Correction: In a previous version of this article, it stated that Trustee Sunny Zia made derogatory comments to the President of the LBCC Foundation Board at the time, Guy Heston. The comments were not directed to Heston but to Liz McAn, then Executive Director of the Foundation.
The Long Beach City College Board President Vivian Malauulu calls Trustee Virgina Baxter “hypocritical” a day after she voted against censuring Trustee Sunny Zia because of comments she made regarding Malauulu.
While Trustee Baxter was board president in Winter of 2016, Baxter sent a request to Trustee Zia to apologize to Guy Heston, the President of the LBCC Foundation Board at the time, for posting derogatory comments regarding Liz McAn, the Executive Director of the Foundation, on a social media site.
“I am very disappointed in Trustee Baxter voting against the censure considering that she herself previously admonished Trustee Zia on ethics,” Malauulu said.
According to Baxter, the reason she requested Zia to apologize was to avoid a further destructive environment at the college.
During the July board meeting of this year, Zia made comments regarding Malauulu’s Christian faith, which led Malauulu to write a complaint to Superintendent-President Reagan Romali regarding Zia’s behavior.
According to Malauulu, she made a conscious decision to not speak to any of the other Trustees about her decision on sending a complaint to Romali.
However, Baxter said that although Malauulu did not discuss the censure with her, Malauulu asked Baxter if she can take a look at the request she wrote back in 2016 regarding Zia’s behavior.
Malauulu and Trustee Doug Otto both claim that the type of behavior Zia showed at the July meeting is not new and has been happening for a long time.
Before the vote, Zia apologized to Malauulu about her comments, Malauulu accepted her apology.
Trustee Baxter’s letter to Zia back in 2016:
