Colleges and Universities

I, Nimesh Shah previously had owned and operated a vocational school named 'Blue Star Learning' (“School”) in San Diego, California for the period of 04/2010 to 06/17/2019. The School was approved by the Bureau of Post Private Secondary Education (BPPE), a California governing entity for vocational schools. With my prior education and teaching background, I used this school as a platform to educate students in the areas of computer technology and its certification. I am guilty, humiliated and full of deep remorse for my illegal conduct. My deceitful lies for a period of three years from March 2016 – June 2019 has caused the government tremendous loss and more importantly, I have failed in the eyes of the government, in front of my former students, former employees, my family, the community and the honest tax payers of this country who work very hard to support their family. My actions have jeopardized the faith and trust this country had on me and in the process of making amends, I have revived to be a changed man, impacting the community in many ways that have enriched the lives of many. I began to appreciate the opportunities that each of the non-profit organizations gave me to reckon my mistakes and I am thankful to be loved and accepted within the community, as I work towards building a new record as a law-abiding citizen of this country. I want to thank 'Senior Computer Group' for giving me the opportunity to share my knowledge and help their members with their technological problems that revolved around their daily lives. I want to thank 'Mama’s Kitchen' and 'Meals on Wheels' who gave me the opportunity to deliver over 800 medically tailored meals to critically ill residents and seniors within the community. I want to thank 'Pacific Community Ventures' for giving me the opportunity to help small-business(es) in Hawaii prosper, as they were facing the pinch with declining sales due to the pandemic. Lastly, I want to thank 'Pillars of the Community' for trusting me with their children by teaching them and imparting knowledge in the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). The kindness, generosity and love from each of these organizations are bountiful and I am thankful for these opportunities as I continue to strive to make meaningful impact in the lives of many by contributing over 1,700 community hours towards the betterment of our society. In the wake of the pandemic, my wife and I found ways in making home-made face masks and donating over 2,000 face masks to the community to help contain the spread of this deadly corona-virus. Finally, I have made my mission to help families in need, in support of hunger. I want to thank 'Helen Woodward Animal Center', 'The Church at Rancho Bernardo', 'Helping Everyone via Arts, Inc.', 'Wounded Warrior Homes' and ‘Jacobs & Cushman San Diego Food Bank’ for accepting over 800 canned goods donations to feed the families in need and to help fight hunger. There are no excuses or justifications for the pain and injustice that I have caused the Department of Veteran Affairs. I am ashamed of myself for the greater steps I had taken to hide from the truth and humbly seek for a sincere apology. I plan to use my knowledge, energy, love and compassion towards the greater good of this society by working tirelessly to help fight hunger, impart knowledge in the field of technology, endlessly continue to volunteer my time with various non-profit organization(s) and finally, demonstrate myself to be a law-abiding citizen of this great country. In addition to serving the community, I have the responsibility to take care of my disabled father, my wife, who currently suffers delivery complications after the high-risk pregnancy, and my two young children. My debt towards my family and the greater society is at large and as I work towards the betterment of the community and imparting the knowledge towards the children of our society. I cannot do this without your support and I request your signature to move my petition to the desk of Pardon Attorney of the Department of Justice.

On January 22nd, Associate Professor Jeffrey Burl in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department of Michigan Technological University published a 2-page open letter to the University Senate. He called on the Senate to publicly apologize for its recent resolution titled "Condemning Hate Speech, White Supremacy, and Ethnically and Racially Motivated Intolerance." To be clear, the University Senate condemned white supremacy and this professor was personally offended enough to demand a public apology in a 2-page diatribe. In his letter, he essentially argues that racism does not exist but reverse racism does exist and that he (as a white male) is the *real* victim of discrimination. As a Michigan Tech Alumni, as a former grad student TA who taught large classes of impressionable first year students for years, as a human being in the 21st century; I am offended. I know from personal experience how critical an accepting and comfortable environment is for Undergraduate students. His letter was full of racist views and ignorant statements that would make many if not most prospective students uncomfortable in his classroom. I felt gross just trying to read it. I can only imagine how his students will feel going forward having to sit in lectures for hours with him. This kind of ignorance and hate does not belong at Michigan Tech nor any institution of higher learning. This petition is calling for his immediate termination. This petition also calls for a statement from the University President, Dr. Richard J. Koubek, disavowing these views and reaffirming Michigan Tech's commitment to diversity and inclusion.

