Cal State San Bernardino President Al Karnig has formally rejected a request from a Mexican-American advocacy group to form an advisory committee of faculty, students and community members to review allegations of racism, sexism and sexual harassment at the university.
"His point is that there are mechanisms in place," university spokesman Sid Robinson said Wednesday by phone.

In a letter dated May 5 to the San Bernardino chapter of the Mexican American Political Association, Karnig wrote that the university has formal procedures for students, faculty and staff to file complaints. The university also has a collective bargaining system for staff and an ombudsman to help solve problems, he wrote.

MAPA recently distributed a copy of the letter to the media. The education advocacy group has teamed with two sociology professors who have led two small protests on campus asking the administration for an independent committee. The group wants to see if there are patterns of complaints, said Elsa Valdez, a university professor.

Karnig stated that such an open forum would violate the collective bargaining and grievance procedures and privacy protections guaranteed to students and employees.

Valdez, vice president of MAPA, said by telephone that the letter disappoints members of MAPA and an organization she formed recently called Progressive Alliance.

The grievance process is handled by administrators whose concern is protecting the university from lawsuits, she said.

Robinson said that administrators within each department act as ombudsmen to handle informal complaints.

Valdez said there is no independent and neutral ombudsman on campus who investigates complaints and shepherds people through the grievance process.