Cuesta College board of trustees president Peter Sysak needs to step down from his position or be recalled. He has publicly shown his support for racist, sexist, anti-LGBTQIA+ and anti-immigrant online content.  He also showed his support for the Proud Boys.

When called out for these views, he tried to paint himself as the victim of bullying and made a misogynistic attack on a fellow board member. He has demonstrated that he is not capable of self awareness, let alone critical thinking, compassion, and equity.  He has no perspective with which to carry out a core mission of a community college; Helping community members who have been  historically underserved or discriminated against. He should not be anywhere close to decision making in higher education.

A recent opinion by the San Luis Obispo Tribune Editorial Board captures the facts and is well worth a read.

But make no mistake. If he fails to step down due to public pressure (remember, he believes that he’s the victim) then he will remain in office until at least the election of 2022....unless we vote to recall him.  Please sign this petition and then share it!! Hopefully the sheer number of signatures will be enough but also consider helping out with a recall effort if he fails to take this very strong hint. SLO County will not accept discrimination in our leadership at Cuesta College.

BTW, that screen-capture of Mr. Sysak’s Face Book page is compliments of Hannah Halferty at the Cuestonian. According to the Anti-Defamation League those hand signs are “Used by many on the right--not just extremists--for the purpose of trolling liberals, the symbol eventually came to be used by actual white supremacists as well.”  It makes one wonder which way Mr. Sysak meant the students of Cuesta College to interpret it.