Professor Apologizes for Taking ‘Slanted’ Campus Newspapers

An El Camino College professor has apologized for removing copies of a campus newspaper that carried a page-one article about student criticism of his approach to teaching business math.

Burton Fletcher took out a full-page advertisement in the Thursday issue of the student-written Warwhoop, admitting that he “collected” copies of the free newspaper’s Nov. 4 issue because he was upset by the article, which he described as slanted.

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An estimated 1,000 to 2,000 copies of that issue vanished the morning it was distributed on the campus near Torrance, prompting the staff to have 2,000 extra copies printed, said a Warwhoop faculty adviser. About 7,000 copies were initially printed.

Fletcher, who later paid the paper $350 to cover the printing costs, said in an interview Friday that he took several copies of the paper and “recycled” them, but he would not specify how many copies.

“I have learned a lesson about properly responding to criticism,” Fletcher said in an interview. “I hope to be a better teacher, and human being, as a result of this gut-wrenching experience.”

A Torrance attorney, Fletcher is a tenured professor of business administration who joined the El Camino faculty in 1980. He made an unsuccessful 1992 bid for the Torrance City Council and, although mentioned as a potential 1994 candidate, he said Friday “no decisions have been made.”

The Warwhoop incident has catalyzed discussion of the 1st Amendment on this 24,000-student community college campus.

The Warwhoop’s editor-in-chief, Marisela Santana, defended the paper’s decision to print the article 10 days ago reporting on student complaints about Fletcher’s class.

The Nov. 4 article that ignited the debate was headlined, “Students, instructor agree: it’s time to go.”

According to the article, Fletcher admitted to his students that he was unfamiliar with course materials.

“He would just put on a videotape and sit in the back of the class and read,” one student was quoted saying.

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In addition to the student complaints, it reported that Fletcher had asked to be reassigned and was no longer teaching the class.

“Students have a right to know what’s going on with their instructors, what’s going on with other students,” said Santana, an El Camino junior.

“For them not to be able to get ahold of the newspaper and read it--that’s not right.”

Interviewed Friday, Fletcher confirmed that he had requested the transfer. He said he continues to teach small-business management.

He would not comment in detail on the episode, referring a reporter to his advertisement. It says that Fletcher had asked the college administration for, among other things, “the type of hands-on instruction that more tutors or student assistants could provide.”

This year marked the first time Fletcher had taught the class, according to Lance Widman, president of the El Camino College Federation of Teachers, the faculty union.

“Like many of us who teach a class for the first time, it’s really a challenge, to put it mildly,” said Widman, who said he knew Fletcher had asked earlier this fall for more resources, such as tutors, to help with the class.

“Burton, in his other classes, he’s just been doing an absolute superb job,” Widman said.

In his Thursday letter to the Warwhoop’s editors, Fletcher criticized the newspaper’s Nov. 4 article and related editorial.

He wrote that after reading them, “I had a momentary lapse in judgment which led me to remove copies of the newspaper. I made an error, and I wish to apologize . . . I reacted poorly upon seeing 14 years as a teacher at this school vilified in one article.”

Mary Ann Keating, college director of public information, said she could not comment on “anything to do with (Fletcher’s) activities as an instructor,” calling that a confidential personnel matter.

Keating said she did not think Fletcher violated any kind of campus code by taking newspapers.

“Probably not,” she said. “He paid for them.”

Warwhoop faculty adviser Jolene Combs, who heads the journalism department, said she contacted the campus police Nov. 4 after hearing reports that Fletcher had been seen removing copies of the issue carrying the critical story.

Combs said she filed a complaint accusing Fletcher of theft, destruction of property and violation of the 1st Amendment, but dropped the matter after Fletcher apologized and reimbursed the Warwhoop for the missing papers.