“Wait till you see what I can do to you!”
“We’re coming for you!”
Racism and assault. These were the themes of the multiple voicemails aimed at a Cypress College professor who was recorded in class without permission by a student in 2021. The student posted the recording on social media, where it went viral and was picked up by major news outlets.
The press rights organization FIRE obtained copies of these voicemails in a public records request to NOCCCD. Multiple professors that were majority women and people of color reported receiving individual threats as well.
A Cypress College representative told The Hornet that they “did involve authorities in response to some of the messages” they received.
However, Cypress College placed the faculty member on a leave of absence and did not condemn the student’s actions for recording a class against school policy.
Meanwhile, as threatening messages rolled in, Fullerton and Cypress College faculty went on the defensive. They alleged that NOCCCD has a culture that does not support faculty, even when threats were being made towards them that stemmed from a video that The Hornet later reported had been taken out of context.
One union leader stood up for the Cypress professor during several Faculty Senate and district board meetings, along with other minority professors that were impacted by the incident.
The Hornet is not using the union leader’s name in the story in order to protect their identity and limit the potential of further backlash from the public.
When the union leader, who openly criticized the district, was accused of discrimination, tensions between the union and district seemed to hit an all-time high. Nearly three years later, a state board has found the NOCCCD guilty of retaliating against that union leader and suppressing their free speech.