Sac State professor apologizes for video featuring racial slurs, petition circulates for his removal
University to hold virtual town hall addressing incident
Screenshot via Facebook
A Facebook video posted Friday, May 1 went viral, showing a Sac State professor and a woman arguing with their neighbors. The man in the video was identified as Tim Ford by university administrators.
May 8, 2020
On the heels of an official university response condemning the incident, the Sacramento State professor seen in a viral video confrontation with his neighbors apologized for his wife’s use of a racial slur.
The video — originally posted to Facebook on May 1 by Sac State professor Tim Ford’s neighbor Mikaela Cobb — showed an altercation where Ford’s wife called Cobb a “bitch” and a racial slur.
Cobb said she will no longer speak to the press because the apartment complex where she and Ford reside hired an attorney.
RELATED: Sac State professor seen in viral video where wife uses racial slur against neighbors
The original video was deleted but has been reposted online, receiving thousands of views.
“While we’ve had difficulties with this neighbor, this particular confrontation got out of hand,” Ford said in an apology statement through his attorney, Jonathan Stein.
Story continues below screenshot.
Tim Ford said his wife checked into a hospital for alcohol and drug abuse Friday.
“She recognizes the hurt and anger that she has caused and regrets it,” Ford said.
He said he hopes Cobb, whom his wife used the racial slur against, will accept his apology.
Story continues below Reddit post.
Sac State professor seen in viral video where wife uses racial slur against neighbors from r/PublicFreakout
Problems with the video? View here.
Cobb posted a photo of the keys to her new apartment to Facebook on Thursday, and described her encounters with the Fords from the time they moved in.
“I posted the video of my neighbors to show my friends and family what I have been going through for months in a moment of being fed up with the situation,” Cobb said in the post. “I have countless videos, emails to my complex, and messages from other tenants that have had to deal with them.”
Cobb said she made the viral video private because she is “over the situation,” and hopes the Fords change their actions and get help if needed.
“I can finally relax in my own home!” Cobb said.
Ford’s class held normally Thursday after video went viral
Economics major Matthew Clare is enrolled in Ford’s ECON 100A class, intermediate macroeconomic theory. Clare said Ford still held class Thursday, and the video was not discussed.
Clare said he was not aware of anyone confronting Ford during lecture. Class time was spent preparing for the final.
“The racial slurs were completely uncalled for and really embarrassing to hear,” Clare said via Reddit direct message. “The whole video made me cringe.”
Clare said he thinks Ford should get a minor disciplinary action and apologize for embarrassing the school and himself.
“I don’t feel that termination would be appropriate considering the time we are in right now,” Clare said. “Ford is a really good teacher and I don’t think this instance is enough to fire him in my opinion.”
Clare said Ford was an engaging teacher and that his class was one of his favorite classes this semester. Despite the incident, Clare said he thinks his study group is still looking forward to taking Ford’s online summer class, sports economics.
Nelsen condemns incident, virtual town hall scheduled
An email sent by the Division of Inclusive Excellence on Friday announced that a virtual town hall will be held on May 19 from 3:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. in response to the video.
“The President and his Cabinet understand that the Hornet community has many questions about what actions can and will be taken to respond to racial bias experienced by many in our community,” the email said.
Earlier on Friday, Sac State President Robert Nelsen sent a SacSend email condemning the incident. In his email, Nelsen said that “the verbal altercation is a personnel matter that the university is investigating,” and that Sac State would not be addressing it again publicly.
At the town hall, participants will discuss the process by which the campus responds to personnel matters and what actions the institution can take in response to the larger issues of racial bias, the email said.
Questions for the town hall can be submitted in advance by sending an email to [email protected] with the subject line “May 2020 Town Hall.” An ASL interpretation and closed captioning will also be available.
Petition to fire Ford circulates
A petition by a Sac State student titled hashtag #FireTimFord started circulating Friday morning, and had gained over 500 signatures as of Saturday morning.
