California professor's anti-Donald Trump rant caught on video
COSTA MESA, Calif. -- A political discussion in a college class touched off a firestorm, CBS Los Angeles reports.
A college professor went off on President-elect Donald Trump in her Orange Coast College class.
There are now threats of legal action.
The human sexuality teacher, Olga Perez Stable Cox, called Mr. Trump’s election “an act of terrorism.”
“Our nation is divided. We have been assaulted. It’s an act of terrorism,” she told the students.
She added, “One of the most frightening things for me, and most people in my life, is that the people who are leading the assault are among us.”
One student was so offended by the speech he recorded it with his cellphone.
The teacher also criticized Mr. Trump’s Cabinet picks, advisers and the vice president-elect.
“A white supremacist and a vice president that is one of the most anti-gay humans in this country,” she said.
“At this point it’s not even education anymore, it’s indoctrination,” said Josh Recalde-Martinez, a member of the school’s Young Republicans club.
The group filed a formal complaint about the professor’s rant. Another student complained about the teacher on RateMyProfessors.com.
“I felt censored and bullied if I did not agree with her opinions,” the student wrote.
Political opinions she shared in-depth with the class.
“We are way beyond Republicans and Democrats, and we’re really back to being a civil war,” she said, “and I don’t mean it in a fighting way, but our nation is divided as clearly as it was in Civil War times.”
Recalde-Martinez posted the teacher’s rant on his Facebook page. As of Thursday night, it had 18,000 views and hundreds of comments.
The professor’s union posted a warning on its page Thursday night. It condemned the student who recorded the video, saying, “This is an illegal recording without the permission of the instructor. The student who is sitting in assigned seating will be identified and may be facing legal action.”
“They wanted it to be known so that way maybe we would get scared and take down the video. But to the union I want to say we’re not going to be doing that,” said Recalde-Martinez.
“The unions are acting like thugs, like bullies themselves,” said attorney Shawn Steel.
The attorney is also the Republican national committeeman for California. He volunteered to represent the Young Republicans.
He said the student who shot the video is afraid he may be suspended or expelled with only a week left in the semester.
“Every student knows that if you stand up to your professor 90 percent of the time the professor’s going to punish you,” said Steel.
The president of the college said the school encourages a discourse on current events between students and faculty when it’s in context.
The teacher and her union did not respond to requests for comment.