested that you cease and desist from using my name and my work and that all references to such be removed forthwith. Additionally, you had allegedly created a folder entitled “Des Manttari” that held no legitimate purpose. At the time you posted this material, he knew or should have known that I was a stockholder of eCollege, the third party vendor that provided online course modules and distance education learning materials to SMC.

On or about February 27, 2006, in retaliation and to further harass me for redressing my grievances pertaining to the denial of equal access, you flew into an unprovoked rage and wrongfully called the SMC campus police on me, including police officer Mark Kessler. During the interim period between your verbal attack and the arrival of the police, you caused your friend, Ruth Beckmann, to fighting words against me. At this time, you caused her, either through your words or actions, to make false accusations against me in front of my fellow students and the guest speaker.

On this same date, you allegedly threatened one of your students who was asked to testify for the police. At this time, you allegedly made false representations to at least one SMC campus police officer in an attempt to maliciously have me arrested. At the time you spoke with campus police, you knew your statements would cause a false police report to be filed against me. At the time you spoke with campus police, you knew that you were not stating the truth and that you were falsely accusing me of harassing and stalking you. At the time you made these statements, you knew that they would lead to interference in my education at SMC and would cause me harm to my reputation, humiliation, and emotional distress.

On the afternoon of March 1, 2006, two days after the false arrest attempt, you allegedly made a hate speech against me, and disabled students in general, as a formal announcement to approximately 20 students in your ET 18 Storyboarding course at AET. At the time you did this, you were acting in your official capacity as a representative of Santa Monica Community College. You further accused students in your class and in your ET 2 class of being spies. You further threatened your students that if anyone reported this, that you would come after them, get them, have them kicked out of school, or any other consequences, all of which would be supported by the school under the guise of school policy.

At the time you made this announcement to your class, you knew it was derogatory, discriminatory, hateful, malicious, and patently false. You knew, or should have known, that your announcement was in violation of both FERPA guidelines pertaining to student confidentiality and it was a violation of SMC's policy of confidentiality toward disabled students. At the time you made your threats to your students, you knew that they were retaliatory, in violation of SMC's Academic Senate Statement of Professional Ethics, and would cause your students fear. I am informed and believe and thereon allege that your announcement to your class sounded official, well rehearsed, and threatening. I am informed and believe and thereon allege that you did not open your announcement up to intellectual debate, but made it as a mandate.

On or about March 3, 2006, I emailed you about your March 1, 2006 hate speech. I incorporate my March 3, 2006 email to you as reference and make the same a part herein. In this email, I asked that you cease and desist your harassment against me and I requested an apology.

I am informed and believe and thereon allege that later that day, on March 3, 2006, in retaliation and to further defame me, you went into the ET 2 eCompanion course module and published the statement "You are an AH" where my name "Des Manttari" had been. At the time you published this hateful and libelous comment, you knew it was in retaliation for a student reporting your hate speech to me and for my email requesting an apology. Furthermore, at the time you published this statement, you knew "AH" was the universally known term for "asshole." You knew, or should have known, that approximately 84 students would read this statement and that it would cause me embarrassment and damage to my reputation at SMC as a result.

On March 6, 2006, my attorney Edward Y. Lee issued SMC’s attorney Joshua Morrison, via fax and U.S. mail, a cease and desist harassment notice on behalf of his client, Santa Monica Community College District, pertaining to your recent defamation against me. The March 3, 2006 email I sent you regarding your March 1, 2006 hate speech in your ET 18 Storyboarding was referenced therein.

On or about March 6, 2006, based on your retaliatory actions against me, Dean Judith Penchansky wrote and mailed a letter to me in which she placed a wrongful disciplinary hold on my student records and wrongly accused me of allegedly violating the student code of conduct. Later that day, to celebrate your successful retaliation against me, I am informed and believe and thereon allege that you published in your ET 2 eCompanion the following comment: "Gotcha!" At the time you published this comment, you knew that potentially 84 students enrolled in your course would read this comment. Furthermore, at the time you published this comment, you knew, or should have known, that I was a stockholder of eCollege.com, Inc., the third party distance education vendor that provides eCompanion for use in your SMC ET 2 course.

Furthermore, at the time you made your hate speech and published these comments to defame and harass me, you knew that approximately 10 students were concurrently enrolled in your ET 2 and ET 18 course and understood that all your retaliation, harassment, threats, and discrimination were directed at me. At the time you made this hate speech, you knew, or should have known, that your speech was in violation of SMC's mission statement governing an educational environment of goodwill and mutual respect. At the time you made this hate speech, you knew, or should have known, that this was a violation of SMC's written policies pertaining to hate crimes and hate speech.

On the evening of March 6, 2006, I once again attended the Mary Pickford Speaker Series, held in your ET 2 Storytelling classroom. At this time, you allegedly violated FERPA guidelines pertaining to student confidentiality. During your class, you allegedly handed your students an accordion file filled with graded student quizzes and homework. Although it was divided by alphabetical sections, students were allegedly allowed to rummage through it to find their graded work. You allegedly stated that students are not often up to this task, implying that students pull out other students' work by mistake.

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is a Federal law that protects the privacy of student educational records. According to the law: “It is also a FERPA violation to leave graded student work where others can view it or to return a student’s graded work by having another student pick it up. This means, for example, that faculty cannot have students search through a stack of other students’ papers to find their own, and that they cannot have students claim papers from a box in a hallway or departmental office.”

Pursuant to the provisions of FERPA, by handing out an accordion file to your ET 2 class and instructing them to go through a stack of papers to find their name, you allegedly violated the provisions of FERPA pertaining to disclosure. When I was your teaching assistant in both your ET 2 Storytelling and ET 61 History of Animation, I witnessed you do this on many occasions in your classroom. At the time, you never informed me that this was a violation of student confidentiality.