The petition states that because Sac State consists of a majority of minority students, the cultivation of an environment that is free of racial bias and discrimination is important.
“In order to ensure that students feel exempt from bigotry in the classroom, professors that have exhibited a blatant prejudice against minorities, both on and off campus, need to be dismissed from employment at Sac State,” the description of the petition said.
The petition’s creator, Sac State senior and rapper GREO the Storyteller, has not yet responded to requests for comment sent Friday at 9:28 p.m. over Instagram.
The Sac State community has been vocal about the incident on social media.
i’m so embarrassed, i actually really liked him before this but this behavior is inappropriate and he should have called his wife out for it. While he might have not said it he married someone who sees no problem with it and that’s the issue. https://t.co/A961v1D5Yz
— cayls (@cay_jean) May 8, 2020
@sacstate currently a student at Sac State, very disappointing. Professors should be setting a good example, that professor shouldn’t be okay with racial slurs, especially since he teaches such a DIVERSE SCHOOL. https://t.co/i8rP0Vq6TX
— The Progressive Conscience (@Progressive97) May 8, 2020
Additional reporting by Margherita Beale.
Charles L Harrington • May 28, 2020 at 9:44 am
What are the Professor’s political views? I’m guessing if he were a Trump supporter you would have mentioned it, so he probably is another hypocritical “enlightened” liberal like most of them are.
Matt • May 14, 2020 at 10:46 am
I don’t believe Tim Ford should be fired for this indecent. This was his wife making the comment, not him. I think she was trying to be sarcastic and mean, but I don’t think she’s a cross-burning Klansmen.
With that being said, Tim Ford should be investigated by the university. When I had his class, he was “flakey” to say the least. Almost every class he’d make references to drinking or smoking weed. I don’t mind a laid-back approach, but you have to at least be a reliable person for your students. I heard complaints about him from professors and administrative staff as well. While I know he’s not making the “$150k” that someone mentioned in an earlier post, I’m not sure if he deserves this job either.
JXV • May 13, 2020 at 6:06 pm
They may be lettered, however I question their EQ. The woman is a mess, and the man is a coward.
She is using the tired old (Employee Assistance Program) excuse of having a habit, to justify her actions, and one of their incomes, while he uses her to shield himself.
I believe they planned this damage control scenario, using their “superior intellect”.
GET REAL • May 13, 2020 at 2:30 am
Fire him and his wife or shut up. #notracist
Ridiculousness • May 12, 2020 at 11:26 pm
Are you serious? Some of you are upset that Ford’s wife used the N word and he didn’t say anything. Is he accountable for another’s words? Guilty by association, right? Fire him! Is he wrong for not “correcting” his wife? Would he be viewed better if he “kept her in line”. Maybe he should have drug her away by her hair, caveman style. That will teach her, right? Or maybe she is responsible for her own opinions and this has nothing to do with Ford. What if someone followed Pres. Nelson’s wife around with a camera. What if she made an inappropriate comment? Should you be fired Mr. President Nelson?
Now, what if the roles were reversed. Suppose Crystal Ford is a professor and her husband is a drunken asshole. He makes an fool out of himself in front of his wife and the public–offends every race on the planet. Is she responsible for his words/actions? Should she have to put him in his place? Would we be calling for her job?
I THINK NOT! This event has been blown way out of proportion and this witch hunt needs to end.
Eboy • May 12, 2020 at 12:23 pm
Apologizing because they got caught.
Graduating out • May 11, 2020 at 8:15 pm
He’s had “problems with this neighbor” before because he fights with his wife constantly and has been arrested and/or cited for domestic disturbance multiple times, as per the lady who posted the video, I messaged her and asked her to report him so he could be arrested and she said the police have been there because of him and his wife multiple times. The State Hornet should look into police records and see how many times he and his wife have caused problems from domestic disturbances and harassment of other apartment residents. Sac State should not employ people who have altercations with their spouses so bad that cops are called because of glass breaking and things being thrown and screaming and crying.. what will happen when that explosive anger comes out at students who say things in class that he doesn’t like? If you wouldn’t hire someone like that, then you should most definitely not continue employing him as he HAS done these things and now it’s out in the open even further.
