A Long Beach City College student had to defend herself at a formal disciplinary hearing this month after the college threatened to possibly suspend her or place her on academic probation for pursuing answers about a controversial student-body election.<\/p>\n
Paloma Maciel, co-editor in chief of LBCC\u2019s student newspaper, had spent weeks reporting and publishing stories on the elections, which had been invalidated in early May due to problems with the voting system and verification of student voters, Maciel reported<\/a>. The muddled results elicited questions from students about why a re-election was necessary and how votes were verified, Maciel reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n Maciel sought answers from the dean of students in a scheduled interview on May 8, she said. In the same building, she said, she tried to interview the student activities advisor, who declined to comment and left the area. Maciel told the Long Beach Post she waited by the door for the advisor until the dean twice asked her to leave, at which point she did.<\/p>\n Three days later, the office of student conduct informed Maciel that a report had been made against her, according to a copy of the email, provided by Maciel and first reported in The Viking News<\/a> student newspaper. The letter alleged that she had \u201cengaged in persistent and increasingly harassing and aggressive behavior under the pretense of requesting interviews.\u201d The letter further alleged that Maciel had \u201cphysically blocked\u201d the path of an administrator, who \u201cfelt unsafe and sought shelter in another office.\u201d If found guilty, the letter said, Maciel could be suspended or placed on probation, calling her approaching graduation into question.<\/p>\n The administrators involved could not be reached for comment, and the college declined to comment on the matter, citing student confidentiality.<\/p>\n \u201cI wasn\u2019t doing anything wrong,\u201d Maciel said. \u201cIn my eyes, I was just reporting.\u201d<\/p>\n