Former Lecturer Yuko Iwamoto Franklin, who lost her job in the Asian-American studies department last fall, told the Golden Gater that she was "squeezed out" of the department mainly because Chair Marlon Hom and Lorraine Dong, his wife and associate professor, disagreed with Franklin's marriage to a white man and her supportive attitude toward interracial relationships.
But that is not the only reason for her job termination, Franklin said.
According to her, Hom wanted to "get rid of" her as a form of retaliation after she raised an issue of family favoritism involving Hom and his wife Dong.
Hom and Dong, married since 1972, have worked in the same department for the last four years, according to records obtained by the Golden Gater.
"There is nepotism, that's obvious," Franklin said. "He's the chair, he supervises his wife. It's not up to me to prove nepotism, it's up to the university to prove that no one is being harmed by this situation. Well, I have been harmed."
Pat Bartscher, head of University Counsel (which handles the university's legal issues), said so far the university has found no merit in Franklin's complaints about nepotism and discrimination.
The case about the firing of Franklin, however, is still pending. University officials and teachers' union representatives will hold a final series of meetings to discuss the differences.
Bartscher said even though a husband and a wife work in the same department as a chair and a faculty member, it does not mean there is nepotism in the department.
The SF State policy on nepotism can be found in the faculty manual. It states, "There shall be no blanket prohibition against employment of close relatives. However, no one may serve in capacities where he/she is required to supervise, have fiscal responsibility for, or make decisions on or influence the personnel status of any close relative."
Gerald West, dean of faculty affairs, agreed with Bartscher.
West said the rule is that a chair has to remove himself or herself from any decision-making process in all personnel matters, including "retention, tenure and promotion," if close relatives are involved. There is no nepotism if this rule is followed properly, he added.
If family favoritism is cited or if anyone complains about possible nepotism, the office will investigate the charge with the university counsel, he said.
The alleged "conflict of interest" situation started from the beginning of Dong's teaching career at SF State, Franklin said.
Back in the spring of 1991 when Dong was hired as a lecturer on a tenure track for the Asian-American women specialist position, Hom was a chair of the department's hiring and promotion committee, which directly deals with the departmental hiring and promotion process.
A spring 1991 newsletter published by the department said in part, "We have received an additional teaching position from Dean (Phil) McGee starting academic year 91-92... We have retained (pro bono) Mr. Thomas Surh and Mr. Robert Fung as attorneys for our hirings to make sure all legal steps are followed."
Surh and Fung, hired as "attorneys" to monitor the hiring of Dong, were faculty members who had worked in the department.
For this reason, Franklin said, the hiring process of Dong was tainted from the start.
Franklin said campus officials have done nothing to investigate this nepotism charge, although she first addressed the issue to the university in March 1993 when she filed an initial complaint against Hom and Dong about their discrimination.
"The university didn't take my complaint seriously because I am only a lecturer and Hom is a full professor. They don't even follow their own rules against nepotism," she said.
Despite Franklin's complaint, West said he heard nothing about the nepotism charge in the Asian-American studies department.
When asked why West was not notified about the allegation, Bartscher answered that her primary job is to deal with grievance cases and that "I'm not required to bring that up to his (West's) attention."
"There's no specific, formal procedures (to deal with nepotism complaints)," Bartscher added.
If Franklin wanted the nepotism allegation involving Hom and Dong to be investigated, she should have filed a separate complaint dealing only with nepotism, Bartscher said.
The Golden Gater tried to reach Hom and Dong by calling and visiting their offices many times over a period of two months. But Hom and Dong never reached the paper to answer the charges made by Franklin.