SBCC Professor Dismissed After Violating Settlement Agreement

A tenured Santa Barbara City College astronomy professor who allegedly drank alcohol and had a sexual relationship with a student in 2019 has been formally dismissed from the college after violating a related settlement agreement.

Erin O’Connor was first hired as an adjunct professor in 1989 and became a full-time faculty member in the Earth and Planetary Sciences (EPS) department in 2009. He was generally liked by students and known for his quirky, unconventional teaching style that included wigs and other props.

Court documents show that, in 2019, a 19-year-old female student filed a police report alleging O’Connor had invited her into his residence, given her alcohol, and initiated sexual contact. The student reported that the contact was consensual. O’Connor was cited by police for providing alcohol to an underage person.

“Last year, I had a brief relationship with an adult student, who was formerly in one of my courses at the college,” O’Connor told the Independent in 2020. “A third party filed a complaint, and while the student confirmed during the investigation that our relationship was consensual, I nevertheless regret that decision and have accepted consequences from the district for entering into this relationship.”

SBCC launched a Title IX investigation that included interviews with several faculty and staff, and ultimately concluded that O’Connor’s conduct did not constitute a violation of federal Title IX statutes.

However, a separate investigation launched by SBCC’s Department of Human Resources into potential violations of employee conduct policies concluded that O’Connor’s actions were “damaging to [SBCC] and its students and raise serious concerns about whether he should be teaching students.” Despite this finding, the parties entered into an administrative settlement agreement and the matter was resolved.

The episode helped inspire the college to pursue a new policy in 2020 that prohibits faculty or other employees from engaging or seeking to engage in a sexual relationship with a student. It also prohibits faculty from participating in illegal drug or alcohol use in the presence of a student.

In the settlement agreement, O’Connor acknowledged his conduct was “inappropriate” and promised to refrain from such behavior in the future. He also agreed to 40 hours of personal counseling and to not fraternize with persons under the age of 40 enrolled in any SBCC courses. 

He also pledged not to retaliate against any party, including students and staff, involved in the investigations, nor disparage or harm the school. Any breach of the settlement agreement would subject him “to formal discipline up to and including dismissal,” according to court documents.

O’Connor subsequently returned to his faculty position in 2021 and taught remotely. He was not allowed to participate in any department field trips because of his “disruptive and inappropriate behavior” during past field courses, including allegedly sleeping through lectures, keeping students up late to stargaze and, in a group setting, holding up a bra turned into the lost and found and making jokes about it.

But according to a decision filed by the state’s Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH), O’Connor ― who returned to in-person teaching in 2022 ― harbored resentment over the Title IX investigation and did not accept his denial from participating in field courses.

The decision details an incident in January 2023 in which two professors in the school’s EPS department who led geology field courses – including five-day field trips to the Eastern Sierra and Death Valley — reported that O’Connor was “harassing them about participating in geology field courses and retaliating against them for their participation in the Title IX investigation.”

Another investigation was launched that concluded with the school serving O’Connor a preliminary notice of intended dismissal. The following month, the board of trustees and superintendent upheld O’Connor’s dismissal, after which he filed his own complaint against the board and the school, alleging his firing and actions related to it were forms of retaliation.

O’Connor insisted his communications and interactions with his colleagues were “collegial and professional” and that his discussions of the 2019 incident were to “merely reintegrate with his colleagues upon his return, correct misconceptions about him, and successfully rejoin his department.” But those assertions were not persuasive, according to the OAH decision. O’Connor did not respond to the Independent’s request for comment.

“The settlement agreement provided the respondent a second chance to redeem himself and integrate back into the EPS Department,” the decision states. “Respondent, however, squandered that opportunity and instead engaged in a pattern of self-serving conduct that caused distraction and disruption and set a litigious tone in the EPS department.” 

O’Connor’s causes for dismissal included dishonesty, evident unfitness for service, and persistent violation of school rules and regulations. He possessed a “non-remediable temperamental defect” and was “fixated on his own self-interests,” the decision states. He created a “toxic environment” for his colleagues, resulting in “stress, discomfort, and fear” in their workplace.

“He demonstrates a lack of insight into his self-serving behavior that is incapable of correction,” the decision concludes. “He has proven himself incapable of taking responsibility for his past conduct and letting go of his issues with the Title IX investigation and his demand to teach Geology field courses.”

O’Connor was formally dismissed in May and will not be returning to SBCC in the fall.