Olga Perez Stable Cox, a psychology professor at the Orange Coast College (OCC) in Costa Mesa, in a week after the US presidential election was recorded on video telling students in her human sexuality class that "we're really back to being (in) a civil war".
The two-minute video also shows Cox saying, "And so we are in for a difficult time. But again, I do believe that we can get past that. Our nation is divided; we have been assaulted, it's an act of terrorism."
"Someone emailed her a picture of her house, with her address," said Rob Schneiderman, president of the Coast Federation of Educators/American Federation of Teachers Local 1911.
The email called Cox a "libtard, Marxist, hatemonger, nutcase" and said "her home address is now going to be sent everywhere," Schneiderman was quoted as saying.
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Others threatened her livelihood, some her life.
Schneiderman described Cox as a "lesbian, Latina woman living in Orange County. She's pretty strong."
But threatening emails and phone calls to her private number were too much, and a substitute will cover her classes this final week of the semester, he said.
Hundreds of students and faculty members who support Cox gathered for a rally on campus on Monday. Carrying homemade signs calling for free speech, they defended the teacher they described as someone dedicated to protecting all students, including those who are LGBT and students of colour.
Those students countered that the issue is not about academic freedom but points to an instance of a college instructor pushing her own political agenda, something they say is prevalent on college campuses nationwide.