Under Fire

Even if all the trustees have not seen the final report, argues Perry, they must be aware of all of the allegations. There are three newly elected trustees who began serving in January, but the majority have been there since Perry first addressed the board last year. Plus, Perry says, she spoke to the trustees yet again in person at the May 27 board meeting.

"I was treated great by the last board," she says. "They were the ones who hired Butler. But the new board is frigid cold. I passed out copies of my statement and their faces looked like someone hit them with a baseball bat, like this was the first time they had ever heard any of this. For three of them that may be true, but there's lots of holdovers. I'm like, 'Hello. Clean this up.'"

Chris Curry

Former HCC police officer Heather Perry says she was unjustly fired for cursing at an EZ TAG store while off-duty.

HCC Police Chief Gregory Cunningham is facing a firestorm of criticism from current and former officers who say that he is not experienced enough for the job and is implementing programs and policies that may endanger the school's campuses.

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More About

• Heather Perry
• Gregory Cunningham
• Arthur Ellis
• Police
• Sexual Harassment

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A knowledgeable source close to the administration concedes that the culture and morale at the police department have eroded and that officers are frightened for their jobs and will not speak up. The source has no confidence things will improve anytime soon.

Still, Williams insists that the trustees are on top of the many issues and allegations and that the results of the Butler report and other ongoing investigations will be revealed to the entire board at its meeting on June 24.

"We're looking at it," he said, "so we haven't swept anything under the rug and we haven't ignored the statements that have been made. We have followed the rules in launching this investigation to protect the rights of both the accusers and the accused. That's where we are. We are doing the best we can over here."

Perry hopes that's so.

"I never would have come forward if the board had acted or if all those anonymous letters didn't start coming in claiming people were in danger because of bad policies," she says. "I've given the college so many opportunities to fix all of this. As for me, okay, I cursed, but do I really deserve to have my life and career ruined because of it? Things are not right over at the police department."

chris.vogel@houstonpress.com