In a letter to faculty, Calhoun details hardship, shoddy treatment.

Dr. Brian Calhoun, education instructor at Fresno City College, has been fired. The Rampage learned from a letter that Calhoun sent to various members of faculty this week, that the 69-year-old professor was fired around May 8.

In the letter titled “It Has Been a Pleasure,” Calhoun described his life since the altercation with a 19-year-old female student as “a difficult period.” He wrote that the incident has imposed financial strains.

“Being fired means, of course, no salary or benefits,” he stated. “Also, I cannot collect my pension while in a lengthy arbitration process.”

Calhoun explained that the purpose of his letter is to update faculty on his situation, “since school is now beginning and you may have some questions as to what has happened to Brian.”

Calhoun’s termination stems from an incident in which Calhoun allegedly attacked Kevynn Gomez in the Old Administration Building on March 22. He was put on administrative leave before the end of Spring Break.

Calhoun is said to have disrupted a midterm examination and told everyone, including the class’ substitute teacher, to get out. Gomez said that as she passed Calhoun after she’d turned in her unfinished midterm, she said, “Piss off a–hole,” and proceeded to walk into the hallway. Calhoun apparently followed her.

“I turned around, and he was coming at me, and then he grabbed me and pinned me against the wall,” Gomez said.

Gomez said she shouted at Calhoun to release her but he yelled at her, saying, “Who do you think you are?” and “You can’t say that to me.”

Gomez claimed it was then that Calhoun tried to forcefully drag her back into the classroom while she struggled to get away from him.

“I got one of my hands free and I started hitting him,” Gomez said. She said she wanted to free herself from him.

She said nothing worked and things escalated. Several eyewitnesses told SCCCD police that Calhoun lifted Gomez up and threw her onto the floor.

In the police report taken by Officer Brian Williams of the SCCCD Police Department, Calhoun claims that Gomez used much harsher language.

Calhoun’s statement in the police report says that “she used ‘f–k you and bi–h’ several times.”

Whereas Gomez claims that Calhoun roughly pushed her up against a wall and pinned her there, Calhoun’s statement claims that things weren’t violent until Gomez attacked him.

According to the police report, Calhoun explained that “he grabbed Gomez’s arm; he asked her what her name was … [Calhoun] wanted her name so he could write a disruptive student report on her,” the police report continued saying that “Gomez went crazy and began to assault [Calhoun] … Gomez punched [Calhoun] in the face three times before he could defend himself from her attack.”

Calhoun explained that his conduct was not as belligerent as Gomez claimed.

“The student in question made a ‘citizen’s arrest’ and I was charged with misdemeanor battery, simply touching someone that does not want to be touched,” Calhoun said in his letter. “I was trying to obtain her name to report to authorities.”

Gomez’s and Calhoun’s versions of events differ greatly, and several eye witnesses have supported Gomez’s version of events.

Cori Murphey, 19, said she was waiting in the hallway for her 11 a.m. class with Calhoun to begin on March 22.

“[Gomez] came out and called him an a–hole as she was walking out, and [Calhoun] came out after her and asked what her name was,” Murphey said. “She didn’t give him an answer, so he pinned her against the wall.”

Murphey re-enacted Calhoun’s conduct, and demonstrated Calhoun holding Gomez against the wall and pinning her with his forearm on the top of her chest.

“[Calhoun] kept asking for her name and then he grabbed [Gomez] by the wrist and tried to pull her inside the classroom,” Murphey said. “[Gomez] kept telling [Calhoun] to let go and to stop touching her, and he didn’t [stop].”

That’s when Murphey said Gomez “started swinging” at Calhoun. Then Calhoun “picked [Gomez] up and threw her on the floor.”

Along with Murphey, there were several other witnesses that confirmed that version, as well as the police report that had a half-dozen other witnesses that concurred.

“I felt wronged and chose a jury trial that will take place in September,” Calhoun states in his letter.

Although the trial date for Calhoun’s misdemeanor-battery charge is set for Sept. 25, it seems that neither FCC nor the State Center Community College District wanted to wait for the verdict to proceed.

“It took FCC and SCCCD only 47 days to fire me, probably a record for a tenured instructor,” Calhoun said in the letter.

Calhoun’s education classes will now be taught by several different instructors: Charmaine Fitzgerald, Edwardo Valero, K. Kaiser Clarey and Sean Henderson, the director of Student Activities.

“I am truly excited for the opportunity to teach and look forward to teaching a full semester,” Henderson said.  “Last term, I was able fill in after Spring Break and found myself wishing I was with the students for the whole semester.  Now I have a chance to teach the course from the first week.”

No witnesses or faculty members have come forward openly to support Calhoun.

“Other than a mandatory pro-forma hearing with Tony Cantu and meeting in closed session with the board of trustees, I had no support from FCC or SCCCD,” Calhoun said in his letter. “My filing of a formal complaint against the student under SCCCD Board Policy 5500, (Student Conduct and Discipline) for her swearing at me, disrupting the class, punching me in the face numerous times, breaking my glasses and knocking out a tooth has been ignored.”

FCC President Tony Cantu offered no comment on the matter, citing it as a “personnel issue.”

Dr. Calhoun said that he had no official comment to give, but said to contact his attorneys.

The Rampage has reached out to Calhoun’s attorneys but they have yet to provide additional comments on the matter.

It’s clear, however, from his letter that Calhoun remains hopeful that he will be vindicated.

“I hope to return to the classroom in the near future. My student evaluations over almost two decades of teaching at FCC and 15 years at community colleges in Illinois and Wisconsin are exemplary. I miss my students and they miss me.”