Adair Alvarez Rodriguez

Protestors line up at the parking lot outside of the Robert Call Center on Sept. 3, 2025.

Editor’s note: The Board of Trustee’s agenda containing Hillman’s resignation was released shortly after the time of publishing. This update was added 11:25 a.m. May 9, 2026.

Embattled Santa Rosa Junior College dance coordinator Casandra Hillman submitted her resignation after months of absence from classes this semester as students and faculty continue to speak out about her alleged verbally abusive and inappropriate behavior toward students.

Hillman’s name appeared in a list of faculty personnel resignations on the agenda for the May 12 Board of Trustees meeting.

She has been absent from classes this semester and last semester after students spoke at September’s Board of Trustees meeting and demonstrated outside of dance auditions Sept. 3. Students and faculty accused Hillman of discrimination, retaliation towards students who complained or criticized her, racial stereotyping, exclusion from dance opportunities, offering alcohol to students, belittling students and colleagues during classes and being intoxicated during class. 

In a March 6 email, Hillman wrote, “Because of the seriousness of these issues, I have retained legal counsel and must decline to participate in an interview at this time.”

The controversy started when former SRJC dance student Jordan Tauzer-Pardo filed a discriminatory disability grievance in November 2024 after she missed a performance due to an emergency spinal surgery. She accused Hillman of failing her in the Dance Performance and Touring Company class because of her absence.

After she filed the grievance, Tauzer-Pardo alleges Hillman retaliated by not allowing her to perform at or attend the American College Dance Association with her classmates, leading Tauzer-Pardo to file an additional grievance. 

In a September 2025 email to The Oak Leaf, Hillman wrote, “This investigation was concluded before the beginning of the [fall 2025] semester and all of the allegations recently given to you by the students are falsified and unfounded by the investigator.”

However, a leaked copy of the May 12, 2025 findings into Tauzer-Pardo’s complaints showed an independent investigator sustained three accusations. 

1. “Ms. Hillman retaliated against Tauzer-Pardo for filing a complaint against Hillman in fall 2024, by excluding Ms. Tauzer-Pardo from participating in the ACDA conference at a time the District was still participating.”
2. “Ms. Hillman attempted to intimidate and influence students’ testimony and participation in the fall 2024 investigation.” 
3. “Ms. Hillman contacted students during the fall 2024 investigation after being directed not to due to concerns of retaliation and intimidation.”

In a Facebook post from April 19 Hillman posted a picture that said, “Nothing is more discouraging than being told to pass a student who hasn’t earned it. It undermines the work, it lowers the standard and it sends a message that effort doesn’t matter. That’s not just frustrating–it’s disrespectful to teachers.” The photo was captioned with, “This actually happened to me. A student missed the last three weeks of class, and I gave them the appropriate grade with an opportunity to make up the hours at their own pace. After the student’s mother sent me a threatening and inappropriate text, the college changed the student’s grade. I felt so defeated. Fellow educators, this is where our students are now.” The student in the photo and caption is suspected to be Tauzer-Pardo. 

In November 2024, SRJC placed an employee — identified only by an ID number — on leave around the same time the investigation into Hillman began. Despite the sustained allegations, Hillman returned in the fall 2025 semester to teach 12 sections. Then more than a dozen dance students protested outside of Dance Company Auditions and spoke at the Sept. 9 Board of Trustees meeting. Shortly after, the college placed an employee with the same ID on leave in October 2025. The dates of absences correspond with Hillman’s leaves.

 This semester, she appeared as the co-instructor for five classes; six were canceled due to low enrollment, according to the schedule of classes. Dance students and instructors say Hillman has not appeared in any classes this spring.

According to SRJC’s Faculty Rights and Responsibilities in the Student Complaint Process, general student complaints will not jeopardize a faculty member’s tenure process or employment status. 

Faculty at SRJC are part of the All Faculty Association, a bargaining agent representing all members in contract negotiations and grievance/conciliation matters.

Hillman served as grievance officer for AFA from 2020 to 2023, and she worked to help faculty resolve problems in professional environments and file formal grievances if they felt specific provisions of their employment contract had been violated.

According to All Faculty Association interim President Sarah Whylly, AFA is legally required to offer fair representation to members and a Weingarten representative — a union member who provides advice and assistance to employees during investigative interviews — to employees filing grievances.

While it’s unclear whether the college cleared Hillman to return to teaching, she remains absent from classes while substitute dance instructors take over.

SRJC associate dance instructor Tanya Tolmasoff-Knippelmeir, who began covering Hillman’s classes during spring 2025, found it difficult to fully prepare a semester-long education. 

“I stepped into a role [that] normally would be covered by two instructors, and that just became me,” Tolmasoff-Knippelmeir said. “It was tough as an instructor who wanted to have some continuity and a plan for a few weeks, or how to prepare units for the students to learn and to gain a wealth of knowledge with no real clarity of how long I would have this class.” 

Human Resources representatives have not updated Tolmasoff-Knippelmeir or given her information regarding Hillman’s potential return. 

“It has been a very positive experience with some distance,” Tolmasoff-Knippelmeir said of Hillman’s absence. “There’s been a lot of positive outcomes and less trauma from some of the drama that has happened.” 

SRJC dance student Genevieve Mychajluk agreed with Tolmasoff-Knippelmeir and criticized Hillman’s continued employment at SRJC; she appreciates classes without Hillman.

“I know that some people in her classes are having a great time without [Hillman] being there,” Mychajluk said. “I joined again last semester, and it was really great not having her. The entire ambiance of the company was so different.”

According to Mychajluk, Hillman’s insensitive comments brought her to ask other students how they felt about Hillman, and if she should have a conversation with her, to which other students would often dismiss with comments like “that’s just Cass” or “that’s just how she acts.”

SRJC dance students who have publicly spoken out and demonstrated against Hillman during public comment at SRJC Board of Trustees meetings continue to appear at board meetings and further criticize the district’s lack of public action against Hillman.

“While we cannot comment on individual personal matters, I can confirm that the District addresses all concerns — including those involving employees — through established procedures and in accordance with district policies, collective bargaining agreements, and state and federal law,” SRJC’s president, Dr. Angélica Garcia, said in an email.

One vocal SRJC dance student, Gabriál Rizo, has spoken at several board meetings and filed a six-allegation complaint against Hillman in 2023. An investigation sustained two charges.

1. The evidence supports that the respondent referred to the complainant as a bad influence and made statements that reasonably conveyed he posed a concern to others within the dance program. The respondent denied calling the complainant a bad influence or labeling him a threat. She stated that she received reports regarding inappropriate conduct and directed those concerns to administration. However, her denial is outweighed by consistent and overlapping witness accounts from students and faculty, with firsthand exposure, who independently described the respondent as using similar language and framing in multiple settings. 
2. Respondent caused complainant to lose dance opportunities that he was otherwise qualified for. 

In September, when The Oak Leaf reported the initial accusations against Hillman, reporters asked Hillman for sources who would speak on her behalf in the interest of fairness. One source she listed was former dance student Nanu Barbosa, whose Sept. 29, 2025, email to The Oak Leaf did not defend Hillman. Instead, Barbosa accused Hillman of creating a toxic environment in the dance program and making racially charged comments towards her. 

Barbosa said she left SRJC after the fall 2023 semester due to her experience with Hillman. Barbosa alleged Hillman made stereotypical comments regarding her hair, implied that she chose songs because she was black and applied stereotypes by assigning ‘sassy’ choreography to her.  

“Over time, these moments added up and made me feel constantly viewed through a lens of racial assumptions rather than as an individual,” Barbosa said. 

In the same email, Barbosa said Hillman shared a dream she had about a student that was implied to be sexual. Rizo confirmed he was one of the students in the dream.

“Nanu was referencing Cas[andra] telling me in front of the whole class that she had a wet dream at night where me and her were making out in her hotel room at ACDA with this other student, and we were all making out and having sex on her bed,” Rizo said.

Mychajluk suspects SRJC’s Board of Trustees and other college officials are doing more behind the scenes than people are aware of.

“We get little whispers or inklings, you know. ‘We’re on your side,’ or ‘Don’t worry, there’s stuff going on in the background,’” Mychajluk said. “Why can’t someone just explain at least why? Is there an investigation going on and you need to have 100% privacy, or what?”

Prior to her resignation becoming public, college officials declined to say when or whether Hillman will return, while Tauzer-Pardo said that if Hillman does return, students are prepared to protest.

Trustees will vote on a motion to approve Hillman’s resignation alongside other personnel matters May 12.