COSTA MESA – In a video clip recorded by a student, a psychology instructor at Orange Coast College told her class that the election of Donald Trump was “an act of terrorism” – prompting an official complaint from the school’s Republican Club.

Olga Perez Stable Cox told students in her popular human sexuality class shortly after the election: “We have been assaulted.”

“One of the most frightening things for me, and most people in my life, is that the people who are leading the assault are among us,” said the instructor who is in her 30th year at the college. “It is not some stranger from some other country coming in and attacking our sense of what it means to be an American and the things that we stand for. And that makes it more painful. …

“We are way beyond Republicans and Democrats, and we’re really back to being (in) a civil war – and I don’t mean it in a fighting way, but our nation is divided as clearly as it was in Civil War times,” she told the students. “And my hope is that we will get some good leadership to help us to overcome that.”

On Monday, the Republican Club posted the video on its Facebook page. Cox’s remarks then were distributed via Facebook and other social media.

She did not return messages for comment on Thursday.

The union that represents Cox defended her and said any students involved in the recording violated school and state codes and could be punished. Meanwhile, some Orange Coast College students and their supporters called it a blatant example of liberal bias on American campuses.

“She’s using her power as a teacher who gives grades, with a captive audience, to basically scare and shame students,” said attorney Shawn Steel, who on behalf of the school’s College Republicans filed a complaint with Orange Coast College on Nov. 30.

“It’s alarming. It’s scare-mongering. It’s irrational. It’s a rant. And it doesn’t belong in the classroom,” said Steel, a past chairman of the California Republican Party.

The student who videotaped the instructor, he added, was “well within his or her First Amendment rights.”

Steel wants the instructor to apologize to her students and take an anger-management class, and for a dean to send out a letter to the faculty saying it needs to treat students with respect.

But Rob Schneiderman, president of the Coast Federation of Educators, AFT 1911, which represents the school’s faculty, sees it differently.

“This faculty member is known for her open and engaging ways in class, open to all sides of the issues,” he said. “It’s unfortunate that this student chose to not engage in an open dialogue, which she encourages.”

Orange Coast College President Dennis Harkins said Thursday that the school is investigating Steel’s complaint, and will look into the context of the instructor’s comments and whether it was in response to a question or an issue raised in class. Also, the school is looking into the student’s secret taping.

“Orange Coast College supports the respectful discussion or discourse of ideas and opinions that exist between students, faculty and staff or the community,” Harkins said. “One of the real purposes of the college experience is to share and interact with people who have different opinions on complex issues.”

Joshua Recalde-Martinez, president of the school’s College Republicans, called Cox’s comments an example of “leftist indoctrination in the classroom. … We heard many stories at OCC. We had an instructor the day after the election cancel his class. He was sobbing in the classsroom. …

“Our goal in sharing that video is to protect the students and their rights,” he said. “OCC is supposed to be a school of diversity, equity and inclusitivity, and her comments do not allow for that.”

Juan Gutierrez, Orange Coast College’s spokesman, said there may be an upside to all this:

“We’re looking at it, in the long run, as a teaching moment.”

Contact the writer: rkopetman@scng.com and Twitter@roxanakopetman