Trustees Plan to Appeal Decision on Professor

Trustees for the South Orange County Community College District voted late Monday to appeal a recent court ruling favorable to a professor who has used satirical newsletters to criticize administrators.

The board voted 4 to 3 to appeal the October ruling, which found that disciplinary actions against Irvine Valley College philosophy professor Roy Bauer were unconstitutional because they violated his free speech rights.

“The district feels strongly that it has a case, and that the case should be heard,” Chancellor Cedric Sampson said.

Bauer was subjected to disciplinary actions in December and ordered to seek anger management counseling. Without warning Bauer, Sampson had placed a disciplinary letter in the professor’s personnel file, claiming that Bauer’s newsletters contained “verbal threats and violent behavior overtones” and were in violation of district policies.

U.S. District Court Judge Gary Allen Feess said the discipline leveled against Bauer was unconstitutional.

District officials, however, believe that “it is in the best interests of the students and staff that we get clarification of our workplace violence policy,” Sampson said. “We believe it’s a valid policy, and we think it needs to be tested at the Ninth Circuit [Court of Appeals.]”

Trustees Dave Lang, Marcia Milchiker and Don Wagner voted against the appeal. “In my view, we’re just wasting taxpayers’ money by pursuing this,” Lang said.

David Larsen, a Costa Mesa attorney handling the case for the district, said he will file for appeal within the next week.

Last month’s ruling was Bauer’s third legal victory against the district. He prevailed in two previous lawsuits in which he accused the district of violating the Brown Act, which governs secret meetings by government bodies. Those cases are also on appeal, Sampson said.