3 Board Members Resign From Berkeley Public Access TV Station, Calling It Unsafe Environment

Three board members of Berkeley’s public access television station resigned this week, accusing the organization of failing to responsibly address several alleged instances of sexual harassment and discrimination at the facility, which they said made it an unsafe environment for youth and other vulnerable groups.

The former board members of the nonprofit Berkeley Community Media (BCM), who are all women of color, said the allegations date back to the spring of 2022, but that they only became aware of them earlier this year, when staff members approached the board, reporting “sexual harassment, an unsafe work environment, microaggressions, race-based discrimination, and gender-based violence.”

“Since March, the three resigning board members have tirelessly endeavored to enact structural changes to ensure a safe environment, particularly for youth and vulnerable staff members,” Leena Duwadi, Barbie Penn and Cristina Trujillo, the former board members, said in a joint statement on Monday. “However, their efforts have yielded fruitless months marked by an alarming increase in animosity from senior staff towards the harmed employee.”

Among the board’s remaining seven members, there are now no women of color, Trujillo told KQED, and called for “a complete overhaul of leadership, beginning with the executive director.”

“There needs to be an agency that comes and investigates all of this because we are very concerned about the staff that remains there,” she said.

Following the resignation announcement this week, David Flores, BCM’s executive director, confirmed to KQED that there were “two unfortunate instances of sexual harassment,” but that the center has since addressed the issues and updated its member policies.

The first allegation was made in May 2022 when a youth intern said they were sexually harassed by an adult male inside the facility.

After asking a series of personal questions, the man asked the intern to stand up and turn around so he could “ take a look at them,” according to Jules Menyhart, a former technician at the station who quit in March, citing a hostile work environment. Menyhart did not witness the alleged incident, but recounted it on behalf of the intern, who declined to comment and asked to remain anonymous.

KQED typically does not identify potential victims of sexual harassment.

Menyhart said the alleged perpetrator is an elderly man who paid the station to use its media facilities. Following the allegation, BCM managers gave the man a warning and said he could only enter the facility outside of regular business hours, said Menyhart, who called the response far too lenient.

For decades, BCM — which receives some funding from the city of Berkeley — has produced and aired local TV programming, offered classes and allowed local residents to use its media production resources for a small membership fee.

Flores acknowledged that the organization’s previous harassment policy — which it recently updated — “was pretty nebulous.”

“We just had two categories of harassment, it was either a major incident or a minor incident, major being extreme or persistent. And then everything else was minor, which was addressed with first a warning, then a six-month suspension, then a nine-month suspension,” he said. “And if it went past that it would be escalated to major and major was just you’re immediately kicked out.”

He added, “It’s just been stressful because, you know, sexual harassment is a very nuanced thing, I’ve come to learn, because I didn’t have a background with HR when all this began.”

Some six months later, in November 2022, a staff member at the station alleged they were solicited for sex work by an adult male intern, according to a subsequent police report. The man “approached her and stated, ‘I am looking for a sex worker. Let me know if you know any,’ while looking at (the employee) up and down,” the police report reads.

The report also states that the man was prohibited from entering the station after the incident but had nevertheless returned and was attempting to appeal the ban.

Speaking on behalf of the alleged victim, who requested anonymity for fear of retaliation, Menyhart, who uses the pronoun they, says they and their co-workers felt unsafe at the station because they said Flores did not enforce the ban against the alleged offender out of concern that he would violently retaliate.

“The executive director told us that he is afraid to kick this man out because, quote, he’s afraid that he might bring a gun,” Menyhart said. “We were both incredibly scared. You don’t just bring up a gun out of nowhere. Like, that’s our lives. You’re making us feel like if we report sexual harassment, we’ll die.”

Flores contends that Menyhart and other concerned staff members had come into his office unannounced demanding to speak about the incidents, and had subsequently mischaracterized his response to their question about why BCM couldn’t simply kick someone out without due process. And he said he only mentioned the gun threat as a “extreme” example.

In March, Menyhart and other staff members dissatisfied with the organization’s response to the alleged incidents, brought the issue to the attention of the board, who subsequently voted to expel both of the alleged perpetrators from the center, Flores said.

Upon learning of both alleged incidents, the African American Studies Department and Arts and Humanities Academy at Berkeley High School, which has a longstanding relationship with BCM and until recently housed its studio, sent letters in March threatening to cut ties with the station if the issue was not properly dealt with.

“Unfortunately, after hearing the issues regarding sexual harassment and racism, and neglecting to properly handle the issue, we do not feel comfortable working with BCM unless this is effectively addressed,” one letter said.

BCM member policy, Flores said, was recently rewritten with the help of a hired human resources consultant to address issues of harassment and other workplace disturbances. The station has also installed cameras, and is hiring a professional mediator — who is also a retired employment lawyer — to “make sure that everyone is heard,” he added.

“Now we’re just working on our staff policy and board policy to assure that those [are] up to date as well, just because these policies hadn’t been updated since like 2004,” he said.

BCM’s youth internship program has also been put on hold until the new policies are implemented and the station can ensure that it is offering “a safe environment for young people to be in here,” Flores said.

But Trujllo, the former board member, said those measures don’t go far enough.

“In terms of the HR consultant, yes, great. However, I don’t see much change happening structurally,” she said. “If you don’t have internal leadership that can ensure accountability when those policies are violated, what good is the policy?”

Flores said that all three board members had the opportunity to be involved in the process of addressing these issues, but declined to participate. And none of them, he said, suggested any solutions or major organizational changes that they wanted to see implemented, other than having him removed.

“We are continuing to work to make our space a safe and welcoming place for everyone,” he said in a follow-up email. “The Board and I have been trying to find a positive resolution to this issue and we feel that we have done our due diligence in finding an equitable solution to the issues which have been brought to our attention.”

But Menyhart, the former employee, said the incidents effectively upended a community that they once considered a safe and enjoyable workplace.

“I’m supposed to be teaching a class to our community,” said Menyhart, adding, “I had so much fun working there.”

“I was genuinely excited to teach this class,” they said. “But I couldn’t do my job. Seriously, I was shaking. I was just shaking from fear and anger.”