A California college professor suspended nearly a year ago for handing out candy that mocked the LGBTQ movement has been allowed to return to the classroom.
According to The College Fix, David Richardson, a history professor at Madera Community College, asserted that he was “exonerated” of a discrimination complaint filed against him over the incident.
“I am happy and grateful to be back for all the faculty, staff, and students who supported me while I was in exile. I wouldn’t have made it without them. But there is a new normal. I know there were a lot of people on the other side who wanted nothing more than to see me never come back,” Richardson told The Fix.
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His ordeal began in May 2023, when at an open house at the college, Richardson handed out Jeremy’s Chocolates, a candy distributed by The Daily Wire and named for Daily Wire co-founder Jeremy Boering.
Jeremy’s Chocolate bars are marketed and labeled with the pronouns “He/Him” and “She/Her.”
On the company’s website, Daily Wire’s pitch states, “Some chocolate companies don’t even know what a woman is. But we do. Indulge in the chocolate binary. One with nuts, one without. You know which is which.”
A transgender professor confronted Richardson about the candy at the open house, as The Fix reported. The other prof subsequently filed a discrimination complaint against Richardson, who is gay, under Title IX, the federal law that prohibits sex discrimination.
While the 52-year-old law was initially intended to protect women, President Joe Biden broadened that to include transgenders.
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Richardson, who had been at the college for more than 30 years, told The Fix that his case was resolved on Jan. 14. That occurred after an appeal was not filed and his suspension was lifted with no further conditions.
“I was found ‘not responsible’ for the entire incident,” Richardson told The Fix, adding that he had been “fully exonerated” by the investigation.
“The Title IX complaint against me for including Jeremy’s Chocolates on a table at a college open house was resolved …. None of the allegations against me were supported and I was found ‘not responsible’ for the entire incident,” said Richardson.
A spokesman at the college declined to comment, calling it a “personnel matter.”
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