Daniel McComb • May 11, 2020 at 5:52 pm
“As a black man and a former Sac State student, Mr. Ford shouldn’t be punished. Yes, the situation is unfortunate and should’ve never happened. But his wife is the one that said the nasty and racist comments. Also, once again, President Nelson has proven to be inconsistent. He has called for an inclusive virtual town hall. But where was this when Keaton Hill (white) assaulted Floyd Johnson II (black) back in December? Why still no word about whether Keaton is a student at Sac State today?”
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t believe the incident you referenced had anything to do with racism. I believe it was more political?
It’s not fair to equate it to race if the situation had nothing to do with race, it just so happened that each party involved was a different race.
The lady in the video did use some terms we, as a society, consider to be racist, so it’s different there.
Brandon • May 11, 2020 at 10:52 am
As a black man and a former Sac State student, Mr. Ford shouldn’t be punished. Yes, the situation is unfortunate and should’ve never happened. But his wife is the one that said the nasty and racist comments. Also, once again, President Nelson has proven to be inconsistent. He has called for an inclusive virtual town hall. But where was this when Keaton Hill (white) assaulted Floyd Johnson II (black) back in December? Why still no word about whether Keaton is a student at Sac State today?
david smith • May 11, 2020 at 4:58 am
It is a shame that Prof Ford did this. He showed aggression, threw his beer, and used his “PhD” to claim superiority. This is not the maturity expected, and the University should hold him accountable.
David Smith • May 11, 2020 at 4:56 am
Indeed his wife used the racial slur, however he was aggressive, threw his beer, used his ‘PhD’ to claim dominance in a condescending way. He should lose his job, no question about this. Time for the University to hold up some accountability.
Jessica • May 10, 2020 at 2:45 pm
How are you guys going to post about this but not include the petition? This racist man needs to be fired immediately. He does not contribute to a safe environment that Sac State is expected to be.
Madeleine Beck • May 10, 2020 at 5:17 pm
Hi Jessica,
We updated the story to include the link.
Allen • May 10, 2020 at 9:39 am
It also makes me uncomfortable that he keeps saying ‘even though we’ve had problems in the past with this neighbor’ like when I was living in my old city I used to always have problems with my ASIAN neighbor, but it never once crossed my mind to turn around and call her a slur. He’s really gotta be joking, he can’t seriously think that people are going to empathize with him when he says he’s had issues with her in the past tf. Racist things shouldn’t be the first thing you think of when you get into an argument.
Daniel McComb • May 9, 2020 at 7:01 am
My favorite part is where he states he’s a professor with a PHD… as if that matters. What a tool. He looks like a fat drunk. The arrogance of these professors we shell out money to is ridiculous.
We don’t need FREE college, we need to CHANGE college. If CSU didn’t pay these professors 150k a year, the University Presidents 300k a year and then charge almost 300 bucks a semester for parking, maybe college would be in the realm of affordable. But that’s another topic.
Oh, and his wife was good too: “I hauave muy mmmsmmmmmasaterrrrsss”
These are our “higher education” educators? Hmmm. Think about it folks.
Amber Peters • May 8, 2020 at 11:46 pm
Thank you, Prez Nelsen, for having our backs on this. I really cannot help but wonder, if this is how his wife acts ON CAMERA, without him saying a damn thing to correct her (or even react like this was an odd situation)… how can he be trusted to hold up the rights of my fellow Brown and Black classmates? Additionally, the way they yelled out their degrees as if that were some sort of power to lord above their neighbors was disgusting and cringe-worthy… grow up dude. Some reports on this story are highlighting how much his students love him, and what a great professor he is… that reads a lot like the “but what about his future” kind of agreements we see when men misbehave. I DEMAND more from my university staff. I take PRIDE in attending school here as a first-generation college student. Do not embarrass me by making headlines for your pathetic behavior.