Viking News Co-EIC’s student conduct letter leaves LBCC journalists concerned about press rights

It’s Monday, May 11. It’s a typical day for Paloma Maciel, co-editor-in-chief of the Long Beach City College (LBCC) student-run newspaper, the Viking News. 

She stops by the bi-weekly Associated Student Body (ASB) meeting at 3 p.m. Thirty minutes into the meeting, she receives a message through her school email. Maciel doesn’t notice it initially.

As the meeting comes to a close around 4 p.m., Maciel checks her phone as everyone begins walking out of the ASB meeting room. It’s an email from LBCC’s Office of Student Conduct about an incident report. 

“I just saw the email and then I looked at it. I clicked it and I read the little thing and that’s what got me,” Maciel said. She remembers being confused by the letter but she quickly realized it was serious. 

She then heads back to her newsroom, where she tells her advisor, Walter Hammerwold, and staff writer Jessica Rodriguez about her letter. Rodriguez reads it aloud. 

After an hour of deliberating — and discussing potential options with her advisor — Maciel opts to write an editorial about the letter she received and gives Rodriguez the task of interviewing people for an accompanying news article.  

What Was the Letter About? 

At the time, Maciel was covering the ASB elections for the Viking News, from when polls closed on April 23 to the re-election on June 6. 

Maciel broke the news that the election results were invalidated and a re-election would be held after she attended the May 4 ASB meeting. She also broke the news that this wasn’t made public to LBCC students until two weeks after the May 4 ASB meeting. 

The reason for the re-election, according to the Viking News article in which Maciel interviewed ASB higher-ups, was that the voting systems went down during the voting period and ASB administration needed to validate that everyone who voted was a student.

Since Maciel was covering the election, she reached out to the ASB administration to find out more. 

The student conduct letter alleged that during her reporting, Maciel “engaged in persistent and increasing harassing and aggressive behavior under the pretence of requesting interviews about the ASB election.” The letter stated that this behavior occurred from April 23 to May 8.

However, the letter specifically focused on a May 8 incident where it alleged, “after being told there was no comment, you [Maciel] remained in the doorway and physically blocked a staff member from leaving their office until you were asked to move.” The letter also states that the staff member felt unsafe and sought shelter in another office for help. 

Maciel recounts the situation with drastic differences. She said after hearing the ASB election was going to be invalidated on May 5, she scheduled an interview with Deborah Miller-Calvert, dean of student affairs, on May 8. 

After Maciel’s interview with Calvert was over, she said she then went to the office of Kim Hamon, student activities advisor, and said she needed to talk to them about the ASB election. 

Hamon said that the dean already spoke to her and anything Calvert said, they’d say the same thing. According to Maciel, the student activities coordinator then left their office into another area as Maciel, who was only a few feet away from the door, was typing what Hamon had said on her phone.  

Calvert then came near Hamon’s office, asked Maciel what she was doing and stated they were busy preparing for an event and that they were closed. After that brief conversation, Maciel said she left the student union. 

Maciel says that at the time, she was not told she made anyone uncomfortable and insists she wasn’t blocking the door. 

The letter stated that if she were found responsible for the allegations, she could have been subjected to the following disciplinary sanctions: 

• Warning
• Repromand
• Probation 
• Social suspension 
• Disciplinary suspension

A “Tone Deaf” Resolution, and a Pattern of Behavior

On June 3, almost one month after receiving the student conduct letter, Maciel received a letter from Executive Vice President for Student Services, Dr. Nohel Corral, determining, “that [Maciel was] not responsible for violating the Standards of Student Conduct” and “no further disciplinary action will be taken at this time.”

The co-editor-in-chief said the letter read “tone deaf” and she felt gaslit, mentioning that in the email accompanying the letter, Dr. Corral said to have fun at commencement and at UC Santa Barbara.

“I received that [no disciplinary action letter] and was like, ‘Okay, it’s a little too late,’” she said. “I’m happy, thank you for letting me graduate, but at the same time, you’ve caused damage and I think that’s why it doesn’t feel like a happy ending in a way. But it’s also, now what?” 

Maciel said going up against the “lies” and trying to clear her name while also studying for finals, juggling her duties as editor-in-chief and her classes, made her overwhelmed and worried she might not graduate. 

Maciel said she hopes that by standing up and fighting, this could cause change going forward. 

Since the student conduct letter inhibited Maciel’s job as a reporter to ask questions and dutifully cover the ongoing election, the situation is viewed as a possible press violation. 

