University of California Santa Barbara Associate Professor Mireille Miller-Young teaches feminist studies and is “a self-described porn scholar.” Last spring Miller-Young was charged with several crimes, including assault and vandalism, for attacking students engaged in a sanctioned on-campus pro-life demonstration. As Campus Reform reports:
Assistant Professor of Feminist Studies Mireille Miller-Young found herself in the middle of some controversy this spring after she assaulted the pro-life group, stole their signs, and called one of the students a “terrorist” because of the group’s anti-abortion stance. …
Thrin Short, a 16-year-old pro-life activist, was standing in the free speech zone when Miller-Young approached.
“Before she grabbed the sign, she was mocking me and talking over me in front of the students, saying that she was twice as old as me and had three degrees, so they should listen to her and not me,” Short told Fox News in March. …
Miller-Young attempted to flee the scene via an elevator, but when Short held the door from closing in hopes of retrieving her sign, Miller-Young allegedly shoved her three times.
According to a report filed by UCSB police, Miller-Young said at the time that she was “triggered” by the signs and graphic images the protesters were displaying. She later allegedly claimed she had a “moral right” to act as she did.
According to the mission statement on the university’s website, UCSB students “are full participants in an educational journey of discovery that stimulates independent thought, critical reasoning, and creativity.”
Miller-Young will be sentenced later this month, likely consisting of mandated fines, community service, and some sort of anger-management counseling. University officials say she is not teaching courses this fall but is still employed by UCSB.
No one should be subjected to violence and assault—certainly not by an employee of a taxpayer-subsidized institution of allegedly higher learning. It is also the height of hypocrisy that an educator who equates pornography with women’s liberation can claim her delicate sensibilities could not handle “graphic” photos of unborn babies, and she therefore could not control her actions.
As members of a free society, we all have the right to express our opinions. That right, however, does not include imposing views—or force—on others who disagree. It is also worth considering why taxpayers should be compelled to pay for institutions that violate their own stated codes of conduct and tolerate employees who violate students’ basic civil liberties.