A union president at City College of San Francisco who was recorded calling a Jewish instructor a “colonizer” and mocking her last name in an expletive-laden rant at a trustees meeting last spring violated campus policies against harassment and discrimination, an independent investigator hired by the school has found.

Neither lawyers for computer science instructor Abigail Bornstein nor the college released the eight-page report.

But Bornstein’s lawyers emailed the Chronicle the report’s findings, which concluded that Maria Salazar Colon, president of the Service Employees International Union Local 1021 on campus, “verbally assaulted” Bornstein because she was Jewish, and that it was “reasonable” for Bornstein to “perceive Salazar Colon’s communications as threatening or frightening.”

“I’m very pleased that the independent investigation found in my favor and confirmed what I experienced,” said Bornstein, who has not returned to campus and has been teaching remotely since the incident on May 29. “At the same time, it is deeply upsetting to have been the target of an antisemitic verbal attack in a professional setting.”

The investigation found that Salazar Colon’s conduct violated the school’s anti-discrimination and harassment policies, as well as its workplace violence policy. The findings became final Tuesday, 45 days after the Board of Trustees took no action on an appeal filed Feb. 5 by Salazar Colon.

 

Asked to comment for this article, Salazar Colon emailed: “NO COMMENT!  I have boundaries, privacy and safety concerns!” She added, “DO NOT EVER CONTACT ME AGAIN.”

In addition to her duties as union president, Salazar Colon works in the City College Office of Student Conduct and Discipline, according to the college website, which lists among its goals mitigating “aggressive, excessive anger, or disruptive behavior” among students.

The incident occurred at the May 29 trustees meeting when Salazar-Colon phoned in and began insulting Bornstein, who had used her two-minute public comment time to oppose a budget item backed by the union. 

“I really wish that that colonizer, Abigail Dumbstein, would shut her damn mouth and not speak on SEIU items,” Salazar-Colon said, adding that the instructor was “dumber than a bag of rocks” and should “shut the f— up. … I’m sick of her s—. Shut the f— up.”

Trustee Aliya Chisti interjected, telling then-board President Anita Martinez: “We need to make sure that we’re mindful of the comments that are being made.”

But Salazar-Colon was allowed to go on, speaking aggressively against Bornstein for 90 seconds around hour seven of the meeting.

Bornstein told the Chronicle at the time that she was concerned for her safety and had lost sleep after the incident. She said she filed a police report not only about the verbal attack at the meeting, but also about a follow-up email from Salazar Colon that said in capital letters: “YOU LACK THE POWER TO STOP OR CONTROL SEIU, AND YOU NEVER WILL! ACCEPT THAT, COLONIZER!”

The investigation found that “the term ‘colonizer’ is offensive to Jewish people because it (1) holds all Jewish people accountable for the actions of the state of Israel; and (2) implies Jewish people have no right to exist in a specific area,” according to the findings reviewed by the Chronicle.

The report, addressed specifically to Bornstein, who filed the complaint, found that “Salazar Colon’s conduct and statements toward you were based on your Jewish identity.”

City College Chancellor Kimberlee Messina and Chisti, now president of the Board of Trustees, said they could not comment on “specific personnel matters.”

“We assure you that the college follows a well-established, industry standard process for responding to complaints,” they said in a statement.

It is unclear what discipline, if any, Salazar Colon may experience as a result of the finding.

Although Bornstein never took the matter to court, she relied on a team of lawyers from StandWithUs, a nonprofit group in Los Angeles that provides free legal services to students and employees facing antisemitism, and the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, a nonprofit that fights antisemitism in higher education and employment.

Attorney Deedee Bitran of StandWithUs said she hears about twice a week from Jewish employees around the country who are victims of antisemitism harassment and are often too worried about losing their job to make a formal complaint. As examples, she said she was contacted by a waitress who was being called “Anne Frank,” and others whose colleagues call them “genocidal” or “baby killers,” in reference to the war between Israel and Hamas.

Bitran called the City College report “huge” and “persuasive” because it could encourage more people to come forward.

“What is unique about Professor Bornstein’s case is that this occurred in such a public setting,” Bitran said. “It was recorded. It received press coverage. And a lot of employees were closely watching this case to see how it shook out.”

“I am so grateful that the college took the complaint seriously and engaged an independent investigator,” she said.

Bornstein said she has mixed emotions about the entire ordeal.

“There is more work to be done” to strengthen and enforce policies and training against such harassment, she said, noting that the trustees have never made “any public statement specifically addressing the antisemitic language that was directed at me.”