Latest news with #MesaCommunityCollege
USA Today
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- USA Today
A drama professor encouraged his students to strip. The college shrugged.
A drama professor encouraged his students to strip. The college shrugged. | Opinion A Mesa Community College instructor encourages his female drama students to strip for a class assignment. Two months later, he was still teaching and the school is playing duck and cover. Show Caption Hide Caption Blake Lively files legal complaint against Justin Baldoni Blake Lively says "It Ends with Us" co-star Justin Baldoni sexually harassed her and tried to destroy her reputation in a California legal filing. A Mesa Community College drama teacher in Arizona encouraged his young female students to strip on stage for their midterm exam. The rest of the class was forced to watch. Students complained and not for the first time. For two months, Mace Archer was still teaching the class. And college officials? They get an A in performance art – a farcical piece entitled "How to Look Like You're Doing Something Without Doing Anything At All." "Because this is an active personnel matter, we cannot provide specific details to protect the privacy of those involved," Lindsey Wilson, spokeswoman for Maricopa Community Colleges, assured Arizona Republic reporter Robert Anglen in a May 19 email. "Our colleges," Wilson said, "take any allegations of misconduct seriously and are committed to fostering a safe, respectful, and supportive environment for students, faculty, and staff." So seriously, in fact, that Archer was allowed to finish out the semester, fully two months after the strip show, and was slotted in for fall classes. 'I ... sometimes can't muster up the courage to go' The lights should have come on in February, when a student in Archer's modern drama class warned college officials that he was sexualizing her performances and touching females inappropriately. Thea Moore, a musical theater major, told an administrator she dreaded going to class. "I get severe anxiety everyday before attending and sometimes can't muster up the courage to go," she wrote in a Feb. 20 email to Puvana Ganesan, who chair's the communication, theater and film arts department. "A lot of his classes are requirements for our degree, which is difficult." Opinion: Four fifth-graders planned to kill their classmate. What does that say about us? Ganesan replied the next day, saying she was "truly sorry" and asking for examples of Archer's behavior. So Moore sent a five-point list and never heard back. Eventually, she dropped the class, prompting another email from Ganesan, saying she was 'truly so sorry.' "I completely understand that sometimes, we experience discomfort that can be too great to continue," Ganesan wrote March 6. Take off your clothes for a grade Apparently, Archer's female students experience a fair amount of discomfort – enough that they've compiled a shared file of complaints, ranging from sexual harassment to rude behavior to disturbing assignments. Speaking of disturbing assignments, students in Archer's Acting 2 class this spring were required to offer a performance in which they had to face a fear. One student, Gabrielle Monroe, said the teacher steered some of the younger females toward taking off their clothes on stage to complete the March midterm assignment. "I have heard from other women that their initial idea was not enough of a fear risk, and he suggested that they remove articles of clothing," Monroe told Anglen. Two young women stripped to their underwear under the glow of the theater's stage lights, as Archer and their classmates watched. One got buck naked. Opinion: Gen Z has been priced out of a future, so we invest in the present I guess if you've got to suffer for your art, you might as well do it for your 56-year-old teacher's viewing pleasure. Hopefully, they scored an A. College officials ducked Anglen's questions about the three strip shows, saying only that they launched a 'formal investigation' in March after 'receiving concerns.' They offered no explanation for why Archer was allowed to continue teaching, finish the spring semester and was even listed as an instructor in the fall course catalogue until Anglen asked about it. (The catalogue was then changed, with the instructor listed as "staff".) My guess is Mesa Community College's "formal investigation' commenced with Anglen's phone call. My recommendation is the people who run the community colleges consider a career in comedy. "Our colleges take any allegations of misconduct seriously and are committed to fostering a safe, respectful, and supportive environment for students, faculty, and staff,' they say? Yeah, I'm still laughing at that one. Laurie Roberts is a columnist for The Arizona Republic, where this column originally appeared. Reach Roberts at or follow her on X (formerly Twitter) at @LaurieRobertsaz, on Threads at @LaurieRobertsaz and on BlueSky at @
Time of India
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Arizona: Explosive report claims drama professor accused of forcing student to undress onstage, watch porn
Arizona: Explosive report claims drama professor accused of forcing student to undress onstage, watch porn. (Pic credit: MCC website) A shocking investigative report by the Arizona Republic has unveiled disturbing allegations against a drama professor at Mesa Community College, Mace Archer, 56, who is accused of coercing students to strip, flirting, and exposing them to pornography during class. School officials have launched an investigation into the claims, though students assert their complaints were ignored for months before the probe. According to the report, students in Archer's drama class maintained a shared file documenting two years of alleged "sexual depravity." This file reportedly contains over a dozen anonymous accusations. Among the most unsettling allegations are claims that Archer coached a student to "dive into" her personal experience of sexual assault for performance purposes and, in another alleged incident, straddled a student during a "demonstration." He is also accused of playing "orgy porn" videos for his students. Most disturbingly, Archer is alleged to have coerced three female students, some of whom were still teenagers, into taking off their clothes on stage. Under the guise of "vulnerability exercises" for midterms, students were reportedly forced to strip down to their underwear or go completely nude in front of Archer and their classmates. A student in Archer's class, told the Republic that the purpose of the midterm was for students to face their fears, not to end up nude. