Trustee Accused of Ethnic Insensitivity

MISSION VIEJO — Controversy flared again Tuesday at a board meeting of the South Orange County Community College District, as critics of Trustee Steven J. Frogue accused him of ethnic insensitivity.

About 70 people packed a room at Saddleback College, many of them anti-Frogue partisans who support a proposed recall of the longtime history teacher at Foothill High School in north Tustin.

Pamela Suzanne Brown-Bustamante, describing herself as a former Frogue student, said she was collecting written statements from other students complaining about Frogue.

She said Frogue told her one day that he would not discuss the Holocaust during a world culture class “because it was too controversial of a subject, and he questioned its validity and significance.”

Frogue denied the allegations. “These things are simply not true,” he said.

Frogue did not respond when James Scott of Tustin told him to “Keep up the good work, Dr. Frogue. There never was a Holocaust.”

In the past, Frogue has denied that he is insensitive to Jews and has called the Holocaust a major tragedy in world history.

Six million dead is the widely accepted toll of the Nazi-led drive to exterminate Jews during World War II.

The campaign to recall Frogue is in the signature-gathering stage. Frogue could be a formidable opponent.

In the 1996 board election, he was the top vote-getter.