COSTA MESA – An Orange Coast College student who faces a suspension for secretly filming a teacher in class making anti-Donald Trump comments filed an appeal Wednesday with the school.

Flanked by his attorney and students who came out in support, Caleb O’Neil, 19, spoke publicly about his experience for the first time during a news conference at the Costa Mesa college.

Update: OCC student gets support from across the country

“I pulled my phone out, because I was honestly scared that I would have repercussions with my grades because she knew I was a Trump supporter,” said O’Neil, a freshman who often wore pro-Trump attire to school.

“I thought Olga was a good teacher,” O’Neil said of instructor Olga Perez Stable Cox.

But when she began speaking, one week after the election of Donald Trump, of a divided nation and cast the election as an assault, he said he felt threatened.

School officials say O’Neil violated the Orange Coast College Community District’s Student Code of Conduct against unauthorized recording and use of an electronic device in the classroom.

O’Neil is suspended for a full semester and the summer term. Before being readmitted, he must write a letter of apology to Cox and a three-page, double-spaced essay explaining his actions and provide his analysis of the aftermath.

The sanctions are “excessive and discriminatory,” said Bill Becker, O’Neil’s attorney and the president of Freedom X, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving religious and conservative freedom of expression.

O’Neil, 19, is a competitive rower and said chose Orange Coast College so he could join its male varsity rowing team. He is attending classes during the appeal.

Orange County Republican Chairman Fred M. Whitaker on Wednesday called the college officials’ decision “abhorrent” and said it “clearly affirms their disdain for one of our nation’s most cherished freedoms: freedom of speech.”

Last December, Whitaker and nine California elected leaders – including Sen. Janet Nguyen and Sen. John Moorlach – sent a letter to the college’s president, Dennis Harkins, discouraging disciplinary action, which would send “a disturbing message that students who don’t fall in line are at risk of administrative retribution.”

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