The college professor who told an Asian-American couple to ‘go back to your home country’ has been placed on leave from her college.
Tarin Olson, a teacher with the Coast Community College District, was placed on two weeks leave while an internal investigation is underway.
‘This is not being taken lightly,’ said CCCD spokeswoman Letitia Clark to CBS Los Angeles.
Tarin Olson, 58, is a professor and counselor at Golden West College in Huntington Beach
Olson was a career planning teacher at Golden West College in Huntington Beach, California, and had been with the school since 1991.
Tony Kao, a Long Beach resident, posted a video of the ‘bigot and a racist’ teacher he encountered while on a walk with his wife and baby in their neighborhood on March 1.
He said the comment was ‘completely unproved’ and that she said it ‘very nonchalantly’ as she was passing them on the sidewalk.
She was filmed telling an Tony Kao and his wife that they should ‘go back to your home country’ last week while they were walking in Long Beach, Califonia
She was placed on leave for two weeks by her college while they conduct an investigation into the incident
‘A few weeks back we believed we walked pass the same lady and also heard her mumble something to that effect but ignored it and thought we misheard but this time as she walked away, I yelled to her, ‘WHAT YOU SAY?’
‘Not only did she walk away confirming what she had said, she walked back our way to head home and the video footage explains the rest,’ Kao wrote.
The video shows Kao and the woman engaged in conversation, right before she realizes that his wife is recording them.
When she notices the camera, she starts speed-walking away.
Kao (pictured above) informed the woman that both he and his wife were born and raised in the U.S.
Olson, right, refused to talk to reporters on camera when they knocked on her door
‘I want you to tell everybody why you told us to go back to our country,’ Kao says in the video.
‘You need to go back to your country,’ the woman replies.
‘And what does that mean?’ Kao says, adding that both he and his wife were born and raised in America.
‘Have your wife turn your phone off and I’ll talk to you,’ she says.
After the video was posted online, it quickly went viral, and as of Monday afternoon had been watched more than 522,000 times.
Over the weekend, commenters identified the woman in the video as 58-year-old Tarin Frances Olson, who is a professor and counselor at Golden West College in Huntington Beach.
Olson later issued a statement to one news station, saying she would be happy to sit down for an interview about ‘the displacement of European-Americans’
School administrators became aware of the video on Saturday, and said they are looking into the matter.
Olson volunteered not to come to classes this week while they evaluate the situation.
‘We’re very aware the community has deep concerns, and we’re not going to let this die,’ school spokeswoman Letitia Clark said. ‘We’re looking at past interactions with students and staff to see if it relates to the comments made on the video.’
Clark says Olson has taught at the school since 1991. She is currently teaching four career-planning classes.
Reporters with KCBS-TV/2 knocked on Olson’s door when the video started gaining traction, but she refused to do an on-camera interview at the time.
She later issued this bizarre statement to the station however: ‘I feel my perspective will be twisted if discussing the skewed video which cut out part of the incident. 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 College officials said they are aware of the video and are investigating the matter
In another comment to the Daily Pilot, Olson said she was ‘not in a good place emotionally after receiving so many disgusting emails…for something that wasn’t even racist and was then skewed by a guy named Tony who filmed me without my permission.’
She said Kao edited out part of the video in which he asked her why she ‘hated him so much,’ and she responded that she did not hate him.
On Sunday, Kao posted an update on his Facebook page, thanking everyone who had expressed their support after the incident. He said he was never trying to harm the woman’s reputation.
‘We have no intention of seeking out or besmirching the offender’s personal life or career,’ Kao wrote. ‘It is our hope the offender is aware and apologetic for what she has said to us, but all we can do is hope.’