FULLERTON – A Cal State Fullerton instructor has been suspended for allegedly striking a student during a rally against President Donald Trump’s policies and a counter-protest on campus.

Following an internal investigation, university officials said in a statement this week that “a campus employee struck a student, and that as a consequence, the speech of the student group was stopped.”

University officials called the incident “profoundly troubling. … Responding with violence to speech we disagree with cannot and will not be tolerated.”

The instructor, Eric Canin, an anthropology lecturer in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, could not be reached for comment.

Union representatives said Canin “categorically denies having struck anybody and asserts that he has always been and always will be committed to nonviolence,” wrote Michele Barr and Tyler McMillen of the California Faculty Association’s Fullerton chapter in an e-mail to the Register.

“Dr. Canin was, in fact, the victim of harassment by a crowd carrying signs with racist messages clearly attempting to provoke a confrontation,” said the chapter, which represents Cal State Fullerton instructors.

Canin is appealing the suspension, Barr said.

During a Feb. 8 rally on campus against Trump’s policies, the College Republicans, a student group, staged a counter-protest by marching behind the larger group.

The instructor, with the students protesting Trump, walked toward the conservative students and started yelling at them, said Scott Willey, a campus police spokesman.

As the instructor walked backward, he tripped over a bike rack, and students “started laughing at him,” Willey said. “He became enraged. He started to launch at them, going for one of their signs.”

Chris Boyle, president of Cal State Fullerton’s College Republicans, said Canin accused them of “being trolls” and attempted to grab their signs and shoved a student. Boyle said he briefly held Canin on a citizen’s arrest until campus police arrived.

Campus police said the case has been forwarded to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, which will decide whether to file a misdemeanor assault charge.