To all cherished Pacifica Graduate Institute Alumna and Alumni,
Please refer to previous postings www.pgiaa.org for information on the crisis at our beloved Pacifica.
To those who may not be aware, I am the 2011 Co-Founder of the Alumni Association and Emerita and, currently, the Interim President of the Pacifica Graduate Institute Alumni Association. I have been asked to return to reorganize, fine tune and move our beloved Alumni Association forward. It is my pleasure to do so.
It has been some time since the last communique to you from Tom Lyons, past Alumni Association President and Advisory Board member regarding the difficult conversations taking place at our beloved Pacifica Graduate Institute. I do apologize for the length of time in coming forward to complete “closure” as we are wont to say in psychology. Tom has chosen at this time to remain in
the background. I shall attempt to address some of your questions and, hopefully in the process, quell some of the unrest, dissonance and confusion that may have visited you.
The Alumni association had indicated that more information was going to be posted on July 3, but in deference to separate letters sent before this date by the faculty and then the students, to Pacifica and to allow Pacifica a reasonable opportunity to act, it was decided to postpone this communique albeit somewhat later than planned.
To reiterate, in response to an urgent and, at the time, Confidential, plea for help from a Pacifica faculty member, Tom Steffora, and Counseling Psychology students, who approached past Alumni Association President, Tom Lyons for help from the Alumni Association, WE did so. This joint decision and loving action by the AA Interim President, Tom Lyons and Advisory Board, we are told now, helped inspire, emotionally support and provide time for faculty and students to form their individual responses.
This joint decision was in lieu of input from the Alumni Association Board for the following reasons: 1) the Confidential nature of the request at that time, 2) the urgency of the time factor, 3) the discovery that several Alumni Board members and potential new members had been added or invited to be on the new AA Board of Directors in error, through no fault of these individuals, but that they represented a Conflict of Interest according to: A) the Alumni Association Bylaws [6/01/2013 – Paragraph 4.2.3] and as well, to: B) the Western Association of Schools and Colleges Accreditation Board (WASC); and 4) that several of the current and already seated AA Board members and new invitees were/are in fealty with current Pacifica President, Leonie Mattison.
Some of you have voiced disagreement and that certainly is your right to do so. Gratefully, Many More have responded in support and are requesting How can they show their support?—By continuing to stand in solidarity with faculty and students and communicating your concerns and support via letters, emails, to the Pacifica Board of Trustees and social media.
What comes to mind during this most uncomfortable time for us all is the symbolism of the Winged Serpent on Pacifica’s logo; the endless, endless difficulty (undulations) inherent in the shedding of the skin, (i.e., the status quo) as part of a Transformative and healing journey to the new. And, too, I recall some words of our cherished scholar, Dr. Lionel Corbett, and the Chaos Theory and, again, all to do with Transformative changes. The discomfort/difficulties inherent in ‘chaos’ come before change–the bigger the changes, the larger/bigger the chaos; one cannot have one without the other but in the end, there is magnificent light.
In all sincerity and with love
Lupe Zuniga, PhD
2024 Interim President and Founding Member
Pacifica Graduate Institute Alumni Association
Class of ’94, Clinical Psychology
