Pima Campus President Will Testify Against Own School

August 26, 2014

For interviews with ProEnglish contact:  Phil Kent (404) 226-3549

PIMA COMMUNITY COLLEGE CAMPUS PRESIDENT AND FACULTY EMERITA WILL TESTIFY AGAINST OWN SCHOOL IN ENGLISH CASE

Plaintiff Terri Bennett will now be allowed to call Pima Community College (PCC) Campus President and Faculty Emerita Dr. Angela Zerdavis as an expert witness in her lawsuit against the school.  PCC filed a motion with the court to prevent Dr. Zerdavis from testifying, however the Arizona Superior Court in Pima County recently ruled against the school and is allowing Dr. Zerdavis to proceed as a witness.

In addition to her impressive academic career as an educator, Dr. Zerdavis was the President of PCC’s Northwest Campus from 2001 to 2004.  She received the “Creative Teaching Award” and the “Outstanding Administrator” award from PCC. Upon her retirement, PCC bestowed upon her the title of President and Faculty Emerita in recognition of both her academic and administrative service to PCC over 32 years. Dr. Zerdavis is the only person to have been awarded this distinction.

“We are gratified that Dr. Angela Zerdavis, Campus President and Faculty Emerita of Pima Community College in Tucson, Arizona, can now appear as an expert witness in Ms. Bennett’s lawsuit against the college,” says ProEnglish executive director Robert Vandervoort. “This respected educator is prepared to rebut the statements of PCC’s expert witness, who has attempted to justify the actions of college officials who mistreated and discriminated against the nursing student based on her cultural background as an English speaker.”

ProEnglish, a national organization with a mission to have Congress designate English as the official language of the United States, is assisting Tucson attorney John Munger and his firm Munger Chadwick, P.L.C., with the case of Bennett v. Pima Community College District.

“Dr. Zerdavis is prepared to testify that the college failed to properly address Bennett’s complaints and that her suspension for simply requesting that her fellow students speak English in the classroom was unwarranted, inappropriate, and unreasonable,” Vandervoort says.