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UCSB Professor Faces Assault Charges After Dispute With Pro-Life Protesters
March 13, 2014 at 2:13 pm

Feminist studies Professor Mireille Miller-Young is facing vandalism, battery, and robbery charges after an incident in the Arbor last Tuesday, March 4, in which she took and destroyed a poster depicting graphic images of aborted fetuses displayed by members of Survivors of the Abortion h0Ɩ0cαųst, a Riverside-based pro-life group.

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While walking from class to her office in South Hall with some of her students at around 11 a.m., Miller-Young saw the graphic posters and confronted the protesters, arguing with them and drawing in a crowd of surrounding onlookers. After a heated argument, Miller-Young took the poster and began taking it to her office, followed by two pro-life protesters, 21-year-old Joan Short and her 16-year-old sister Thrin. After entering the elevator in South Hall, Miller-Young attempted to stop the girls from following and, as shown in a video taken by one of the protesters, appears to have pushed them away. According to a UCSB Police Department crime report, once in her office, Miller-Young used scissors to destroy the poster, which she found offensive as a pregnant woman who teaches about women’s “reproductive rights.”

In the crime report, which describes a conversation held between Miller-Young and a UCPD officer whose name has been redacted, Miller-Young took responsibility for taking and destroying the poster and refused to give the names of students who were “following” her. Although she said she did not know “what an acceptable and legal response to hate speech would be,” Miller-Young said her actions were justified.

“Miller-Young went on to say that because the poster was upsetting to her and her students, she felt that the activists did not have a right to be there,” the crime report states.

Further, Miller-Young said she had a “moral” right in taking the poster, as showing graphic imagery was “insensitive” and a violation of University policy.

“Miller-Young argued that she set a good example for her students … [and] likened her behavior to that of a ‘conscientious objector,’” the crime report states. “Miller-Young said that she did not feel that what she had done was criminal. However, she acknowledged that the sign did not belong to her.”

According to the crime report, Miller-Young said her response to the protestors may have been influenced by the fact that she is preparing to undergo a test that will determine if her child has Down Syndrome. In addition, she offered to pay for the sign and expressed interest in an out-of-court settlement, but maintained the protestors had violated her rights.  

“[They violated] my personal right to go to work and not be in harm. … I work here. Why do they get to intervene in that?” she said in the crime report.

The protestors from Survivors of the Abortion h0Ɩ0cαųst could not be reached for comment, Sergeant Rob Romero of UCPD has not responded to several phone calls about the incident since last week and Miller-Young declined to comment further due to pending charges.

UCSB Director of News and Media George Foulsham said the university cannot speak about the matter but the incident is currently being reviewed.

“The University is aware of the incident and it is being reviewed by the appropriate offices. It is University policy not to discuss personnel matters,” Foulsham said in an email.

But on campus, a debate has arisen of whether or not Miller-Young’s actions are legally considered a restriction of free speech. William Creeley, Director of Legal and Public Advocacy at the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (F.I.R.E.), said the pro-life group’s posters and actions would be considered protected speech under the law.

“Those graphic images are protected speech, protected by the First Amendment, however distasteful, shocking or offensive they may be to some or most viewers,” Creeley said. “Taking down the signs, if the signs have been permissibly placed on campus, is an act of vandalism and also an act of censorship, so we would oppose those kinds of vigilante responses to protected expression, regardless of content of expression. … I encourage folks who feel angered, disgusted, repelled, to respond with speech of their own, make their own posters, have their own protest.”

According to UCSB Students for Life President Andres Riofrio, his campus group is not affiliated with Survivors of the Abortion h0Ɩ0cαųst, and the protestors are from Thomas Aquinas College, although their school did not sponsor or support the protest. UCSB Students for Life upholds a policy that “any graphic picture of abortion victims be shown to someone after getting their explicit permission.” However, the group issued a statement in support of the young protesters on their public Facebook page.

“Feminist studies Prof. Mireille Miller-Young violated the rights of a 16-year-old girl speaking out for the rights of the most vulnerable among us,” the statement reads. “Isn’t feminism about respecting the rights of everyone equally?”

While Riofrio said the two groups practice different tactics, the two organizations share a common goal and he said pro-life groups generally face such resistance when protesting.

