A FIRST AMENDMENT PUBLICATION Woodland Hills, California
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Volume 141 - Issue 7
Wednesday, October 23, 2024
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Students, former department chair say professor engaged in repeated misconduct
Amid investigation, auto tech professor denies alleged derogatory remarks By Delilah Brumer Editor-in-Chief
L
ongtime Pierce College automotive technology professor Tom Fortune is teaching four classes this fall, a load similar to previous semesters. Several of the courses he teaches are a requirement for auto tech students to graduate. Each of the sections is full, and many have a lengthy waitlist. For multiple auto tech students who spoke to the Roundup, these facts pose a frustrating reality. The students said Fortune repeatedly bullied them, made sexist and racist comments and required them to take expensive off-site tests. They also said Fortune demeaned them when they spoke out. The Roundup interviewed students, faculty, Pierce President Ara Aguiar and Fortune, and reviewed months of emails, lecture videos and other documentation. The records and interviews show that the Los Angeles Community College District is aware of misconduct allegations involving Fortune. Fortune said allegations that he made derogatory remarks are false. The district put Fortune on paid administrative leave for 90 days during the Spring 2024 semester, after multiple complaints. Now, he’s back to teaching, pending further investigation — and some students say little has changed.
‘Bigoted or inappropriate’ remarks When Joanna Trujillo walks into her automotive technology
classes, she wears the same red and black, grease-stained uniform as the rest of her peers. But as one of two or three women in each class of 40 to 50 students, she stands out. Although Trujillo’s presence is an anomaly in a male-dominated field, she’s not afraid to get her hands dirty tuning up an engine, and she said her classmates typically treat her with respect. Trujillo said she was “upset” when she witnessed the comments she said that Fortune made while teaching an auto tech class she was in earlier this year. Trujillo and two other students said Fortune spent several minutes during a class session demeaning men whose girlfriends earn more money than them. Then, the students say, Fortune said it’s best if both a man and a woman in a relationship earn a high salary, but not if the woman does it “by being on the pole.” Fortune said this claim is false. “I was like ‘What the hell,’” Trujillo said. “I wasn’t the only one to hear it, and it threw me off. In auto, for females especially, we’re supposed to just deal with the inappropriate comments dudes make.” But Fortune is a professor, and “it’s not okay,” Trujillo said. The students said Fortune has repeatedly made degrading comments about women’s bodies, including their butts and breasts. They said Fortune has frequently gone on tangents during class time about strippers and prostitution, both before and after his Spring 2024 leave. Fortune said he did not make such remarks. “He still would continue to do
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the things he used to do, even though he was warned,” said Trujillo, who is currently taking a class with Fortune. Carlos Arroyo, an auto tech major who has taken multiple classes taught by Fortune, said the professor’s comments are often “bigoted or inappropriate.” As a member of the FAST club, an automotive tech organization at Pierce, Arroyo attended the club’s end-of-the-year event in 2023. A tradition of the club is for students to get toolboxes when they graduate. Arroyo said that at
the 2023 end-of-the-year event, Fortune remarked that those toolboxes “aren’t for Mexicans.” Arroyo, a Hispanic student, said Fortune looked directly at him when he said it, later patting Arroyo on the back and claiming he was joking. Fortune said he did not make these comments. Automotive technology professor Alex Villalta was at the event and said he also witnessed the comment. “Words matter, and they matter a lot,” Villalta said. “You can say you were just kidding, but they still matter.”
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Article continues on page 4.
Abraham Elizalde / Roundup News A student walks by the Advanced Automotive Technology Building at Pierce College in Woodland Hills, Calif., on October 21, 2024.
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Villalta, who used to be the auto tech department chair, said Fortune has “bullied and dehumanized” students, specifically female, Hispanic and disabled students, for years. Villalta said students have complained about Fortune to him, with one crying in Villalta’s office. “As sad as it is, it’s almost the norm [in the auto industry],” Villalta said. “But this should be a learning environment, a safe environment.”
Abraham Elizalde / Roundup News
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