The University of Colorado Boulder said it dismissed Bob Yates, a former Boulder City Council member, from his volunteer position in early April after concerns were raised about an email he sent about State Rep. Junie Joseph.
However, Yates said he’s still an active volunteer for CU Boulder’s Conference on World Affairs.
“I have not left my volunteer position with CWA, nor have I been asked to leave,” Yates said.
Yates was involved in coordinating, recruiting and training moderators for the Conference on World Affairs, a multi-day public event at CU Boulder that brings in various experts in different fields from around the world to discuss present-day issues.
“During the CWA planning process, the CWA planning committee was made aware that CWA volunteer Bob Yates, who is not employed by CU Boulder, sent a message regarding Junie Joseph,” CU Boulder spokesperson Nicole Mueksch wrote in an email. “As a result, Yates was asked to step away from CWA, which he did.”
CWA volunteer Yvette Lowney sent an email to Yates in late March asking to add Joseph as a guest speaker on a panel. Joseph, D-Boulder, is running for reelection in House District 10 and appears poised to win her primary race following Tuesday’s election.
“I think that this is something we need to be very careful of,” Yates wrote in a March 28 email to Lowney. “Setting aside my own options of Junie’s speaking abilities (which, having served alongside her for four years on city council, are not high), I think that CWA needs to be cautious about not being seen as putting our thumb in the scale of one side of a highly contentious local political race, for no apparent value. One could easily argue that Junie’s opponent, the former head of the teachers’ union, is equally important, and certainly more eloquent.
“Probably best for CWA to shy away from creating guest speaker roles for those running for local political office. If you want us to try to find a moderator role for Junie somewhere — as we have in the past, we happy to try to accommodate.”
Joseph said the email had been circulating in the community and eventually found its way to her.
“I read it and I did think it was inappropriate. People told me it was inappropriate, other people said it was racist as well,” Joseph said, adding, “But for me, the thing was the fact that I, as someone who worked really hard for equity, justice and human rights, when I read it it felt unjust.”
Yates said his comments in the email were not racist and not meant to be. He said the CWA program had already been printed and published when the last-minute request to add Joseph as a speaker came in.
“Well, I mean, I’m not a strong speaker,” Yates said. “I think some people are really good and eloquent and are really fast on their feet and just have a really good way of presenting. I don’t fall in that category and I don’t think Junie does and I think probably most people don’t fall in that category.”
Joseph said felt dehumanized after reading the email.
“I’m a human being. I try to do my job objectively as a state representative,” she said. “I try not to be offended when community members say things, but Bob is a former elected (official) and he’s not just a community member. There has to be a certain responsibility when he speaks of things.”
Joseph sent an email to CU President Todd Saliman on March 31 about what happened. On April 1, CU Boulder Chancellor Phil DiStefano sent her a letter inviting her to speak as a CWA panelist. Joseph said she felt conflicted about the offer.
“In good faith, the university did try by reaching out to me and inviting me to a panel even though that’s not what I wanted,” Joseph said. “For me, it was not about a panel.”
A speaker on a panel actively participates in discussions of a topic during a CWA event. Moderators don’t join the conversation, rather they field questions and keep the event on time. Yates said the biggest issue for him was not Joseph’s speaking abilities but the fact that she’s running for office. He said CWA has a rule that people actively running for office should not be speakers, but they can be moderators.
Tina Mueh, Joesph’s opponent in the democratic primary election, was a moderator for one of the panels. Joseph accepted DiStefano’s offer and participated in CWA as a panelist.
