KENNETH HEARLSON: My job is not here — for you to like me. You don't have to like me. I'm not here to gain friends. My job is to make you think.

HA TRAN, STUDENT: In the first day of class he said that I will offend you guys. This is a political science class and I will offend you guys.

HEARLSON: I tell 'em exactly who I am. I'm for — number one, I believe in my god, and that God is Jesus. I love my family, I love my wife. That I believe in my country. and I believe in traditional values.

BILL MOYERS: Hearlson is an ex-Marine, a one-time farmer and day laborer who became a college administrator. Eighteen years ago he became a professor at Orange Coast College. Along the way, he also became a born-again Christian.

HEARLSON: I may mention God in terms of traditional values, and even Scripture out of the Old Testament on Ten Commandments, and stuff. But I — I'm not out there to convert anybody. It's not my job. God will take care of all that.

PROFESSOR SUSAN SMITH: As a human being, he's gone through an epiphany in that he used to be the advisor for the gay/lesbian club on campus. Now, he's a conservative Christian. Um, I think it's that metamorphosis that's a little surprising to people but he's always been ... Been passionate.

BILL MOYERS: Hearlson's strong opinions often lead to disagreements, even debates, with students of differing backgrounds.

HEARLSON: Even many liberal students will say, "I didn't like that class — I didn't like your values, I don't like the way you put things out there," he said, "but I learned so much, because you gave us an opportunity to just have free speech. We could speak of anything in this class, and there was no one could jump on us. Because you were always there to say, 'Look, they have the right to speak, just like I have the right to speak. '"

BILL MOYERS: That's the way it went, apparently, until the terrorist attacks on September 11th.

HEARLSON: My students were clamoring to understand why, why, why? What did we do so bad in America that would make people do this to us?

BILL MOYERS: Hours after the attacks, Hearlson showed his political science class part of a PBS documentary, THE SWORD OF ISLAM.

EXCERPT FROM SWORD OF ISLAM: 600 years after the Crusades, Muslim extremists are at war with the West.

BILL MOYERS: The film, produced in 1987 by Britain's Granada TV, examined the roots of Islamic terrorism.

HEARLSON: Lots of clerics in there preaching hate against the United States, preaching hate against — Israel, "we will take Jerusalem back," et cetera. It was a great film. I don't have any regrets showing the film.

EXCERPT FROM SWORD OF ISLAM: These people are the Shia Muslims of Lebanon.

BILL MOYERS: Some Muslim students were taken aback by the film, but their response was muted until a week later when Hearlson continued lecturing on terrorism. He spoke out in defense of Israel and scolded Arabs for not condemning terrorism. Tempers flared, as this excerpt from an audiotape of the class reveals.

HEARLSON ON AUDIO TAPE: I do not see the Arab world standing up and saying this is wrong what's happening to Israel. We should not let those people terrorize Israel. We should not let them suicide bomb Israel. We should - I have never seen it. You bring a paper to me, I will believe you. Otherwise, I will not believe you.

BILL MOYERS: When Muslim students protested, Hearlson, speaking about the 1967 Six-Day War, seemed to get personal.

HEARLSON ON AUDIO TAPE: You know exactly what I'm talking about: the Six-Day War. And what did the Israelis do? They only had 300,000 people. They kicked the Arabs' butts. That's a fact. And what did you do? You came back and attacked, and attacked them again in 1973 on Yom Kippur. One of the holiest days in Israel, the Arab nations attacked them again.

ABRAHAM APPEL, STUDENT: He was very, "you this... you this." You know, why did you do terrorism towards Palestine? That's not something you ever say to somebody, especially in such a time…

HEARLSON: I've been teaching on terrorism for some years. Many Muslim students over the years — I've had great debates with Muslim students. Nothing anything like this, nothing. It was always looked at— they— they respected my right to teach, I respected a right to counter argument on it.

BRIAN SCHEELE, STUDENT: He said something about how the Muslim countries in the world should stand up and say, or denounce ... The terrorist activities by Osama bin Laden and ... They got offended by that and they went to the administration.

BILL MOYERS: Four Muslim students complained to the dean. One filed a written protest. Among her accusations, she said Hearlson:

"— pointed and called a male Muslim student a terrorist and said he bombed the World Trade Center.

"— said that Muslims and Arabs should not be shown mercy because they do not side with Israel.

"— pointed at a female Muslim student and said that people like her are Nazis."

Another Muslim student also filed a written complaint. He called Hearlson's actions: "absurd, careless, prejudiced, stereotypical, and very racist." Moreover, he said:

"The professor continued to preach to the class and reminded them that his information was 'the facts' and continued to bash against all Arabs in general, stating that they were terrorists, murderers, rapists, slave owners and racists.

"He made sure that every person in that class was turned against us and believed that we were behind the terrorist attack that our nation encountered."

When the vice president of the college asked for an explanation, Hearlson responded:

HEARLSON: This is America. You can complain about anything you want. And — but I did tell the vice president, I said, "these are false allegations. I'm sorry. These did not happen in the classroom, sir." And I was very clear to him. This did not happen.

BILL MOYERS: Hearlson said he had not called the Muslim students 'terrorists, murderers or Nazis.'

But the dispute came at an explosive time. Southern California, like the nation, was a tinderbox of emotions.

MARGARET GRATTON, PRESIDENT OF ORANGE COAST COMMUNITY COLLEGE: Violence towards Muslims began almost immediately in the aftermath of September 11th. A shopkeeper in Los Angeles was shot to death. He was Middle Eastern. And in the ensuing weeks, over 30 hate crimes had been recorded in this area.

