Rochester mayor cries foul over firing of Brockport’s chief diversity officer

In the wake of Dr. Cephas Archie’s firing from the College of Brockport, Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren has weighed in to address Archie’s controversial termination. As Chief Diversity Officer at the college, Archie was fired for reasons that the college notes it cannot divulge because it’s a “personnel matter,” a response that Warren deems racially insensitive.

Mayor Warren also takes issue with the events occurring after Archie’s firing. The campus police chief, Daniel Vasile, tried to uncover disparaging details about Archie by contacting someone who worked for his former employer, Houston Community College. Dr. Sabrina Lewis, a former colleague of Archie’s at the college, not only declined to say anything adverse about Archie when the police chief called her, but she also told Vasile that she had never seen any inappropriate behavior from Archie.

When Mayor Warren heard of this exchange, she said that it didn’t “make sense or sound right” that Brockport initiated an alleged investigation after Archie had already been fired, hinting at institutional and systemic racism. Warren further followed up her complaint by writing a letter to Brockport’s Chancellor, Kristina Johnson, criticizing Archie’s firing and post-termination attempts to “dig up dirt” about his past.

Archie is now represented by legal counsel.