A recording of a key moment in a lawsuit over whether or not two top Boise State University administrators infringed on the constitutional rights of a local coffee shop owner came to light this week.
On Wednesday, attorneys resumed arguing the ongoing trial between Sarah Jo Fendley, her now closed business Big City Coffee, and two then Boise State University administrators: Vice President for University Affairs and Chief of Staff Alicia Estey and Vice President for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management Leslie Webb. So far, attorneys selected jurors to hear the case, made their opening arguments and Fendley took the stand.
The central portion of the fourth day of the proceedings was for the jury to hear a partial recording Estey took of a meeting on October 22, 2020, between Fendley, her then-fiancé and BPD officer Kevin Holtry, Big City Coffee Manager Kyla Beavers, their friend BPD Detective Brian Holland, Estey, Webb and an employee with campus food contractor Aramark. This meeting, and differing accounts of it, proved pivotal in the case because it directly precipitated Big City Coffee’s on-campus location closing its doors.
Fendley has characterized the meeting as “an ambush” she was not prepared for and said that Boise State staff forced her off-campus when they refused to hold up their end of the bargain in supporting her. And on the other hand, Webb and Estey argue Fendley was asking for the university to unfairly use its power to squash students exercising their First Amendment rights to share their views about the Thin Blue Line, policing, and businesses like Fendley’s that openly displayed support for these causes during the height of tensions over the death of George Floyd.
Estey’s recording, which she took unbeknownst to Fendley in accordance with Idaho law allowing recordings of conversations as long as one party is aware of it, captured roughly 45 minutes of the conversation. The recording was publicized years into the trial when Fendley was deposed. Estey and Webb’s attorney Keely Duke testified that the recording stopped early because she had an incoming notification and silencing it led to it cutting off early by accident.
The case began last week and will continue through Friday and into next week.
What was said on the recording?
After the group exchanged pleasantries, Webb began by discussing the role of the university in navigating the tension related to law enforcement, the Black Lives Matter movement and Big City Coffee’s open support of law enforcement on social media and at the downtown location.
“It’s a political moment, it’s a cultural moment, it’s a difficult moment I think for society,” Webb said. “…I recognize there’s layers of complexity here.”
Fendley responded by saying that when she was approached about opening a second location on campus she raised concerns that there could possibly be a negative response to her support of Holtry, a BPD officer who uses a wheelchair after he was shot in the line of duty, and law enforcement in general. She noted two recent instances of getting questions on social media about her choice to display the Thin Blue Line flag in her shop and how she corresponded with critics and posted on social media about her relationship with Holtry and why she chooses to support the police through her business.
She said when an employee forwarded her a Snapchat post from another student asking those in support of minority students on Boise State’s campus not to support her store due to her display of the Thin Blue Line flag, she felt “defeated” and posted a lengthy response on her Facebook page about her love for Holtry and support of first responders.
“I do say ‘back the blue’ because I do ‘back the blue,” she said. “I also back the red. My brother’s a fireman and that’s who I am and I was upfront about that from the beginning.”
Holtry then began talking about reports available through the Clery Act, which is a federal law requiring the public disclosure of crimes or other related activity on college campuses. He said even though the law requires public release of a broad range of activities on campuses, there aren’t any reports that show Big City Coffee’s presence on campus has made anyone unsafe, including minority students.
“There’s absolutely zero reports and nothing’s ever happened and now all of a sudden everyone is scared to death because (Fendley) is associated with me,” Holtry said.
Fendley continued, noting she cropped out the student who made the post’s identity and never threatened any student in her post and only sought to explain why supporting law enforcement was so close to her heart. She also alluded to the possibility of students who spoke out against her business being held in violation of the university’s rules.
“Kevin’s not going away,” she said. “What happened to Kevin isn’t going to go away. We still make good food, good coffee, and we work hard. That’s what we do and if BSU isn’t going to support us, I was told, because this was my fear, that there was a code of conduct that students had to abide by and if this was an issue they would make sure this is not a problem and it feels like this is a problem.”
‘I’m not the devil’
During the meeting, Holtry extensively shared his frustration with anti-police sentiment in the months following Floyd’s death in Minneapolis in 2020.
