College Official Denies He Is Anti-Semitic

A day after failing to appear at a public meeting where hundreds of people demanded his resignation, college board President Steven J. Frogue lashed out at his critics Tuesday, saying he wants to “repudiate the lies” that he is anti-Semitic.

“I have never denied the Holocaust,” Frogue said in a short written statement. “It is one of the great human atrocities of all ages. I have stated that before repeatedly. I have never defamed nor shown disrespect for the Jewish faith or people and never will.”

As board president of the South Orange County Community College District, Frogue, 55, is under fire for proposing and then casting the tie-breaking vote to approve a non-academic-credit, community education course that Frogue said would examine conspiracy theories surrounding the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Frogue also planned to teach the course.

At its meeting last month, the board allocated $5,000 in student fees to fly in four guest speakers, one of whom claims the Holocaust is exaggerated and that agents for the Israeli government killed Kennedy.

After a community outcry, the board rescinded the course--an action made official Monday night by a 6-0 vote, with Frogue being absent. Frogue still plans to teach the course on a private basis off-campus.

The Anti-Defamation League, the Jewish Defense League, the American Jewish Committee and other organizations called for Frogue’s resignation at the meeting he missed Monday night, and on Tuesday, the Orange County Democratic Central Committee passed a resolution condemning Frogue and the three board members who voted with him to approve the course in August.

In his statement released Tuesday, Frogue said: “I have the most profound belief in freedom of speech and freedom of religion. My life has been dedicated to teaching democratic values, good citizenship and religious tolerance. . . .

“As a citizen of the United States of America, I claim my right to say what I think, believe what I value, to study and listen to many voices, whether I do or do not agree with them. To be forced to do otherwise is a travesty of the most treasured American principles.”

Frogue, who has taught for 30 years at Foothill High School, has not returned repeated phone calls from The Times seeking comment on the controversy surrounding him.

At Monday’s meeting, many in the crowd booed when vice chairman John Williams announced that Frogue would not be present and that he would be conducting the meeting. As security guards stood watch in the lobby, dozens of students and faculty members passed out leaflets or paraded with picket signs demanding Frogue’s resignation.

A process server also stood by, waiting to serve Frogue with papers that officially inform him he is the object of a recall effort.

Disgruntled faculty and community members then assailed Frogue for the bulk of the gathering, which lasted more than four hours. Most demanded his resignation or said they supported the recall initiative, which backers estimate would require 38,000 signatures from registered voters in the district to get on the ballot.

Some speakers alleged that Frogue’s actions are anti-Semitic while others accused him of spearheading a movement to undermine the college, citing some recent decisions:

The board’s demotion of 10 department chairs at Irvine Valley College--which, along with Saddleback College, is run by the district--and the board’s selection of chemistry professor Raghu P. Mathur as Irvine Valley president.

Each decision occurred in closed session, which prompted a lawsuit from two Irvine Valley faculty members. A Superior Court judge ruled that the board had failed to comply with two key provisions of the Brown Act, which governs public meetings in California. Judge William F. McDonald ruled in favor of the board on two lesser counts.

The board axed the department chairs in favor of four newly imported deans from Saddleback College. Vice chairman Williams called it a cost-cutting move that “put $1 million in salaries back in the classroom” and resulted in a net savings of $220,000.

But discussions about the JFK course and Frogue’s alleged racial comments in previous years at Foothill High School dominated the evening.

Two former students of Foothill High in Santa Ana spoke at the meeting, with one recalling anti-Semitic slurs she said he made during a world cultures class in the 1991-92 school year.

Drawing gasps from the crowd assembled in the 404-seat McKinney Theatre, Danielle Brown, 21, said she walked out of Frogue’s class after he made what she said were anti-Semitic comments during a discussion of World War II. The remarks--which she detailed before the audience--forced her and her mother, Ethel, to complain to school authorities, Brown said.

Pam Bustamante, 24, who works as a World Wide Web designer, told The Times on Tuesday that she was a student of Frogue’s in 1989, before graduating from Foothill High in 1990. Bustamante, who is Jewish, said she complained to school authorities when Frogue refused to mention the Holocaust during a lengthy discussion of World War II.

“I remember him going into great detail about Japanese internment camps, but when I asked him to discuss the Holocaust, he refused, which upset me a great deal,” Bustamante said. “I lost 48 relatives in the Holocaust, so I found his attitude extremely disturbing.”

Bustamante said she and her parents complained to school officials “but never received any satisfactory explanation.”

Frogue has denied making such statements in the past.