Trustee Targeted for Recall Defends Himself at Meeting

Steven J. Frogue, the trustee targeted for recall from the South Orange County Community College District amid allegations of anti-Semitism, defended himself for the first time in months Tuesday night.

Before an overflow crowd at a heated trustees meeting, Frogue said in a prepared statement that he was speaking out “because radical groups are using the public comment section of these meetings to disseminate lies and demagoguery. I fear their tactics will become desperate and dangerous.”

The recall was prompted by controversy surrounding a seminar Frogue proposed last year on the assassination of President Kennedy. A speaker he planned to invite contends that the Israeli secret service played a role in the assassination and that the World War II Holocaust was exaggerated. The seminar ultimately was canceled.

Frogue said he believes and has “stated repeatedly that the Holocaust is one of the great human atrocities of all ages. I have the utmost respect and regard for the Jewish faith and Jewish people.”

Also Tuesday, the trustees imposed drastic new rules aimed at the vitriolic speechmaking and ethnic slurs that have occurred at recent meetings in confrontations between Frogue supporters and Jewish organizations.

They include restricting remarks at the beginning of meetings only to items that are on the board’s agenda. Other comments may be made later in the meeting.

The measures also require speakers to “observe common decency, respect and decorum” and bans the use of “vitriolic, racial or ethnic remarks, slurs or insulting, demeaning or foul language.”

The Anti-Defamation League, which was consulted last week by board President John S. Williams about the new rules, applauded them as a step in the right direction, but said details need to be worked out, such as what type of comments fall under the policy and who will enforce it.

Supporters of Frogue, suspecting they are the targets of the new policies, denounced them as an infringement on free speech.

“What happens to the 1st Amendment of the Constitution?” asked Phil Tryon of Huntington Beach, a Frogue supporter who has attended past meetings. “The ADL comes in there and they can rant and rave against Frogue. But as soon as you start exposing them, they get excited. Sounds like a double standard.”

Trustee Marcia Milchiker, a frequent Frogue critic, said she also had reservations about the rules.

“Many people are sincerely concerned and want to speak,” she said. “I feel they are here in good faith, and we should give them the opportunity to speak.”

Verbal confrontations again broke out Tuesday between Frogue supporters and detractors. Nine campus security officers were stationed in the crowd.

Frogue said in his statement that he does not share the views of those who support him. He said he has been targeted by “political agitators” both because of the Kennedy seminar and because of his support for drastic administrative restructuring at Irvine Valley College and Saddleback College.

He said that if the recall campaign leads to a vote, the cost to taxpayers would be up to $750,00.

“I urge the public to reject this smear and recall campaign,” he said.