A California-based history professor, who was investigated for "serious misconduct" after handing out chocolate bars with pronouns on the packaging, remains suspended and is unsure when he will return to a classroom.
At an April 29 open house, Madera Community College tenured history professor David Richardson, who is a self-described gay conservative, was placed on administrative leave after offering attendees She/Her and He/Him chocolate bars from conservative media outlet Daily Wire’s brand Jeremy’s Chocolates
Richardson, who is still on leave, said he is "utterly confused" about his situation and is unsure if he will return to his classroom when class resumes in August.
“There’s no way for me to prepare for classes unless I have access to the work computer," Richardson, who is locked out of his school accounts and currently barred from returning to campus during his suspension, told The College Fix. "I’m in a very weird nether world right now where I don’t know what’s happening."
The history professor said he recently received results from his tenure evaluation, which was performed shortly before his late-April suspension. Richardson said the results recommended he remain tenured with the college, adding "It makes me think I’m going back."
"But I haven’t gotten the official word," he added.
“For the first twenty-plus years of my career, the idea of firing, or filing a complaint and then suspending faculty, was virtually unheard of,” Richardson said. “It’s going to be a battleground, I guess. And we’re going to have to see where everything goes with all of this."
According to Richardson's investigation, the history professor created a "hostile working environment" along with reportedly harassing and discriminating against colleagues "based on gender."
Richardson was informed of his investigation after a letter from the college's human resources center was reportedly delivered by a uniformed police officer. The history professor was previously under investigation regarding an October 2021 “pronoun etiquette” seminar held by a transgender-identifying chemistry professor. The history professor was reportedly seeking legal recourse against the State Center Community College District (SCCCD) in California regarding the previous investigation, Just the News reported. According to Richardson’s initial lawsuit against SCCCD, the history professor was reportedly found guilty of “unprofessional conduct” during a Zoom call for using pronouns “Do, Re, Mi” on a thumbnail used to mark gender identity. The incorporation of pronouns mandated an “irrational perception of reality,” the suit says.
"Both incidents are related in that they concern pronouns-transgender-free speech issues," Richardson said. "But why they went to the extreme of suspension just two weeks before the end of the semester, panicking the students and throwing the campus into chaos, I couldn’t guess. Why not just wait two weeks?”
"They’re culling the herd,” Richardson said of other conservative professors who have similarly been fired or have filed investigations into their respective colleges citing violations of Constitutional rights in the Golden State. “If you don’t support DEI and CRT and even the transgender ideology, you’ll be ‘taken to the slaughterhouse.'"
"It seems like more and more of us are being led to the slaughterhouse than I’ve ever seen."
