Frank Bella Professor, Teacher Commentary

Again, one day, with about two weeks before the end of the Spring semester, my classes suddenly disappeared from the ASA portal. What people have to understand is that it is quite common for teachers’ schedules to be switched around before a semester. You may lose a class due to low enrollment; you may pick up a class due to another teacher’s unavailability, etc. But you never go from five classes to zero in one day. It does not happen. So I knew something was terribly wrong.

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As I explained previously, I contacted Lizhi Zhu the very first day this happened and almost every day thereafter and received no reply to repeated emails, texts, and phone calls. Again, what must be understood is that I was still an employee of ASA, still teaching students, still grading papers and inputting grades. I contacted Lizhi Zhu, my direct supervisor, via the ASA employee email system. So these contacts were official ASA business. Still, nothing but silence. Hmmm.

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An adage that I have always followed because it has always proven to be true: whenever someone suddenly does something that he normally does not do, be suspicious. Conversely, whenever someone stops doing something that he normally does, be suspicious.

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In five years as my chairman, Lizhi Zhu never ignored my emails or texts. He always answered them the same day or within a day. That is compounded by the fact that this was a matter of great urgency and importance. So immediately I knew that something was out of order, something was up.

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With Lizhi Zhu completely ignoring me for almost a week, I more than once contacted English administrator Michael Thomas Cain. Michael told me at first that Lizhi Zhu was probably very busy and that I should be patient. I must add that at this point, Michael knew nothing about the real reason I was out at ASA. I should also add that eventually even Michael thought it was very strange that Lizhi Zhu was not answering me.

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The semester had ended in June and we were now in the two-week break between semesters. Still no contact whatsoever from Lizhi Zhu. Michael Thomas Cain had gone away for a few days but returned home the day before the new Summer semester was to begin. He texted me, “Anything happen? Do you have a schedule?”

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Now, the break between semesters had ended and the new Summer semester had begun. I had no classes, was clearly no longer working at ASA, and never heard anything from anyone. It was as if I didn’t exist. Imagine treating an employee that way?

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But I would not drop it. I could not even confront Lizhi Zhu in person because the school was still closed because of the coronavirus. Everyone was still working remotely from home. But finally, I was tipped off that Lizhi Zhu would be at the Manhattan campus one day for a brief period, so I went there.

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He was shocked to see me and I thought he was going to shit in his pants. Cornered, he had no choice but to speak to me – finally. “How did you know I was here?” was the first thing he said to me. We went into his office and had what can only be described as a contentious conversation, at least on my part. For his part, Lizhi Zhu was nervous, evasive and vague. It was worth pushing him for information, which I did, and eventually he somewhat relented.

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I began by chastising him for never returning my calls, texts, or emails in the first place, and for never contacting me at all to inform me that my classes were taken away from me, and of course, for not telling me why. In response to this, he essentially said two things – first, he spouted some sort of legalistic mumbo jumbo that because I was technically “part-time” and an “adjunct,” ASA was not required to give me an explanation. This, of course, is unprofessional, insulting, unethical, rude, and outright bullshit. In further trying to justify himself, he kept saying he ignored me for weeks because he “had nothing to tell me.” More than once he repeated, “There was nothing to tell you,” which I found very dishonest and annoying.

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I jumped all over this. “You could have told me what you are telling me now!” I simply could not believe Lizhi Zhu would try and justify his weeks of non-response to me. In the end, he “apologized,” sort of. Only because I had him cornered in his office did he say he was sorry, that he should have responded to me. “You can blame me for that,” he said. But still it made no sense. Until…

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That brings me to the second thing he told me. The big secret was now going to come out. Lizhi Zhu said that, on orders from “higher authorities,” he had taken my classes away from me. He said that they (those “higher authorities”) found something “on the internet” that I was “involved in.” When I pushed him further, he would only say something was found on “social media,” that was against ASA standards.

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He told me it was “Shanthi’s decision.” Naturally, I was confused. What could it be? I’m not “involved” in anything on the internet or social media, except some fan clubs for television shows. Moreover, even without knowing what the hell Lizhi Zhu and Shanthi could possibly be talking about, my argument would be two-fold: first, you should not be swayed by what you “find on the internet,” and second, even if you are so foolishly swayed, you have a professional and moral obligation to ask me for my side of the story.  That’s why I keep repeating: “Would you go by the individual you know, both personally and professionally, all day every day, for five full years? Or would you go by something you read on the internet?”

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As Lizhi Zhu and I continued this rancorous conversation in his office, it began to dawn on me. There could only be one thing I could think of – my political writings which appear in various places online. Since I did not know for sure that it was about my writings, I did not push Lizhi Zhu on that. I simply continued to press him on what he and Shanthi were talking about. He continued to insist that he did not know specifically what it was, beyond what he had told me. But I did not believe him. He was clearly lying. At one point I even said to him, “You have never been that kind of man.” Again, all he would say was that I could blame him for not responding to me, but that the decision to take my classes away from me should be blamed on the “higher authorities,” especially Shanthi Konkoth. And again, he would only repeat that “something was found on the internet,” that it was deemed inappropriate for ASA, and that I was not entitled to an explanation.

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At that point, I asked him if Shanthi was in the building. He said no. At the end of about 15 minutes in his office, I was agitated and frustrated, and told him I would contact Shanthi on my own.

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Naturally, I still have friends at ASA, and I inquired of those who might be in the know. Indeed, it was relayed to me by one friend that some of my political writings had been deemed “controversial.” Certain of my writings frightened those cowardly “higher authorities” at ASA. Yes, I have penned conservative writings about immigration, crime, race, affirmative action, and other so-called controversial issues. Of course, none of this has any bearing whatsoever on my job as a teacher. In fact, it is grotesquely ignorant for an institution of higher learning to judge a professor by his political opinions. Isn’t higher education supposed to be a place for a diversity of opinions? Nevertheless, I must point out that I never talked about politics in the classroom because I think it is inappropriate to talk about politics and religion with students. I was there to teach and to educate. And, according to ASA, for five years I had done a damn good job.

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(For the sake of argument, think of the opposite scenario. Let’s say, for example, that there was an employee at ASA for a year or two, who was not considered a good employee. Let’s say this hypothetical employee frequently arrived late for work and was frequently absent. Let’s say this employee often violated school rules – did not input grades in a timely manner, did not use required formats such as APA, violated the dress code, and was often seen staring at his cell phone instead of engaging students in instruction. Let’s also say that after a year or two ASA decided to not renew his contract. What if, at that point, this employee, in an effort to save his job, pointed to an article on the internet that said how great he was? Would ASA consider that article, or would they go by the employee’s record and behavior in his time at ASA? Of course, ASA would laugh at the guy. ASA would scoff at the notion that they should consider an article “on the internet” when they could simply go by the employee they knew all day every day. But in my case, of course, they went by what they “found on the internet” instead of going by my five-year record as an honored employee).

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Anyway, within a few days, I sent the following email to Shanthi Konkoth: