Levi Rosenthal was removed from his position as Inter Club Council Chair of Programs last Wednesday for jumping into the Main Quad fountain on Club Day during his performance of a Kiss song.

Director of Student Activities John Cognetta and Dean of Student Development Michele LeBleu-Burns alerted him on Wednesday morning that he would soon be put on disciplinary probation, making it illegal to continue acting as a student officer at De Anza College.

“I was notified that I was facing disciplinary probation and that as of 3 p.m. that afternoon, I would not be an officer anymore, no matter what I said,” Rosenthal said.

Cognetta and LeBleu-Burns cited him on the violation of mutual respect between himself and students who were representing their clubs at the Jan. 31 event in the Main Quad, said Rosenthal.

At the event, Rosenthal, who had painted part of his face black, took off his shirt and started running around the fountain while singing the lyrics to the Kiss song “Rock And Roll All Night.” Playing off cheers from the crowd, he jumped into the fountain and began dancing like a rock star on the second tier of the fountain.

“Levi is a good colleague, but I think what he did on Club Day has seriously damaged the reputation of the ICC,” said ICC Chair of Finance Yeung.

“I talked to him on Friday, and I asked him ‘What were you thinking? What were you doing?'” said ICC Chair Elaine Smith. “He just started laughing. He was acting like it was a complete joke. He said it was sort of like being on a high and that he could understand why rock stars get addicted to drugs – because they don’t want to lose the high.”

Rosenthal disagrees with the measure taken against him. “I would ascertain that if you don’t let people freely express themselves, that’s a violation of mutual respect,” said Rosenthal. “I have a hard time believing that [the public] misunderstood my statement. I think most people got it. It’s about having fun and doing what you think is right and having the courage to express yourself in the manner that you want to.”

When removed, Rosenthal was six weeks away from completing his term as ICC Chair of Programs on March 14, at which point a successor, to be elected on Feb. 14, would have assumed his position.

Jonathan Yeung and Elaine Smith will be fulfilling his duties until successor ICC officers are sworn in on March 14.

Rosenthal will remain on disciplinary probation until the beginning of fall quarter. Until then, he is not allowed to be involved in any extracurricular activities or run for student office positions, as he had planned to.

“I was hoping to run for DASB President and student trustee. There was a few things I really want to bring to De Anza and the student body and one of them was the idea of actually having fun, trying to make the school a better, more fun place, and I thought that was really important and that in those positions I would be able to further that aim, and bring it to the school and the student body.”

When asked what advice he would give to another student planning to go wild on Club Day in the future, Levi said that he would challenge them to think before they act. “I didn’t think. It was very impromptu. I saw the water and thought, ‘Yeah, why not?’ It was one of those wild, crazy moments.”

Shawn McGann contributed to this report. Ehssan Barkeshli is the News Editor for La Voz. Contact Ehssan at [email protected].