Olga Perez Stable Cox
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">shawn steel</font><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">5. He Called for Orange County to Fire a Professor Who Called Trump a ‘White Supremacist’</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In December 2016, Steel wrote in the Orange County Register that the school system needed to fire Orange Coast College psychology professor Olga Perez Stable Cox because she referred to Trump as a “white supremacist” in a video that went viral. “We have been assaulted; it’s an act of terrorism,” Cox said of Trump’s election in the video.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Such behavior is inexcusable. Professors have a responsibility to present controversial topics on their subject matters and inspire critical thinking within a classroom,” Steel wrote. “That can’t happen when a professor spews hateful rhetoric and bullies students into disclosing their political affiliations. By isolating a group of students as threats, Cox jeopardized the safety of the Trump supporters. Let’s not forget that professors are in positions of power — with the ability to determine a student’s grade and, in turn, academic future.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Cox was not fired. In fact, in March, The Los Angeles Times reported that Cox received the OCC Faculty of the Year award. That was also a controversial decision, as some called for the award to be rescinded.</font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">4 bits on wapo, latest?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2017/02/15/a-professor-called-trumps-victory-terrorism-a-student-who-recorded-the-rant-got-suspended/?utm_term=.297b0d9c6bcc</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2./15 updated</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px auto 18px; max-width: 100%;"><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A Southern California college student has been suspended for recording his professor’s anti-Trump rant, which went viral and led to violent threats against the instructor.</font></b></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px auto 18px; max-width: 100%;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">According to a copy of <a href="http://s3.amazonaws.com/campusreform/8790/Page-1WM.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213); zoom: 1; margin-bottom: 18px; line-height: 1.8em;">the suspension letter posted by Campus Reform</a>, the student must also apologize to the professor and submit a double-spaced essay about “<a href="http://www.campusreform.org/?ID=8790" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213); zoom: 1; margin-bottom: 18px; line-height: 1.8em;">why you decided to share the video</a>” and “the ensuing damage to Orange Coast College students, faculty and staff.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px auto 18px; max-width: 100%;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The essay is due by the end of the month. The suspension will last all semester, though 19-year-old Caleb O’Neil will appeal.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px auto 18px; max-width: 100%;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Orange Coast College freshman said Wednesday that he<b> file a lawsuit in federal court if his appeal is rejected.</b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px auto 18px; max-width: 100%;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“We think this is a clear example of unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination that targets conservatives and we’re going to challenge it,” O’Neil’s attorney, <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Bill Becker</span>, said at a news conference in Costa Mesa, <a href="http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2017/02/15/orange-coast-college-student-to-appeal-suspension-for-filming-teachers-anti-trump-comments/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213); zoom: 1; margin-bottom: 18px; line-height: 1.8em;">according to CBS Los Angeles</a>.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px auto 18px; max-width: 100%;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Becker <a href="http://www.ocregister.com/articles/college-744067-neil-cox.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213); zoom: 1; margin-bottom: 18px; line-height: 1.8em;">told the Orange County Register</a> that the suspension “is an attack by leftists in academia to protect the expressive rights of their radical instructors.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px auto 18px; max-width: 100%;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Shortly after Election Day, Olga Perez Stable Cox <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2016/12/27/a-professor-called-trumps-election-an-act-of-terrorism-then-she-became-the-victim-of-terror/?utm_term=.6e135585c1da" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213); zoom: 1; margin-bottom: 18px; line-height: 1.8em;">told her human sexuality class</a> that Trump was a white supremacist.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px auto 18px; max-width: 100%;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">His victory, she said, was “an act of terrorism.”</font></p><p channel="wp.com" class="interstitial-link" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px auto 18px; max-width: 100%;"><i style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2016/12/13/a-professor-called-trumps-election-an-act-of-terrorism-death-threats-forced-her-to-flee/?tid=a_inl&utm_term=.714c31f7e741" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213); zoom: 1; margin-bottom: 18px; line-height: 1.8em;">A professor called Trump’s election an ‘act of terrorism.’ Death threats forced her to flee.</a>]</font></i></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px auto 18px; max-width: 100%;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“We’re really back to being in a civil war,” the psychology professor said as O’Neil and others listened from their desks.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px auto 18px; max-width: 100%;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">She didn’t mean a real war, but rather a divided country in which “we are the majority. More of us voted to not have that kind of leadership.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px auto 18px; max-width: 100%;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The professor said “we” — but O’Neil thought otherwise.<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> He recorded the speech and showed it to a campus Republican group, who complained to administrators that Cox was abusing the power of her grade book.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px auto 18px; max-width: 100%;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“It’s scaremongering,” <a href="http://www.ocregister.com/articles/college-737827-students-instructor.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213); zoom: 1; margin-bottom: 18px; line-height: 1.8em;">a lawyer for the group told the Register.