Or, as faculty (and support for faculty, as I have been) are recommended to do in this case, you simply pass it onto people and departments that basically exist to deal with such situations. Or you don’t respond at all.

That being said, I can’t fault the professor for his response. It’s natural and human to do so.

And clearly UCLA also agreed because within 3 weeks all the complaints were dismissed despite the campus uproar the professor describes.