Chicano/American lecturer made disparaging comments about whites, blacks, Native Amer
State investigation concludes SDSU lecturer made disparaging comments about white student
Oscar Monge, a SDSU lecturer who has pushed the school to drop the Aztec as its mascot because it believes its racist, has been found by the state to have committed racial discrimination against one of his students.
Gary Robbins Contact Reporter
A San Diego State University lecturer who has complained that the school’s use of the Aztec mascot is racist made disparaging remarks about whites, blacks and Native Americans to a student, triggering an investigation that concluded that the teacher often refers to white people in derogatory terms.
The California Attorney General’s Office says in a Dec. 20 report that Professor Oscar Monge sent at least 15 offensive Facebook messages to Crystal Sudano last year, when she was a student in his Native American studies class.
The report says Monge, who is Native American-Chicano, refers to Sudano, who is white, as a “white savior,” a term sometimes used to refer to a white person who hides their racism by helping minorities. Monge also repeats hearsay that a prominent black SDSU student is an “Uncle Tom.”
The report says, “All in all, Monge uses ‘white” whenever he wishes to explain someone who has done something wrong, or bad. Indeed, in an essay to the investigator, Monge wrote, "It is quite easy to argue that ‘whiteness’ is synonymous with evil.”
Monge’s Facebook comments and other behavior led Sudano to withdraw from his class. She then filed a complaint with SDSU, alleging four counts of discrimination and harassment. The case was turned over to the Attorney General’s Office, which found that three of the allegations were true, including the charge that Monge threatened to lower Sudano’s grade in retaliation.
The report says Monge did not discriminate against Sudano based on her hearing disability.
Monge and Sudano have until mid-January to appeal the report’s findings.
The Union-Tribune made several unsuccessful attempts to reach Monge for comment.
He is quoted in the report as saying that he is not a racist. In one Facebook post to Sudano on Feb. 25, he denied calling her a racist and in a March 1, 2017, e-mail, he said, “I’m deeply concerned by the manner (in) which you somehow managed to believe I’m labeling you (and apparently a lot of other people) as ‘racists.’”
Sudano said, “The Attorney General did an amazing job on this. They really nailed what happened.”
The report says that Monge’s boss, Native American studies Chair David Kamper, recommended that he stop talking to students on Facebook because it is inappropriate, and so were some of the things that he said.
Kamper also suggested that Monge watch an online video to get suggestions on how to discuss diversity and racism with students, the report says.
The university would not say whether Monge, who joined the faculty in 2014, will be further disciplined, or fired.
In a statement, the campus said it “is committed to creating a learning environment where everyone is treated with respect and dignity. The university prohibits discriminatory behavior and harassment of any kind of campus, and takes allegations of misconduct by any member of the campus community very seriously.
The clash between Monge and Sudano involved two strong personalities.
In blunt terms, Monge has publicly pressured SDSU to drop the Aztec mascot and moniker, noting that the Aztecs lived in central Mexico, about 1,000 miles from San Diego.
“This is a public university,” Monge told the Union-Tribune in 2016. “We’re not supposed to perpetuate ignorance. We’re supposed to be seekers of truth and knowledge.”
He fleshed out his thoughts in his Master’s thesis, which is titled, “”Fail Montezuma! The Last Vestiges of an Obscured Yet Stubbornly Persistent Culture of Racism at San Diego State University.” Kamper signed off on the thesis.
Sudano is a criminal justice student who has been involved in a variety of political activities, from protesting campus budget cuts to the Occupy San Diego movement. She said she can sometimes be “pushy.”
The tension between Monge and Sudano began to surface in January 2017, before she began taking his class.
The situation is mostly captured in Facebook Messenger messages between the two, largely over a seven week period. Here is a sample of of parts of the messages, cited in the report:
- Monge counseled Sudano on how to talk to Native Americans, saying, “...you keep talking past me. And frankly, this is precisely the sort of behavior I don’t want you to bring with you if you meet with the Native Students, to get all ‘white savior’ on them and tell them that they don’t known what they’re doing.” The use of white savior was tantamount to calling Sudano racist, the report says.
- While discussing student leader Chimezie Ebiriekwe, Monge said, “I don’t know, but I’ve been told by other Black students that he’s more of an Uncle Tom (not my words, and like I said, I don’t know him).” The report notes that Uncle Tom refers to “a black who is overeager to win the approval of whites.”
- While talking about the Native American Student Association, Monge said, “The main problem going on within NASA has more to do with a couple of white students who are members, who apparently have great grandmothers tgat (sic) are Cherokee Princesses (this is a joke that has specific meaning among natives.”). The report says, “As the Cherokee nation does not have any royalty, when one says they are related to a Cherokee Princess, they automatically reveal their ignorance.”
- Monge mistook the clothes and hairstyle Sudano wore to a Native American event, assuming that she was trying to resemble a Native American. She was actually dressed for riding her motorcycle. Even so, Monge wrote, “It may have been an innocent coincidence, within a specific context. I have seen more intentional stuff, where white women will come to powwows with fringed clothing and headbands and we’ll be all ‘wtf?’ but … we won’t say anything … we try to maintain our politeness and hospitality even in the face of rudeness …to a point.”
- While talking about student government, Monge comments on how “damned white” the Associated Students are. The report says.Monge claimed to have used that phrase “as a shorthand for how the student government works to exclude and marginalize the voices of those who are not white.” The report adds that the student government “includes members of various racial and ethnic groups.”
- During one message, Sudano used the term “low man on the totem pole.” Monge replied: “Don’t use ‘totem pole.’ White people get the whole thing wrong, btw. The lowest part of the totem pole is a place of honor. The most experienced carver does that part.” Sudano quickly apologized. The conversation switched to how SDSU’s University Counsel might deal with the mascot issue. Monge said his side was “severely outnumbered by ...us...er...by...People who don’t easily empathize with ...non-whiteness? Lol Frat Bros and ‘Sorority Sisters.’”
Sudano largely stopped going to class as a result of these and other conversations, the report says. She then withdrew from the course, and she complained to the administration about Monge’s behavior. Sudano claimed that Monge had threatened to lower her grade in retaliation, a claim that was found to be true by the state investigator.
The investigator also issued numerous and stark criticisms about Monge’s racial attitude.
One passage says: “Monge has repeatedly told Sudano her point of view doesn’t matter because as a white person she could not possibly understand his perspective.
“In other words, he is saying white people are ignorant and cannot be taught — and he is stating this to a white student. If a white professor made a similar comment about, for example, how black people could not possibly understand the concept of manifest destiny, it would be universally understood to be a discriminatory comment.”
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