American Indian student's grievance over cultural attire denied at Cal State-San Bernardino
Story-Date: 08:17 p.m. PST Saturday , March 28, 1998

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American Indian student's grievance over cultural attire denied at Cal
State-San Bernardino



SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (AP) -- An appeal filed by an American Indian
student who was told her cultural attire was inappropriate for practice
counseling sessions as part of a course at California State University, San
Bernardino, was denied.

The hearing officer last week found the department was within its rights in
requiring certain attire for the educational counseling course, and the
standards were not applied in a discriminatory manner.

"If you send a student to work as an intern at IBM, you'd be negligent if
you didn't tell the students a pair of shorts are probably inappropriate,"
said Cal State President Albert Karnig, who makes the final decision
according to the student non-academic grievance policy.

Pamalalee Bailey-Shimizu wore a red and black beret, red silk blouse over a
black American Indian Movement T-shirt, a long black skirt and moccasin
boots. She said the clothing was part of her cultural identity.
Bailey-Shimizu, 51, is White Mountain Apache and Cherokee.

Bailey-Shimizu had asked that Assistant Professor Sue Brotherton be
disciplined and that she apologize. The grievance also asked that the
university mandate cultural sensitivity training on American Indian culture
for professors in the department and that cultural attire not be reflected
in grading criteria.

Brotherton taught the introduction to educational counseling course.

Gil Navarro of the California Parents Association said a civil rights
complaint would be filed if Karnig sticks by the ruling, which Karnig said
he agreed with.



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