</a> “It’s irrational. It’s a rant. And it doesn’t belong in the classroom.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px auto 18px; max-width: 100%;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Frustrated that the administration did not act on their concerns quickly enough, the Republicans posted clips of the lecture online.</font></p><p channel="wp.com" class="interstitial-link" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px auto 18px; max-width: 100%;"><i style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/education/wp/2017/01/06/muslim-woman-who-voted-for-trump-asks-georgetown-to-intervene-over-professors-hateful-vulgar-messages/?utm_term=.dfef247ff9ea" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213); zoom: 1; margin-bottom: 18px; line-height: 1.8em;">Muslim woman who voted for Trump asks Georgetown to intervene over professor’s ‘hateful, vulgar’ messages</a>]</font></i></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px auto 18px; max-width: 100%;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">O’Neil’s video prompted headlines across the country and drew a ferocious backlash to the Costa Mesa, Calif., campus.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px auto 18px; max-width: 100%;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“I pulled my phone out, because<b> I was honestly scared that I would have repercussions with my grades </b>because she knew I was a Trump supporter,</span>” O’Neil at the news conference Wednesday, <a href="http://www.ocregister.com/articles/neil-744162-college-orange.html." target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213); zoom: 1; margin-bottom: 18px; line-height: 1.8em;">according to the Orange County Register</a>.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px auto 18px; max-width: 100%;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I thought Olga was a good teacher,” he added.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px auto 18px; max-width: 100%;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Cox, who often turned her classes into open forums on sensitive issues, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2016/12/27/a-professor-called-trumps-election-an-act-of-terrorism-then-she-became-the-victim-of-terror/?utm_term=.6e135585c1da" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213); zoom: 1; margin-bottom: 18px; line-height: 1.8em;">told The Washington Post</a> that she’d been trying to comfort students scared by Trump’s rhetoric against Muslims, undocumented immigrants and other minority groups.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px auto 18px; max-width: 100%;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">After weeks of threatening messages in her inbox and voice mail about the video — “Marxist,” “nutcase,” “vile leftist filth” — she became frightened herself.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px auto 18px; max-width: 100%;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“Now, at 66, I’m paranoid,” she said in December. “I feel like I’ve been attacked by a mob of people all across the country.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px auto 18px; max-width: 100%;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Campus security began dropping by Cox’s classroom. Sympathetic students escorted her to class, worried about her safety.</font></p><p channel="wp.com" class="interstitial-link" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px auto 18px; max-width: 100%;"><i style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/10/12/what-its-like-to-be-a-college-professor-who-supports-donald-trump/?utm_term=.359ab32b58c3" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213); zoom: 1; margin-bottom: 18px; line-height: 1.8em;">What it’s like to be a college professor who supports Donald Trump</a>]</font></i></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px auto 18px; max-width: 100%;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>She fled her home and turned her class over to a substitute after getting an email that listed her home address, phone number and salary — and threatened to spread the information “everywhere.”</b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px auto 18px; max-width: 100%;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Several weeks later, on Feb. 9, <a href="http://s3.amazonaws.com/campusreform/8790/Page-1WM.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213); zoom: 1; margin-bottom: 18px; line-height: 1.8em;">O’Neil got a letter from a dean</a>.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px auto 18px; max-width: 100%;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://s3.amazonaws.com/campusreform/8790/Page-1WM.jpg">http://s3.amazonaws.com/campusreform/8790/Page-1WM.jpg</a></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px auto 18px; max-width: 100%;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“When we spoke, you stated that you felt badly about the things that had happened to individuals as a result of this incident,” it read.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px auto 18px; max-width: 100%;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But the student had also broken campus rules against using recording devices. Thus: a semesterlong suspension, which would only end if he apologized to Cox and wrote a three-page essay about what he did.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px auto 18px; max-width: 100%;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“It is my hope that this experience will lead you to truly think through your actions and the consequences of those actions.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px auto 18px; max-width: 100%;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Orange Coast had also been investigating whether Cox’s comments were appropriate, <a href="http://www.ocregister.com/articles/college-744067-neil-cox.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213); zoom: 1; margin-bottom: 18px; line-height: 1.8em;">the Register reported</a>. A spokesman for the school told The Post it couldn’t comment on student or personnel matters: “The student made the decision to go to the media; we cannot.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px auto 18px; max-width: 100%;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">O’Neil’s attorney said his client would keep attending class while appealing the punishment.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px auto 18px; max-width: 100%;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I’m disgusted that they imposed such excessive sanctions,” <a href="http://www.ocregister.com/articles/college-744067-neil-cox.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213); zoom: 1; margin-bottom: 18px; line-height: 1.8em;">the founder of school’s College Republican group told the Register.</a> “The student was just trying to document a case where <b>he personally felt targeted by a faculty member.”