He said the issues on campus with Big City Coffee had “snowballed rapidly” and Holtry was frustrated with the “vitriol” on social media over the coffee shop, especially since there was no pro-law enforcement material at the BSU location. Holtry also expressed frustration with the ongoing political environment where he felt like he was considered “evil” because he was a white male police officer. He told the administrators, “I’m not the devil.”
Holtry then praised Fendley’s hard work building the business and shared his anger about comments on social media against her business, her association with him, and the sacrifices law enforcement is willing to make for the public. He then threatened to take the story about Big City Coffee and BSU public.
“My whole point about this being is that this is devastating to everybody and I know for a fact that she is not going to do it anymore and I know I am not going to do it anymore and I think it’s so horrible that I’m done with Boise State, I’m done supporting this university and I’m done advocating for it,” Holtry said. “I’m more than happy to tell this story, I believe in facts, I believe in the truth, your feelings don’t care about facts, done, done. Given the opportunity, I will speak openly. I have media platforms and I will be more than happy to do it. I will tell them what happened, I will tell them about her story.”
Fendley said after reviewing the school’s code of conduct she saw that the student had a right to share her opinions about her store and Fendley’s pro-law enforcement views, but her concern was that the student who made the Snapchat post was an officer with the Associated Students of Boise State University. She said it wasn’t clear in the student’s post that her views were her personal views, not of ASBSU. Fendley expressed concern about the students she’d worked hard to hire and her desire to keep all of her employees employed during the pandemic, which stressed the bottom lines of restaurants nationwide.
“I guess we’re just here to see if BSU is going to support us,” she said. “I don’t foresee that happening.”
Fendley: ‘I didn’t sign up for that’
After listening to Fendley and Holtry’s concerns, Webb said something troubling students is how movements, like the support of the Thin Blue Line and law enforcement, have been co-opted by those with more extreme views. She said during the meeting students were receiving her support of the Thin Blue Line differently than how Fendley meant it, which was the cause of the conflict.
“There’s intent, there’s impact and you have to unpack all of these things,” Webb said. “It is a difficult place to be in to help them understand the nuances between these things and we’re in a cultural movement as you know because you’re living right in the middle of it and we’re right in the middle of it as well.”
Aramark staffer Brian Holzworth then offered comments about how his company, which has come under scrutiny nationwide for poor food quality in prisons, handles criticism from students and has chosen in the past not to respond publicly.
Estey followed this by asking Fendley what she would like to see happen. She responded by saying she hoped the pandemic died down and sales at her stores picked up, but she did not want to stay on campus where she wasn’t being supported. Fendley was especially concerned about her student employees coming to work while there were possibly protests outside the store and an ongoing boycott against the store, saying “I didn’t sign up for that.”
“I mean, you picked me for a reason, and if you didn’t pick me for a reason because of the quality and you wanted us here, then you picked me just because you wanted to slot somebody into the spot,” Fendley said in the meeting. “And if that’s the case, then we’ll get out of here because I’m not going to do that. But if you’re going to support us, then we’ll stay, but if you’re not, then we’ll go. Because it’s not worth it. I’m not going to fight with anybody about this anymore.”
Webb then told Fendley about how a month ago she spent “hours and hours” on Big City Coffee’s behalf trying to calm down student concerns over Big City Coffee. She said the talks were “very difficult,” but at that time she’d gotten to the point where students were starting to understand that someone can uplift one aspect of a movement, while also not putting something else down.
Fendley: “What was the problem?”
Webb: “Students feeling marginalized because of the connection you have to a movement you receive in a different way than they do.”
Beavers, Big City Coffee’s manager, piped up saying the conflict was based on students’ presumptions about what the Thin Blue Line and supporting law enforcement means. She asked if there was “some sort of way” to tell the student population that Big City Coffee both supports law enforcement and diversity and equality.
Webb said that’s the work the school has been doing in meeting with students and trying to share the nuances of the situation, but the latest post created an “upsurge” in frustrations on campus again.
“I believe (students criticizing the store) have difficulty believing that it can be a both and,” Webb said. “We can both care about culture and community and underrepresented populations and support police.”
Beavers asked how this could be cleared up and Holland, a BPD detective and Holtry’s best friend, started sharing his personal experience as a Black man with a daughter who deeply disagrees with his job as a police officer so he stopped sharing financial resources with her. He talked about the boundaries they have in their relationship due to differing political views on this issue before the recording abruptly cut out.
