Christopher Bugbee, Cal State Fullerton’s controversial spokesman, has resigned after apparently violating a restriction regarding his contact with university’s student newspaper, the Daily Titan.
“I can confirm that Chris has resigned,” said Jeff Cook, CSUF chief communications officer and Bugbee’s boss, in an Aug. 5 telephone interview. Cook said he couldn’t discuss details.
But the Daily Titan reported Bugbee quit Aug. 4 after violating a restriction against him contacting the newspaper’s reporters and editors.
The unusual restriction followed a controversy over an April 23 editorial in the Daily Titan that called out Bugbee for years of delaying or withholding public information from the newspaper.
As a result of the editorial, and with unanimous backing from the university’s communications department faculty and CSUF Academic Senate, Bugbee was ousted as the main media contact for the Daily Titan.
But on July 22, according to the Daily Titan, he emailed editors demanding they make changes to the editorial. The editorial remains on the site and no changes have been made.
Cook told the Titan the July 22 email was, “contrary to our discussion about who the point of contact would be moving forward. I was unaware that that request for correction was sent to the Daily Titan.”
He said he learned of the email from Bugbee between July 29 and July 30.
You can contact Tracy Wood at twood@voiceofoc.org and follow her on Twitter: @TracyVOC.