Orange County College Investigates Professor's Racist Taunts

LOS ALAMITOS, CA – A professor may now faces disciplinary action after Golden West College caught wind of her racist taunt to a couple taking a walk with their newborn. The teacher, who was outed after video of the incident went viral on social media, doesn't deny telling the young Long Beach couple to "go back to their home country," according to Letitia Clark, a spokeswoman for the Coast Community College District, which operates Golden West.

Officials at the college say they are looking into whether the professor's comments violated the school's policies. If they do, the professor's remarks could result in some type of punishment, Clark told the Long Beach Press-Telegram. The professor in the video, Tarin Olson, has been in contact with her supervisor at Golden West, according to Clark.

“I feel my perspective will be twisted if discussing the skewed video which cut out part of the incident,” Olson responded to CBS Los Angeles Sunday. "If you would like to have a full normal interview about the displacement of European-Americans then I gladly am available to enlighten the public.”

Golden West wants to make their students and alumni feel proud, and this doesn't make them feel proud, Clark said. School administrators learned about the video on Saturday, Clark said, almost two days after a Long Beach man named Tony Kao posted it on Facebook.

"We encountered a bigot and a racist today in our neighborhood in Long Beach," Kao's post says.

The woman walked by them casually told him and his wife to "go back to your country," before the couple started recording, according to Kao's post. Once he began recording, the woman objects to the filming and starts walking away.

"I want you to tell everybody why you told us to 'go back to our country,'" Kao said.

"You need to go back to your home country," she replied.

"And what's that mean?" Kao said.

People commenting on the video began identifying the woman as a counseling professor at the Huntington Beach college, according to the Long Beach Press Telegram.

In a follow-up post, Kao encouraged others to speak up if they experience racism, but asked them not to use his post to get angry or hateful, the newspaper reported.

"We have NO intention of seeking out or besmirching the offender's personal life or career," Kao said in the post. "It is our hope the offender is aware and apologetic for what she has said to us, but all we can do is hope. Although my post was about something negative, the message we want to convey is POSITIVE and that is to be respectful to one another no matter of what race, creed, or color."

City News Service contributed to this post; Image via Youtube screengrab