A CSUMB professor is placed on leave after a student survey uncovers possible issues.

Students griping about professors is not new, but a contingent of students at CSU Monterey Bay took it a step further by conducting a research study to gather data about one professor, Miguel Lopez of the Liberal Studies Department, they felt needed to be held accountable to Title IX laws that regulate discrimination based on sex. They presented the results of their research to the CSUMB Title IX Office and a CSUMB administrator last semester, on Oct. 14.

As part of their research, the students created a survey to elicit both positive and negative responses from students and alumni – they collected 39 responses total. (The students conducting the research asked to not be identified out of fear of retaliation by Lopez.)

While there were positive survey comments, there were numerous complaints that ranged from the less serious, like unclear assignment directions and how they would be graded, to more serious accusations of inappropriate behavior and comments in online classes regarding race, gender and disabilities, that led to complaints filed with the Title IX Office.

Some students alleged Lopez invited Latina students to a group he called his “comadres,” that met separately outside of class and provided them instruction and assignments not available to others. One student who said she was invited into such a group receiving extra assignments said she felt “bad and angry that my fellow classmates really had a bad experience with him, and I felt guilty that I was doing well.”

Current students of Lopez received an email on Feb. 20 stating that he is on administrative leave and will be replaced by other instructors in the interim. University officials would not confirm the leave, saying in a written statement that state and federal laws, as well as CSU policy, prohibits them from providing information about pending complaints or investigations.

The Weekly was unable to reach Lopez.