</b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px auto 18px; max-width: 100%;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Fred M. Whitaker, chairman of the Republican Party of Orange County, called O’Neil’s suspension “abhorrent,”</b> adding that the college administration’s decision “clearly affirms their disdain for one of our nation’s most cherished freedoms: freedom of speech. The Republican Party of Orange County categorically opposes this administration’s attempt to trample over its students’ civil rights and we will be doing everything in our power to support Caleb O’Neil in his effort to appeal the decision.”</font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.ocregister.com/2017/02/15/occ-student-suspended-after-filming-teacher-saying-trumps-election-was-an-act-of-terrorism/">https://www.ocregister.com/2017/02/15/occ-student-suspended-after-filming-teacher-saying-trumps-election-was-an-act-of-terrorism/</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; letter-spacing: -0.165px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">COSTA MESA – An Orange Coast College student <a href="http://www.ocregister.com/articles/college-737827-students-instructor.html" target="blank" title="who secretly videotaped his instructor making anti-Trump statements" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 151, 167); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">who secretly videotaped his instructor making anti-Trump statements</a> was suspended from school and told to write a letter of apology as well as a three-page essay about the incident.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; letter-spacing: -0.165px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The college suspended Caleb O’Neil for the current semester and the summer term, saying he violated a Coast Community College District policy <a href="http://www.ocregister.com/articles/students-743766-record-teacher.html" target="blank" title="prohibiting recording someone on district property" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 151, 167); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">prohibiting recording someone on district property</a> without that person’s consent.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; letter-spacing: -0.165px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“It is my hope that this experience will lead you to truly think through your actions and the consequences of those actions when making decisions in the future,” Victoria Lugo, interim dean of students, wrote in a Feb. 9 letter to O’Neil, whose video clips of instructor Olga Perez Stable Cox in December went viral.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; letter-spacing: -0.165px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">William Becker, an attorney representing O’Neil, said the sanctions are excessive and the student’s legal rights have been violated. O’Neil, 19, plans to appeal and can continue to attend classes during that process, Becker said.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; letter-spacing: -0.165px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“This is an attack by leftists in academia to protect the expressive rights of their radical instructors at the expense of the expressive rights of conservative students on campus,” said <b>Becker, president of Freedom X,</b> a nonprofit dedicated to preserving religious and conservative freedom of expression.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; letter-spacing: -0.165px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">O’Neil, who campaigned for Trump, couldn’t be reached for comment on Tuesday.</font></p><hr style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1em; letter-spacing: -0.165px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; letter-spacing: -0.165px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">RELATED:</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; letter-spacing: -0.165px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">• <a href="http://www.ocregister.com/articles/students-743766-record-teacher.html" target="blank" title="Why aren't students allowed to videotape teachers?" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 151, 167); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Why aren’t students allowed to videotape teachers?</a></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; letter-spacing: -0.165px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">• <a href="http://www.ocregister.com/articles/neil-744162-college-orange.html" target="blank" title="Caleb O’Neil filed an appeal Wednesday and spoke publicly at a news conference" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 151, 167); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Caleb O’Neil filed an appeal Wednesday and spoke publicly at a news conference</a></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; letter-spacing: -0.165px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.ocregister.com/2016/12/09/caught-on-video-trumps-election-was-an-act-of-terrorism-says-orange-coast-college-professor-in-class/">https://www.ocregister.com/2016/12/09/caught-on-video-trumps-election-was-an-act-of-terrorism-says-orange-coast-college-professor-in-class/</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 16.5px; line-height: inherit; font-family: "Droid Sans", Georgia, serif; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; letter-spacing: -0.165px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">OSTA MESA – <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5wUAaIdF6c" target="_blank" title="In a video clip recorded by a student" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 151, 167); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; color: rgb(0, 151, 167); text-decoration-line: none;">In a video clip recorded by a student</a>, a psychology instructor at Orange Coast College told her class that the election of Donald Trump was “an act of terrorism” – prompting an official complaint from the school’s Republican Club.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 16.5px; line-height: inherit; font-family: "Droid Sans", Georgia, serif; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; letter-spacing: -0.165px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Olga Perez Stable Cox told students in her popular human sexuality class shortly after the election: “We have been assaulted.”</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 16.5px; line-height: inherit; font-family: "Droid Sans", Georgia, serif; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; letter-spacing: -0.165px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“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,” said the instructor who is in her 30th year at the college. “It is not some stranger from some other country coming in and attacking our sense of what it means to be an American and the things that we stand for. And that makes it more painful. …</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 16.5px; line-height: inherit; font-family: "Droid Sans", Georgia, serif; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; letter-spacing: -0.165px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“We are way beyond Republicans and Democrats, and we’re really back to being (in) a civil war – and I don’t mean it in a fighting way, but our nation is divided as clearly as it was in Civil War times,” she told the students. “And my hope is that we will get some good leadership to help us to overcome that.”