Two White Professors Accuse College of Racial Discrimination : Bias: One has filed a lawsuit, claiming that a less experienced Asian-American was hired. A campus official says Pasadena school’s hiring practices are fair.

Were the French more racist than the Spanish in colonizing the New World?

Two white history professors who taught part time at Pasadena City College say that was among the questions asked in a job interview they claim gauged their political correctness instead of their historical knowledge.

When the full-time job as history instructor went to a younger, less experienced Japanese-American professor--who is no longer in the job--they protested.

Leon J. Waszak, 37, filed suit in Pasadena Superior Court on May 20, alleging “reverse discrimination” based on race. Deanna Williams, 50, said she will file a similar suit as soon as she receives clearance from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which the law requires before filing suit.

The interview “was really insulting,” said Waszak, who has a doctorate in European history and has taught at Pasadena City College and Cal State Los Angeles for several years. “A lot of questions were designed to gauge whether we were PC. If we answered one way, we’d be racist. If we answered the other way, we’d be totally undermined as historians.”

Richard Imon, 27, whom Pasadena City College hired for the job, declined to comment on the case. He referred questions to the English-language Japanese newspaper Rafu Shimpo in Los Angeles, which last month reported that the college terminated Imon on March 20.

Patricia Mollica, dean of human resources at Pasadena City College, declined to discuss Waszak’s case or Imon’s standing. “We feel that our hiring practices are fair,” Mollica said. “We have a regular procedure approved by the Academic Senate and we don’t set aside slots.”

It has been 16 years since the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its Bakke ruling, which prohibited the University of California from imposing quotas that allowed less qualified minority students to be admitted at the expense of white students. The case was filed by Allan Bakke, a white man who was refused admission to the UC Davis Medical School.

Some legal experts say that the recession and a shrinking job market may spur more such discrimination suits. “We might see more litigation as people fight for scarcer jobs,” said Jesus Quinonez, a partner in the Taylor, Roth, Bush & Geffner law firm, which has represented women and minorities in civil rights cases.

The Pasadena City College job opening, for a tenure-track history instructor, called for candidates with master’s degrees who could “teach classes in American history and European civilization” and “work in a multiethnic environment.”

Waszak and Williams were part-time teachers, which means that they were hired from semester to semester and had no job security.

Waszak said he felt secure about his chances and cited a letter of recommendation written in January, 1990, by the head of the social sciences department, which said in part:

“I wouldn’t hesitate to hire (Waszak) on a full-time basis if resources were available to do this. His peer and student evaluations over the years reflect that he is an outstanding teacher.”

Waszak said five people applied for the job before a filing deadline of Nov. 14, 1990. He alleges that the college extended the deadline for Imon, who turned in his application later that month.

Waszak also says Imon’s specialty is Asian history, while the position called for a European and American history specialist.

Imon’s application states that he received a master’s degree from Cal State Fullerton in September, 1990, two months before he applied for the job. His thesis focused on the history of Japanese Christians. Throughout 1990, Imon taught American history and Japanese language at Pasadena City College.

Waszak and Williams said they believe that the college intended to give Imon the job from the start. Waszak says he was never asked about his proficiency to teach American history or European civilization. Instead, the lawsuit alleges, the hiring committee focused on his political sensitivity.

Waszak said he was asked whether Columbus was a genocidal imperialist. When he gave a sample lecture, it “deteriorated into a hazing session by panel members,” the lawsuit says.

Waszak said he went through the college’s internal grievance process but was unable to get a fair hearing. He noted that Mollica is also the school’s affirmative action officer.

Mollica said Waszak’s case was investigated and found to be without merit by the college and its board of trustees. She said the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission also declined to take the case.

But Waszak said the EEOC’s jurisdiction is limited and its decision does not reflect the merit of his case. The EEOC wrote Waszak that he was free to pursue the case privately.

Williams, who holds three master’s degrees--in Western European history, art history and religious studies--and was a runner-up for the job, is waiting word from the EEOC.

Like Waszak, Williams has taught at Pasadena City College for several years. She says the school dropped her and Waszak from its part-time teaching roster after they complained. “Once we filed a grievance we were dead meat there,” Williams said.

Williams agreed with Waszak that the interview process was biased, saying that she was repeatedly interrupted by the panelists as she tried to give her sample lesson.

“They were really rotten, implying that it would not be appropriate for me to teach minorities because I wasn’t one,” Williams said.