On this same date, you allegedly violated SMC's written disability policies by offering unlimited time to take quizzes and unlimited time to take quizzes in your ET 2 eCompanion course module. SMC's policy states: "Never offer unlimited time on tests as an accommodation. Never offer untimed tests. If extra exam time seems like a necessity for accommodation, offer it as extended time."

On this same date, you allegedly maintained published false information on your ET 2 eCompanion in your online course syllabus. In writing, you stated that you both "produced and directed the pilot for FAMILY GUY." At the time you published this statement, you knew, or should have known, that it was false. At the time this statement was published, you knew, or should have known, that Seth MacFarlane is the only person listed on the credits of the pilot as a director. At the time you published this, you allegedly made these false statements in conscious disregard for the truth and to elevate your credentials to your students. At the time you published this, you knew that this was an alleged violation of faculty ethics pertaining to academic honesty.

On or about March 7, 2006, you allegedly caused to be received two written statements by you pertaining to me to be received by SMC's office of Judicial Affairs and Judith Penchansky. One of these statements pertains to alleged incidents occurring on or about February 27, 2006. The other statement pertains to alleged incidents occurring on or about March 6, 2006. Both these statements are addressed to "Judy" and signed by you. Both these statements are informal, not on official school letterhead, not formally addressed, undated, and not signed under penalty of perjury.

At the time you allegedly wrote and caused these statements to be filed with SMC's Office of Judicial Affairs, you knew that they were factually inaccurate. At the time you wrote these statements, you knew or should have known, that they contained carefully constructed lies that would cause me harm. At the time you wrote these statements, you knew that you were writing them to cause interference with my education at SMC, to harass me, and in retaliation against me for the exercise of my various constitutionally protected rights, including but not limited to, the exercise of free speech, free press, the redress of grievances, and the pursuit of public records belonging to Santa Monica Community College District.

On or about March 13, 2006, in your ET 2 Storytelling class, you once again allegedly violated FERPA guidelines pertaining to student confidentiality. I am informed and believe and thereon allege that on that date, you requested that your ET 2 students fill out a form that requested all their personal information. I am informed and believe and thereon allege that you indicated to your students that this was for money for the school and that the form was being sent to the Chancellor's Office.

I am informed and believe and thereon allege that you instructed your students that the more forms they fill out, the more money the school will receive, and that students were encouraged to fill out duplicate forms. I am informed and believe and thereon allege that you instructed your students to pass them to the end of the row, thus allowing other students to view confidential information of other students in violation of FERPA. You knew, or should have known, by allegedly asking your students to duplicate forms, that you were asking them to participate in academic dishonesty and financial aid fraud.

I am informed and believe and thereon allege that you placed student work in an accordion paper file and that you made your students go to the front of the classroom to retrieve their graded homework and grades quizzes. I am informed and believe and thereon allege that you allowed students to rummage through other students graded schoolwork, thus again violating the provisions of FERPA pertaining to student confidentiality.

At the time you made the alleged FERPA violations on all relevant dates discussed herein, you knew, or should have known, that you were deliberately jeopardizing SMC's federal funding and violating the rights of your students. You knew, or should have known, that FERPA expressly prohibits the funding of an education institution that has a practice of disclosing educational records, or the personally identifiable information contained in those records, to unauthorized individuals without the consent of the student.

By copy of this email, I formally request the following from you: (1) That you cease your defamation, harassment, and retaliation against me; (2) That you cease and desist using unwarranted police force against me; (3) That you cease and desist making false allegations against me, both orally and in writing; (4) That you cease your derogatory comments against me, both orally and in writing; (5) That you cease and desist your violation of my confidentiality and other students confidentiality as set forth in FERPA and in any and all written policies at SMC; (6) That you provide me with a written apology for your alleged derogatory comments, both published and unpublished; (7) That you retract in writing your false statements you made to the campus police; (8) That you retract your two recent written statements you caused to be filed with the Office of Judicial Affairs and Judith Penchansky; (8) That you cease and desist your abuse and misrepresentations of the eCollege eCompanion course modules in any and all of your courses; (9) That you cease and desist your deliberate interference with my education at SMC; (10) That you correct the false information on eCompanion pertaining to your misrepresentation that you directed the Family Guy pilot; (11) That you remove any and all work done by me that you still may have on your ET 2 eCompanion course module; and (12) That I be allowed to enjoy the Mary Pickford Speaker Series in peace now and in the future.

If you wish to stand by your false statements to the campus police and your two false written statements to Judith Penchansky as referenced herein, then I hereby request that you address these statements formally: on official Santa Monica College letterhead, in your capacity as a professor of Santa Monica College, addressed to Judith Penchansky in her official capacity, that you date these statements, and that you sign them under penalty of perjury.

Also, if you stand by your March 1, 2006 "announcement" you made to your ET 18 students and do not wish to retract your statements or offer an explanation or apology to me or your students in writing, that I request you place these statements in writing, on school letterhead, in your official capacity as a professor of Santa Monica College, that you date your statement and sign it under penalty of perjury and mail a copy to me for my records. You can obtain my mailing address from Judith Penchansky.

Absent any sort of written response from you in the near future, I will assume that my allegations are true and correct and that you agree to abide by my requests to cease and desist your unprofessional and unethical behavior. If you have any personal issues with me that are causing you to retaliate with such hostility, the school environment is not the proper venue to address these concerns nor it is the proper vehicle to vent your hatred. Your recent words and actions are only causing ongoing potential and severe liability for the school and damage to me as a student and tarnishing the reputation of the Academy of Entertainment and Technology and Santa Monica Community College.

Thank you for your prompt understanding and attention to the foregoing.

Very Truly Yours, Des


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