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 5 Books Warren Buffett Wants You to Read In 2025 Blinkist: Warren Buffett's Reading List Undo However, she and other female students claim Archer made it precisely about that. "On the first day, two women stripped down to their underwear. The person who got naked was on the second day," the student recounted. "We all knew what to expect." She described the scene of one student stripping silently, "She was just silent. She just took her clothes off. People were kind of shocked, but it was silent. No music, no talking, nothing." The student was one of approximately 16 students in a second-level acting class taught by Archer, which she said was intended to test the limits of students' fear. While school officials would not confirm to the Arizona Republic whether encouraging or watching students undress in an acting class constituted an explicit policy violation, the publication noted that school rules prohibit "any unwelcome conduct that a reasonable person would find so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it denies a person equal educational access." Administrators for Maricopa Community Colleges, the district overseeing Mesa Community College, declined interview requests from the Arizona Republic. Lindsey Wilson, a spokesperson for the district, said in a May 19 email, "Because this is an active personnel matter, we cannot provide specific details to protect the privacy of those involved." Wilson added, "Our colleges take any allegations of misconduct seriously and are committed to fostering a safe, respectful, and supportive environment for students, faculty, and staff," assuring that appropriate action would be taken based on the investigation's outcome. The Mesa Police Department confirmed it is not currently investigating the accusations.
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- Health
- Daily Mail
Drama teacher's shocking inappropriate demands of teenage girls that he claimed were part of 'vulnerability' class
A drama teacher is under 'formal investigation' after female students - some just teens - stripped naked in front of their entire class during a so-called 'vulnerability exercise.' Mace Archer, 56, allegedly positioned himself in the director's chair and watched as three women undressed on stage during mandatory midterm performances at Mesa Community College in Arizona. Two of the women stripped down to their underwear, while a third student removed every piece of clothing under the glaring stage lights, according to an investigation by the Arizona Republic. The performance came after a two-year campaign of alleged sexual misconduct that college bosses reportedly ignored. Students described a pattern of inappropriate behavior that included lingering touches, sexual flirtation, and forcing pupils to watch pornographic content during class, as reported by the Arizona Republic. The students even created a secret computer file to document Archer's alleged conduct over more than two years. The document allegedly contained over a dozen anonymous reports of misconduct. Archer allegedly encouraged one woman to 'dive into' her sexual assault experiences during performances, straddled another female student during a classroom demonstration, and showed the entire class a video of an orgy featuring multiple sex acts. 'There were lingering touches on my knees or shoulders,' revealed graduate Brecklyn Hall, who described her experience in the theater program to the outlet. 'My experience isn't nearly as insane as others. But it was really hard being in the class with him.' Despite months of student complaints and at least one formal report to administrators in February, college officials allowed Archer to continue teaching young women. This was after they learned about the shocking stripping exercise that took place during midterms on March 18 and 20. The investigation exposes how Mesa Community College administrators promised to look 'into the learning objectives' of the acting courses but failed to protect students from further alleged abuse. Student Gabrielle Monroe witnessed the horrifying midterm performances in the college's 'black box' theater, where approximately 16 students were forced to attend the mandatory exercise designed to help them 'face their fears.' 'On the first day, two women stripped down to their underwear. The person who got naked was on the second day,' Monroe revealed in shocking detail. 'We all knew what to expect.' One student removed every piece of clothing under the bright stage lights. 'She was just silent. She just took her clothes off,' Monroe described. 'People were kind of shocked, but it was silent. No music, no talking, nothing.' The young woman folded her clothes neatly on a chair, removed her underwear, then briefly put on a robe before the performance mercifully ended within minutes. Monroe revealed that Archer had deliberately prepared students for the stripping, discussing in previous classes how women had removed their clothes for similar assignments in the past. The instructor met individually with students to discuss their 'risk assignment' ideas, with multiple women claiming he specifically targeted younger girls in the class. 'It was mostly the younger, teenage girls in class,' Monroe exposed. 'I have heard from other women that their initial idea was not enough of a fear risk, and he suggested that they remove articles of clothing.' Maricopa Community Colleges spokesperson Lindsey Wilson told the outlet: 'Because this is an active personnel matter, we cannot provide specific details to protect the privacy of those involved.' 'Our colleges take any allegations of misconduct seriously and are committed to fostering a safe, respectful, and supportive environment for students, faculty, and staff.'
