Retired New York City police lieutenant Carol Sciannameo considers herself a role model for the students she teaches at the Largo campus of Everest University, particularly to LGBT students. The lesbian who served on the New York police department for two decades is a board member of the Gay Officers Action League and a graduate of the FBI academy. She is also the highest-ranking officer to wear her uniform during the first New York City Pride parade when cops were allowed to wear their dress blues.
But now the civil rights activist and diversity training teacher has found herself removed from the teaching career she loves.
According to Sciannameo, earlier this year she was asked to substitute teach a class for a colleague in the criminal justice program at Everest College. Prior to entering the classroom, she says students were discussing their substitute teacher when a student shouted, “I’m not staying in a class with that [n-word]-loving dyke.”
The student, who has not been identified by faculty, is also known to wear T-shirts wearing offensive symbols.
“I really couldn’t believe what I was hearing,” said Chequila Johnson, a 33-year-old straight African-American female student. “I just couldn’t believe he would use that kind of language right in front of me.”
Reports show that the student left the classroom in a way that left several students “fearful” of what additional actions he might take. Sciannameo says she felt so personally threatened that she retrieved a handgun from her vehicle. Sciannameo has four separate concealed weapons permits, including one that will allow her to carry a weapon on a commercial airliner. In her 30 years of law enforcement, she has never discharged her weapon.
Apology not forthcoming
Because of his behavior, the student was called to the dean’s office and agreed not to wear T-shirts with offensive messages and to apologize to Sciannameo. According to Sciannameo, the student did cease to wear the questionable T-shirts but instead wore tank tops that displayed tattoos bearing “intimidating messages.” He has yet to apologize to Sciannameo.
Sciannameo was soon approached by higher ranking staff and told that it was against the University’s corporate policy for an instructor to carry a weapon on campus.
However, Elizabeth Moore, another student of Sciannameo’s and a former probation officer from Key West, says she overheard a public conversation where a dean told her that “no one would pat her down” if she did bring a gun to class.
Sciannameo says she had brought a gun to class for the past four years, with full knowledge of the administration. This was the first time she was told it was against policy.
“They even called me a few times in the past four years to deal with altercations on campus because they knew I had a weapon,” says Sciannameo.
Subsequently, Sciannameo was called into the president’s office where she was questioned about the incident and her response to it. University President Peter Pratti expressed concern about an email in which Sciannameo had stated she would take whatever legal means necessary to protect herself. Sciannameo informed the administration that she had retained the services of an attorney and had contacted the press about the story. It was at that time Sciannameo says she was terminated by the university and escorted off campus.
“Last month, Ms. Sciannameo notified the staff and me of issues she had with a particular student,” Pratti says. “Despite our continuing investigation and progress on resolving these issues, Ms. Sciannameo told us that she planned to conceal a firearm [on her person] when teaching class. We clearly communicated to her that carrying a weapon on campus was strictly prohibited. Ms. Sciannameo informed us that she did not plan to comply with this policy and was terminated.”
“I was not going to go back into a classroom where I didn’t feel safe and I feared for the safety of my students without a weapon for protection,” says Sciannameo. “In today’s world, where there are incidents like Columbine and others and there is a student who has already displayed threatening behavior, I didn’t think it was prudent to be put where if a threatening situation presented itself I had no way to protect myself or the students in my care.”
Final day, final exam
Sciannameo was terminated the day she had planned to give a final exam to her students. The students were met with two deans and the president who told the class that Sciannameo had been terminated. Sciannameo received more than 20 texts from students upset and enraged by the university’s action.
“It wasn’t really explained to us what happened,” says a gay male high school-aged student who is not completely “out” and spoke to Watermark on condition of anonymity. “I’ve always considered Carol a role model. She was a great instructor and always very responsive to emails, texts and calls. She was more than just a teacher; she was definitely a good mentor to me.”
A number of students expressed concern that they felt their performance on the exam was negatively affected by the unfolding drama.
“Carol was a five-star instructor who did nothing wrong,” says Moore, who is gay. “She was ethical on every level and a role model not just to LGBT students, but to everyone that you can overcome just about anything and succeed.”
Johnson doesn’t believe the university offered appropriate protection to Sciannameo.
“If I don’t feel the university has offered protection to Carol in face of threats by a student, I have to wonder what protection they would offer to me as a student,” says Johnson. “It seems to me that Carol was fired for standing up for the rights and protection of LGBT students and students of color. That just doesn’t make sense to me.”
Besides teaching, Pratti believes that safety should be a top priority for the school.
“The safety and well being of our staff and students is our responsibility,” Pratti says. “In addition, we do not condone violence or intimidation as a means to resolving issues.”
