Students pressing for OCC teacher’s firing

Deirdre Newman

OCC CAMPUS -- A group of Muslim students at Orange Coast College are

pressing the administration to fire a professor who allegedly made racist

remarks during class.

Political Science professor Kenneth Hearlson is on paid administrative

leave following accusations that he called a Muslim student a terrorist

during a Tuesday night class.

Administration officials said they are conducting an investigation

into Hearlson’s comments. But the student to whom the remarks were

allegedly directed said that firing Hearlson is the only logical

resolution.

“I believe that anybody in their right conscience would say he should

be fired,” Mooath Saidi said. “He doesn’t qualify to be a teacher.”

Hearlson did not return calls for comment.

On Thursday, Saidi and a handful of other Muslim students brought

their concerns to the administration. Bob Dees, vice-president of

instruction, said the school’s top priorities are alleviating the

negative effects of the alleged comments and finding someone to fill in

for Hearlson until the matter is resolved.

As far as the investigation is concerned, Dees said there are a lot of

factors that need to be weighed, including Hearlson’s academic freedom

and the legality of whatever decision they make.

“If [the remarks] were said, certainly the college would look at

reprimanding the instructor or taking other kinds of steps,” Dees said.

Muslim students said they had already been feeling a backlash from the

suspected involvement of Islamic extremists in the Sept. 11 terrorist

attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, which have left more

than 6,000 people missing or dead.

The discussion in Hearlson’s Tuesday class started when Hearlson

compared Muslim students on campus to Nazis and said they shouldn’t be

trusted, according to CC Abdelmuti, another Muslim student in the class.

Saidi said the conversation then progressed to the relationship

between Israel and the Arabs when he made a statement in defense of the

Arab nations.

And that’s when Hearlson let loose, Saidi said.

“He raised his voice and told me to be quiet and that I could speak

only when he told me I could speak,” Saidi said. “Then he started

screaming and turned to me and pointed and said, ‘It was you who drove

two planes into the World Trade Center. You killed 5,000 people. You are

a terrorist.”’

Abdelmuti said she agrees that Hearlson should be fired and will not

accept an apology. While both she and Saidi say they have faith in the

administration to resolve the matter appropriately, they remain committed

to dispelling negative stereotypes about Muslims.

“People need to understand -- we’re Americans, not terrorists,” Saidi

said. “We don’t blame the Christian people for what Timothy McVeigh did

[in Oklahoma City]. But for someone to take one person and depict the

rest of us as being equal to them is just outrageous.”