“For me, I didn’t feel comfortable continuing that [covering ASB elections] … if they just accused me of harassing them then I don’t feel comfortable following up and asking them questions,” Maciel said. “The reporting I did after that, I didn’t show up to the ASB meetings … and I stopped asking the ASB president or other students what was going on in there because I had to focus on this [student conduct letter].”

This wasn’t the first time the Viking News endured a press violation.

On Oct. 16, 2024, the Viking News reported that a staff writer for the publication, Emma Lloyd, was trying to cover a domestic violence workshop on campus, but it was quickly cancelled because the Planned Parenthood representative was in a “really bad mood.”

Lloyd was kicked out twice and asked not to take photos or get interviews during the event. After talking with her advisor and going back to the public workshop, the Planned Parenthood representative did a 10-minute intermission in the middle of her second slide and stopped the slides altogether, cancelling the event completely.

“It’s very frustrating … because you’re getting into an argument with a student, you’re being petty and saying you’re in a bad mood and you’re cancelling an event that could help people simply because a very non-threatening student journalist is reporting on it to make sure we have these resources,” Lloyd said. 

What should happen going forward? 

With Maciel’s investigation over, the question remains — what happens now? 

When speaking with multiple LBCC journalism students, they all want to see something done. 

Maciel said that she and the newspaper deserve an apology for the student conduct letter.

She said having an open dialogue with the next editor-in-chief and the LBCC administration is important, but they must understand their nonnegotiable rights as members of the press.

Maciel suggested that instead of LBCC administration holding a Zoom meeting — which was done in years past — she’d like it to be an in-person meeting. There, the Viking News can explain press rights to the administration and create a universal document that shows the U.S. Constitution, California Education Code and the school’s press rules. 

“I don’t think any of the plans I proposed to make us reporters feel comfortable on campus will begin, or be taken with appropriate care, until LBCC administration fully realizes that what they did was wrong and moves forward with the intention to not have that happen again,” she said.

The next editor-in-chief for the Viking News, Liam Hollon, also suggested that the school issue an apology for the letter. He said LBCC President Mike Muñoz (or Associate Vice President Carl Kemp) should come to their class and explain how allegations like this and disciplinary letters are decided. 

Hollon also suggests that LBCC should make student press rights accessible on its website, which could help him direct people to it if he feels his press rights are violated. 

“It makes me doing my job possible if they were to know [our student press rights]. If my press rights are continually violated by the school, then what’s the point of press rights?” he said. “It makes operating a newspaper possible and allows me to do my job and it allows me to interview people and not feel afraid, especially for young reporters.” 

Hollon said he wishes the school’s higher-ups would take more initiative to understand their mistakes. As things stand, Hollon feels it may take a lot of pressure for them to do so.

“I’m going to have a lot on my plate as EIC, so it’s kind of hard for me to balance doing that and trying to keep up if the school is respecting us and making sure the school comes to us and say, ‘Hey, we messed up,’” he said. “Having to go out of my way to do this whole entire thing to try to get the school to apologize is crazy because I just want to be a student.”

The Signal Tribune asked multiple LBCC and ASB higher-ups involved with the investigation for comment on the student conduct letter on May 28 and received no reply. However, Kemp said regarding the student conduct letter, “LBCC does not comment on open investigations.”

The Signal Tribune also reached out to Dr. Muñoz on June 16, after the investigation concluded. The Tribune asked for comment regarding the incident report, asking if he thinks LBCC is doing an adequate job respecting student reporters’ press rights and what possible future steps LBCC plans to take.

Lauren Zale, the executive assistant to the president, replied to the interview request sent to Dr. Muñoz stating, “All media requests are routed through our public affairs and marketing team. Please note that Dr. Muñoz is on vacation, returning on 6/23.” Dr. Muñoz has still not responded as of June 26. 

Zale CC’ed their public affairs marketing team in that same email chain with the president. 

Bradlee Crihfield was CC’ed on the email and sent the Signal Tribune the following response:

“Long Beach City College does not comment on individual student conduct matters or disclose information regarding specific students due to privacy and confidentiality requirements.”

“Generally, student conduct matters are reviewed in accordance with established College policies and procedures. Each matter is evaluated based on the available information, and any findings or actions are determined through the applicable process.” 

If no substantial changes are made, Hollon says that it opens the door for a situation like Maciel’s to happen again. 

“If there’s no, ‘Hey you can’t do this’ for any of the ASB people, then they’re going to keep doing it because it works … it stopped us from reporting on it, it stopped Paloma from reporting on it and so they got what they wanted out of it, which was Paloma to stop asking them questions,” Hollon said. “If they don’t actually bring it up again [and apologize], then this is just going to keep happening again and keep abusing this and making it so we can’t do our job.”