Dear Friends and Supporters,  My name is Brittany Collens. I am a 2017 University of Massachusetts graduate who had the wonderful opportunity of playing on the UMass Tennis Team from 2014-2017. I am writing to you today to express the mutual frustration and sorrow that becomes of myself and teammates who were on the team during this time period.  None of us believe that we are an exception to the rules. However, we do believe that we have the right to be treated fairly and justly in accordance with all other athletes and universities. The decision of the Committee of Infractions per the NCAA states that because of a mistake that was self-reported by the University of Massachusetts, women’s tennis would lose all two years (2015/16 and 2016/17) of victories including the women’s tennis A10 Championship among other penalties.  UMass did the right thing by reporting the financial mistake. The mistake was that the students who lived off-campus received some portion of on-campus costs resulting in overpaid fees. I lived off-campus during this time and had NO KNOWLEDGE that I was being overpaid. I found out today that the money was a sum of $504 between myself and my friend and teammate over a telecom fee ($252 each). I don’t even know what that fee is. $252 individually in exchange for most of my UMass college career being erased alongside my teammates. That’s what I and my teammates have to pay for a mistake no one knew about and would later try to correct.   UMass itself cooperated by paying a self-imposed fine of $5,000 and will be under two years probation. Our athletics director Ryan Bamford announced that he stands by the tennis team and will appeal the decision because simply it was not our fault.  If you look at some of the most well-known sports commentators, such as Jay Bilas, they agree that this penalty is disproportionate and does not give any incentives for schools to come forward. In the history of the NCAA, there have been far bigger violations (done with intent) that have received less proportionate penalties.  We won the Championship fairly. No one knew about the money. There were no sports performance-enhancing violations resulting in any of our victories. The $252 made no difference. Just an unfortunate headline in what already is a tough year.  Character is something that we talked about in our locker room every day. We understood that in most cases we would be the underdog and we would fight as hard as we could to win. But always with character and the professionalism that represents the UMass Flagship. We will do the same for this matter.  We feel that it is the NCAA's responsibility to protect student-athlete well-being. By penalizing the tennis team it sends the message that we did something wrong. Because of misleading headlines and this message, we now see our pictures being posted online with labels such as "cheaters" and "dirty". The NCAA CoI is placing blame on student-athletes that had no part in a mistake that was made by a university in which the NCAA manages. A mistake that was self-reported in an effort, to be honest, and protect their student-athletes. This NCAA is wrong here on so many levels.  I ask of my friends, colleagues, opponents, to support this petition for the NCAA not to vacate at least our championship but also two years of competing during 2015-2017. I could not be more proud of the work and effort that went into this team. Many of you may not see the big deal because it does not affect you. But I can absolutely say that if you have ever poured everything you possibly could into something and were finally rewarded for that behavior, and had it taken away for something out of your control and by accident, then I think you can understand the devastation of the team, coaches, and athletic community. It is a truly powerful thing to get the current and former athletes of the NCAA to sign this to bring to the CoI and the NCAA but we would love the support of everyone as sports goes far beyond the players and teams.  Please see the following links to further inform yourself on this matter and verify the facts mentioned. These documents are news articles and the NCAA Hearing Document detailing the issue released by the NCAA CoI.  NCAA Decision Statement and Report of the Incident: https://s3.amazonaws.com/ncaaorg/infractions/decisions/Oct2020D1INF_MassachusettsDecisionPublic.pdf A10 Commissioner Response: https://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory/ncaa-penalizes-umass-violations-basketball-tennis-73658004 MassLive: https://www.masslive.com/umassbasketball/2020/10/umass-is-the-latest-victim-of-ncaas-embarassingly-punitive-overreaching-matt-vautour.html Boston Globe: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/10/16/sports/ncaa-plans-strip-umass-59-mens-basketball-victories-a-10-womens-tennis-title-financial-aid-overpayment-2014-17/ Thank you for your support.  Sincerely, The UMass Tennis Program  

NOTE* If you are trying to donate to our cause, do NOT do it through Change . Org, because the money they ask for donations does not go to us or our organizing group. Within the past decade, we have voiced our concerns, had discussions about oppression, and created specific events to deconstruct institutional trauma. Yet the school continues to perpetuate systemic injustices while whitewashing our pedagogy, curriculum, and classrooms. You have implemented ZERO changes that students, faculty, staff and alumni have suggested. ArtCenter administration’s inability to provide effective action through sustainable short- or long-term initiatives shows complacency in dismantling white supremacy, racism and anti-Blackness within the institution. We Publicly DEMAND the Following:1. Make a Commitment to Anti-racist Practices2. Title IX Empowerment and Zero Tolerance Policy3. Create an Equitable Environment4. Land Acknowledgment and Reparations5. Affordable Tuition6. Cancel the Master Plan and Restructure It7. Dismiss President Lorne BuchmanA failure to meet every demand will result in a publicized tuition strike starting Fall 2020 that will last until every demand is fully and transparently in effect.This is addressed specifically to the ArtCenter College of Design Board of Trustees: Jeffrey BarbakowRonald BennisonLorne BuchmanWesley ColemanClarence Daniels Jr.Robert Davidson Jr.Michelle Gadsden-WilliamsTom GilmoreJeffrey GlassmanWilliam GrossSu Matthews-HaleBruce HeavinLinda HillSteven HitterTimothy KobeTerri KohlMelissa LoraSamuel MannDavid MartinPeter MullinCharles NearburgIvy RossMichele RuizJeff SalazarZachary SnyderReiner TriltschMichael WarsawAlyce De Roulet-WilliamsonVisit antiracistclassroom.comRead the Full Demand LetterPress Release Package Follow us on IG and twitter to keep up to date for next steps. #ACCDwedemand #ACCDracist #antiracistclassroom #ArtCenterWithout #blackatACCD