Former political science professor Donald Douglas was arrested Thursday after using a hammer to smash the car of a political science and history co-department head while wearing a ski mask, according to a Canvas message obtained by the Viking.
The message said Douglas threatened multiple professors, including the family of the message’s author, history professor Sean Dinces.
According to Dinces, Douglas has been harassing multiple of his former colleagues in the history, political science and ethnic studies department for several months.
The harassment began in June, around the same time Douglas entered retirement, but escalated in the past two weeks, with Douglas also threatening to harm Dinces’ parents.
As of Tuesday, Douglas is still in jail.
Dinces has an individual temporary restraining order against Douglas, which covers both the Liberal Arts and Trade Tech and Community Learning campuses regardless of Dinces’ active presence on either campus.
Douglas will go to court some time in November to dictate whether the order becomes permanent, Dinces said.
Dinces said he wanted to take the utmost caution until the incident comes to a conclusion.
The message also outlined LBCC’s response to this incident, including increased security patrols around the T Building, where the history department is mainly located.
“The college’s response has been both professional and proactive, in particular the campus police have treated it with the necessary urgency,” Dinces said.
According to Dinces, other professors have active restraining orders against Douglas, but he declined to give the name of those individuals.
“It is a credit to campus police that he was only able to do a minimal amount of damage to the faculty member’s car,” Dinces said.
When asked for an interview, the co-department head involved declined to comment via their secretary and requested their name not be printed in the Viking for fear of them and their family’s safety.
According to an email sent to faculty, Douglas was already prohibited from stepping foot on either campus due to previous harassment, and was served a restraining order the same day as his arrest.
The email also states that Douglas was expected to be arraigned and released on Monday, but he is still being held at an inmate reception center as of Tuesday, according to the LA Sheriff’s Department Inmate Information Center website.
When the college was asked for comment, spokeswoman Stacey Toda reached out to the Viking via email.
“As a matter of policy, LBCC does not discuss ongoing personnel issues. We have partnered with LBPD to enhance measures to ensure the safety of our campus community, which is our top priority,” Toda wrote.
The History, Political Science and Ethnic Studies Department offices doors were locked today, and will remain locked until further notice as an extra safety precaution.