</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 16.5px; line-height: inherit; font-family: "Droid Sans", Georgia, serif; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; letter-spacing: -0.165px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">On Monday, the Republican Club posted the video on its Facebook page. Cox’s remarks then were distributed via Facebook and other social media.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 16.5px; line-height: inherit; font-family: "Droid Sans", Georgia, serif; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; letter-spacing: -0.165px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">She did not return messages for comment on Thursday.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 16.5px; line-height: inherit; font-family: "Droid Sans", Georgia, serif; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; letter-spacing: -0.165px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The union that represents Cox defended her and said any students involved in the recording violated school and state codes and could be punished. Meanwhile, some Orange Coast College students and their supporters called it a blatant example of liberal bias on American campuses.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 16.5px; line-height: inherit; font-family: "Droid Sans", Georgia, serif; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; letter-spacing: -0.165px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>“She’s using her power as a teacher who gives grades, with a captive audience, to basically scare and shame students,” said attorney Shawn Steel, who on behalf of the school’s College Republicans filed a complaint with Orange Coast College on Nov. 30.</b></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 16.5px; line-height: inherit; font-family: "Droid Sans", Georgia, serif; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; letter-spacing: -0.165px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“It’s alarming. It’s scare-mongering. It’s irrational. It’s a rant. And it doesn’t belong in the classroom,” said Steel, a past chairman of the California Republican Party.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 16.5px; line-height: inherit; font-family: "Droid Sans", Georgia, serif; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; letter-spacing: -0.165px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The student who videotaped the instructor, he added, was “well within his or her First Amendment rights.”</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 16.5px; line-height: inherit; font-family: "Droid Sans", Georgia, serif; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; letter-spacing: -0.165px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Steel wants the instructor to apologize to her students and take an anger-management class, and for a dean to send out a letter to the faculty saying it needs to treat students with respect.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 16.5px; line-height: inherit; font-family: "Droid Sans", Georgia, serif; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; letter-spacing: -0.165px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">But Rob Schneiderman, president of the Coast Federation of Educators, AFT 1911, which represents the school’s faculty, sees it differently.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 16.5px; line-height: inherit; font-family: "Droid Sans", Georgia, serif; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; letter-spacing: -0.165px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“This faculty member is known for her open and engaging ways in class, open to all sides of the issues,” he said. “It’s unfortunate that this student chose to not engage in an open dialogue, which she encourages.”</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 16.5px; line-height: inherit; font-family: "Droid Sans", Georgia, serif; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; letter-spacing: -0.165px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Orange Coast College President Dennis Harkins said Thursday that the school is investigating Steel’s complaint, and will look into the context of the instructor’s comments and whether it was in response to a question or an issue raised in class. Also, the school is looking into the student’s secret taping.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 16.5px; line-height: inherit; font-family: "Droid Sans", Georgia, serif; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; letter-spacing: -0.165px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“Orange Coast College supports the respectful discussion or discourse of ideas and opinions that exist between students, faculty and staff or the community,” Harkins said. “One of the real purposes of the college experience is to share and interact with people who have different opinions on complex issues.”</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 16.5px; line-height: inherit; font-family: "Droid Sans", Georgia, serif; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; letter-spacing: -0.165px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Joshua Recalde-Martinez, president of the school’s College Republicans, called Cox’s comments an example of “leftist indoctrination in the classroom. … We heard many stories at OCC. We had an instructor the day after the election cancel his class. He was sobbing in the classsroom. …</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 16.5px; line-height: inherit; font-family: "Droid Sans", Georgia, serif; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; letter-spacing: -0.165px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“Our goal in sharing that video is to protect the students and their rights,” he said. “OCC is supposed to be a school of diversity, equity and inclusitivity, and her comments do not allow for that.”</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 16.5px; line-height: inherit; font-family: "Droid Sans", Georgia, serif; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; letter-spacing: -0.165px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Juan Gutierrez,</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> Orange Coast College’s spokesman,</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> said there may be an upside to all this:</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 16.5px; line-height: inherit; font-family: "Droid Sans", Georgia, serif; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; letter-spacing: -0.165px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“We’re looking at it, in the long run, as a teaching moment.”</p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div>