A union president at the City College of San Francisco “verbally assaulted” a Jewish computer science instructor during her expletive-laden rant at a board of trustees meeting last May, an independent investigation concluded on Tuesday.
The report stated that Maria Salazar-Colon, president of the campus chapter of the Service Employees International Union Local 1021, violated harassment and workplace violence policies, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
“I’m very pleased that the independent investigation found in my favor and confirmed what I experienced,” the instructor, Abigail Bornstein, told the Chronicle. “At the same time, it is deeply upsetting to have been the target of an antisemitic verbal attack in a professional setting.”
During that trustees meeting, Bornstein testified during the public comment portion against a proposal by the SEIU to reopen contract negotiations and have the college pay 14% raises, because the faculty union had also secured that raise.
Pay shouldn’t be based on a “if they get that, I get this”-type mentality, she had explained.
A few minutes later, Salazar-Colon used her allotted portion of public comment to trash on Bornstein.
“I really wish that that colonizer, Abigail Dumbstein, would shut her damn mouth and not speak on SEIU items,” Salazar-Colon said. She called Bornstein “dumber than rocks.”
Bornstein said she also got a follow-up email later from Salazar-Colon, who wrote, “YOU LACK THE POWER TO STOP OR CONTROL SEIU, AND YOU NEVER WILL! ACCEPT THAT, COLONIZER!”
The independent investigation noted that use of the term “colonizer” is offensive to Jewish people because it holds them accountable for the Israeli government’s actions and “implies Jewish people have no right to exist in a specific area.”
Both the union president and board of trustees declined to comment to the Chronicle, and it remains unclear if there will be any discipline.
Bornstein hasn’t returned to campus and has been teaching remotely since the incident, the Chronicle reported.
