Professors as Petty Tyrants

02 Apr 2014

education

by Mona Charen

Photo Credit: National Review

The mother of the 16-year-old pro-life demonstrator who suffered a rough confrontation with a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, has shown a rare civility — the spirit liberals are forever bemoaning the lack of but rarely exhibit themselves.
The event: A small group of pro-life activists visited UCSB to demonstrate against abortion. They bore posters and leaflets and set up their display on the campus’s “free speech zone.” Professor Mireille Miller-Young was offended, no, “triggered,” by the photo of an aborted baby on Thrin Short’s poster. Together with two or three students, the professor grabbed a large sign, and then pushed and scratched the girl who attempted to take it back. This was captured on video by the pro-lifers. “I was stronger, so I took the sign,” Miller-Young explained later.

Miller-Young has since been charged with misdemeanor theft, battery (Short’s arms bore scratches, also photographed), and vandalism (Miller-Young and her students cut the sign to pieces).
Throughout the unpleasant encounter, the professor and her students let fly with profanity and insults.
The civility: Catherine Short, mother of Thrin, issued a statement reading in part: “Unfortunately, along with the expressions of support we have received, we have become aware of individuals engaging in ad hominem attacks against Miller-Young. We do not condone this, and we ask that such attacks stop.”
Read more from this story HERE.