BILL MOYERS: Margaret Gratton is president of Orange Coast College:

MARGARET GRATTON: Our Muslim students — who are young and inexperienced, felt extraordinarily vulnerable.

BILL MOYERS: The offended Muslim students refused repeated requests to talk to us, but Abraham Appel spoke as their friend.

ABRAHAM APPEL: They're very strong religious people. They're good people, wear their hijabs even though they're under danger; you got to respect that. He didn't respect it. He just put them in more danger.

ROBERT DEES: The Muslim students— given it was the week after 9/11, may have been in a quandary as to what to do. And they may have felt that they had to go outside for advice, and then things may have gotten out of their hands.

HEARLSON: The Islamic societies, the national and the LA and the Orange County society, was putting pressure on the school to do something about me, which was, number one, fire me.

BILL MOYERS: College officials were now caught between the free speech rights of a tenured professor and the sensibilities of its Muslim students. Vice-President Dees called Hearlson:

HEARLSON: And I'm told by phone that— "Would you go on a leave of absence?" And I said, "Well, will it help things at this— at the college? Kinda simmer people down?" And the Vice President said to me, "Yes, we think it will."

BILL MOYERS: So the college suspended Hearlson with pay as it launched an official investigation. The action upset students who supported their professor:

AMY LAWSON, STUDENT: My dad read it in the newspaper and he woke me up. He told me. He's like "your teacher has been removed from your class." And I was like "Oh my gosh, I can't even believe that this is happening."

BILLIE CRISS, STUDENT: The other teachers ... Some of them are gonna be a little afraid of what they can say in school now because of what happened to him.

MATT THIEDE, STUDENT: I felt after that, there was some anti-Muslim feeling because now not only did some terrorists that were Muslims attack us, but now we feel these Muslims are also attacking our teacher.

HEARLSON: I believe the college was concerned, because of obviously— the situation we have in this country after the terrorist attacks, and— and with Muslim folks themselves. But I tried to tell them, "This is a classroom. There's nobody getting hurt in that class. This is debate. We can all debate."

PROFESSOR SUSAN SMITH: Professor Hearlson's point of how can one condemn the World Trade Center bombing and not condemn the suicide bombers in Israel is a very germane question. It's a valid question. It's a question that needs to be discussed.

BILL MOYERS: The dispute became news in local, then national media. The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education which opposes political correctness took up Hearlson's cause.

HEARLSON: I don't believe in political correctness. I never believed in it. There's no reason for it. Either we love people or we don't love them...and so I believe the college administration saw this as a chance to get rid of this controversial Christian conservative.

BILL MOYERS: Excerpts of the tapes published by the student newspaper suggested that the professor had been wrongly accused by the Muslims, that he had not in fact held them personally responsible for terrorist acts. Listen:

HEARLSON ON AUDIO TAPE: Let him speak, please.

MALE STUDENT ON AUDIO TAPE: I am trying to restate something you said earlier. You said that you attacked, blah, blah, blah. That person did not attack.

HEARLSON ON AUDIO TAPE: No, that person did not.

MALE STUDENT ON AUDIO TAPE: I know, I just wanted to correct you.

HEARLSON ON TAPE: Absolutely. I am talking about Arab nations.

ABRAHAM APPEL: Well, you know, honestly, their accounts were a little off, but like I said, it was a very emotional time. It's hard to keep things on track when you feel endangered and emotional all at once.

MARGARET GRATTON: There's been so much discussion about September 11th and its impact. And I don't think any of us have yet the — perspective or the wisdom to fully understand. We were all in grief and shock. We could live another lifetime and we would never have a convergence of emotions, events — anger and confusion to equal this again.

BILL MOYERS: After nearly three months on paid leave, Hearlson was called back to campus to hear the findings of the investigation.

MICHELLE REINGLASS, HEARLSON'S ATTORNEY: The good news is that Professor Hearlson will be restored to his classroom and will be teaching at the beginning of the spring semester.

BILL MOYERS: Hearlson's lawyer is Michelle Reinglass.

MICHELLE REINGLASS: The report essentially says that the allegations against Professor Hearlson were unsubstantiated. As far as the allegations of racism, the allegation of singling out individuals, the allegations that he accused Muslim students of being terrorists, those have not been substantiated.

BILL MOYERS: But it wasn't over. Hearlson was still thought to have uttered intemperate words in a volatile time. College officials gave Hearlson a letter whose contents they wouldn't discuss publicly.

MICHELLE REINGLASS: The uh, college has indicated they do not construe the letter to be a reprimand. We construe it very seriously to be a reprimand

MARGARET GRATTON: The letter is a confidential personnel matter.

BILL MOYERS: The president of the college refused to characterize the letter and said the Professor's freedom to express his opinions in class remained intact.

MARGARET GRATTON: Mr. Hearlson's rights are fully protected by law, by contract and by the policies and procedures of Orange Coast College.

REPORTER: Does that include now having to watch what he says in class?

MARGARET GRATTON: Absolutely not.

REPORTER: Someone have seemed ...

PRESIDENT GRATTON: I am going to conclude this. I have no further comments.

REPORTER: Can I ask you one more question?

PRESIDENT GRATTON: No. I am finished now. Thank you very much. You've been great.

HEARLSON: Reprimanding me means that I did something wrong. That means all the wonderful students that stepped forward and said, "This didn't happen, Mr. Hearlson didn't say that, we still support him, et cetera." I believe the college is saying to them, "We don't believe you either."