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“It’s absolutely suffocating at Collin College.”
Illustration by Sarah Schumacher
On Kimberly O’Neil’s first day at Collin College in August 2014, she attended a major meeting for associate faculty. A full-time professor approached her while she was sitting in the political science room, she said. “Oh, a black one,” O’Neil remembers her words. “We can finally talk about civil rights.”
If it was a joke, O’Neil didn’t laugh. It is just one example of a litany of racist and bigoted behavior that she witnessed during her time as a professor of political science at Collin College. After years of similar incidents, she decided to resign in March.
As a former government official, O’Neil said her work to investigate and monitor compliance with equality laws is on federal records. She is able to understand that people of color are treated differently at Collin College. Likewise, immigrants with strong accents or those who practice certain religions.
“We’re not just dealing with bad behavior. We’re really dealing with something systemic, “said O’Neil, adding,” I know it’s not just happening to me.
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“It’s suffocating,” she continued. “It’s absolutely suffocating at Collin College.”
Since last fall, Collin College has drawn a number of bad press. Four female professors state that they were dismissed in violation of their rights to freedom of expression and due process. Many condemned the school for its lack of transparency in dealing with COVID-19 on campus.
It’s a little different with O’Neil: Her multi-year contract was already approved, and she left at her own request. Still, some say it is a variation on a troubling theme of a college in crisis.
Since 2015, says O’Neil, she’s been harassed by an administrator. Cases of passive-aggressive behavior soon piled up, she said.
When O’Neil closed the door to the side office, the administrator would open it. If O’Neil wore perfume, the woman would say it was “too loud”. When O’Neil was reheating her lunch, the woman complained that the room needed airing. Another time O’Neil coughed and the woman came in with Lysol.
“She never did this to anyone else,” said O’Neil. “If that had only been her behavior and she is perhaps germ hostile, I honestly would not have bothered. But she only did it to me. ”
Eventually it got so bad that others noticed. O’Neil said two of her white colleagues offered to vouch for her should she file a complaint, which she later did.
O’Neil was named Outstanding Associate Faculty Member of the Year in 2017 and then grabbed a full-time teaching position. The harassment even subsided for a while, in part because O’Neil was doing her best to avoid the building where her molester worked.
“Everyone deserves better than what Collin College is presenting.” – Kimberly O’Neil, former professor at Collin College
tweet that In 2019, O’Neil and other professors gathered to choose which courses they wanted for the following semester. When it was her turn, O’Neil made her choice, and one of her colleagues shot back, “You bitch! That’s what I wanted.”
O’Neil said no one came to her defense, including her assistant dean, so she had to stand up for herself. After that, that dean offered to mentor her weekly – a suggestion that annoyed O’Neil. Too often, black women are overrated, she said.
“I was the youngest black woman to be appointed city manager in this country,” she said. “I don’t have to be looked after by a deputy dean because someone called me a slut when my work is at federal level because of it.”
O’Neil isn’t the only Collin College employee with allegations of racism. In April, Allen American reported that an Asian administrator had accused a school principal of racial discrimination and retaliation.
The district president of Collin College, Neil Matkin, is also accused of racist behavior. At one point, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education, he put a bowl on his head to imitate his Jewish predecessor. He also allegedly “joked” once that he couldn’t tell two of the school’s black deans apart.
Many colored staff at the school resent this indecent “humor”.
“The problem is the bad behavior that people use jokingly. It was never realized that it wasn’t a joke – that it was just offensive, disrespectful, and discriminatory, ”said O’Neil.
When asked for comment, Collin College spokeswoman Marisela Cadena-Smith said via email that “the college has chosen not to participate in this article.”
The final straw for O’Neil was how the school dealt with the COVID-19 crisis.
As someone who has dealt with the long-term effects of COVID infection herself, she said her fear increased after learning that another teacher, Iris Meda, had died from the disease. Until then, O’Neil had no idea that staff were not being notified of coronavirus cases on campus. But O’Neil finally decided to leave after witnessing how the leadership handled a student struggling with COVID-related personal issues.
Although she loved her job, O’Neil believes the school still has a long way to go in providing color professors with a safe working environment. There is also a lack of diversity in the recruitment process at the moment, she said; Before leaving, she was the only full-time colored faculty member in five disciplines reporting to an assistant dean on a campus.
O’Neil believes that Collin College should use an independent diversity, equity, and inclusion group to evaluate its practices, policies, and approaches. The school does great things, but it cannot reach its full potential when it is tarnished by racism and bigotry behind the scenes, she said.
It also fails to uphold its student-first philosophy if faculty and staff are not properly looked after, O’Neil said. She hopes that sharing her story will ultimately help the remaining professors who “deserve better”.
“I just want it fixed. I just want it fixed for the people. Fix it for the students, fix it for the faculty, and fix it for the staff. Fix it for the taxpayers, ”O’Neil said. “Everyone deserves better than what Collin College is currently presenting.”
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