“As pro-life activists, we expect to be verbally and physically abused because we know people have very personal feelings about abortion,” Riofrio said in an email. “Last year, we did a non-graphic display called the Cemetery of the Innocents and a woman repeatedly try to steal our signs. This year we have been yelled at a few times as well. But we have to speak up. Otherwise, who will be a voice for the voiceless?”

A student in Professor Miller-Young’s Women of Color class, who requested to remain anonymous, defended the professor for her reaction to the posters and said Miller-Young has faced harassment since the incident. She said the pro-life protesters “sensationalized” what occurred.

“She’s pregnant, so she’s very sensitive to horrifying images like that,” the student said. “That group posted on Christian websites about the professor, and she’s been getting a lot of hate mail. People are calling her a baby killer, saying she looks like she’s from a safari because she’s black and from Africa, that she’s going against Rule of God … She’s tried to show hate mail to police, but no one’s helping her so she’s just talking with her defense attorney.”

A student Facebook group called UCSB Microaggressions has set up a petition on change.org addressed to Chancellor Yang and other members of the UCSB community that requests a  statement of solidarity with Miller-Young and greater restrictions on content that may be traumatic to students or trigger unwanted reminders of past experiences. At the time of publication, the petition had 1,009 signatures with a goal of 1,700.

“Your dedication to campus safety must include addressing the presence of triggering people and images on our campus as well as supporting Professor Miller-Young who is a fundamental part of not only Feminist Studies department, but also to the University,” the petition states.

Kristina Garza, outreach director for Survivors of the Abortion h0Ɩ0cαųst, said she was surprised to see a professor react so strongly, and aside from a few exceptions such responses to the group are “rare.”

“We’re shocked and we’re appalled that a professor, someone who’s supposed to be role model for students, not only did something illegal, but that she would encourage others to break the law,” Garza said. “No matter what your difference in opinion is, no one justifies breaking the law. Perhaps she is angry or felt the law did not apply to her because she was professor. It is obvious from the video that she was inciting other students to violence.”

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Mireille Miller-Young's page

“Miller-Young went on to say that because the poster was upsetting to her and her students, she felt that the activists did not have a right to be there,” the crime report states.

When I was in college and the activists came out with the posters one year one of our instructors talked to the class about the posters. Not all the students were offended or angry or upset. I will admit after an exchange one of the female students tearfully walked out of the classroom.


The point is that Miller-Young has no right to speak for the entire student body. My guess, Miller has had an abortion, period. Cannot wait to see her picking up garbage alongside the highway as part of her community service.,

Here is the appalling response from Vice Chancellor Michael Young, e-mailed to students on March 19 and 21:

March 21, 2014

To: Campus Community
Fr: Michael D. Young Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs
Re: Students and Free Speech at UCSB

Below you will find an email communication that I sent out earlier this week to all UCSB students expressing my views on free speech. Sincerely, Michael D. Young Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs

March 19, 2014

Dear Students:

Over the past several weeks, our campus has been visited by a number of outside groups and individuals coming here to promote an ideology, to promulgate particular beliefs (at times extreme beliefs), or simply to create discord that furthers a certain personal agenda. Some passionately believe in their causes, while others peddle hate and intolerance with less-than-noble aims.

Whatever the motives and goals, the presence of such people and groups on campus can be disruptive and has the potential to draw us into the kind of conflict that puts at risk the quality of exchange of ideas that is fundamental to the mission of our university.

What is happening now is not new: evangelical types have been visiting UCSB and university campuses since time immemorial. What we see at UCSB today is simply the most recent generation of true believers, self-proclaimed prophets, and provocateurs.

During the past few weeks, UCSB has been visited by various anti-abortion crusaders. Some have been considerate and thoughtful in promoting their message; others have openly displayed images that many in our community find distressing and offensive.

We have also seen earnest and thoughtful religious missionaries, and we have seen proselytizers hawking intolerance in the name of religious belief. As a consequence of interactions with the more extreme of our visitors, students have expressed outrage, pain, embarrassment, fear, hurt, and feelings of harassment. Moreover, I have received requests that the campus prohibit the peddling of “fear,” “hate,” “intolerance,” and “discord” here at UCSB.

Those of you who know me are aware that I have strong views on the matter of intolerance. You also know that I hold equally strong views on the sanctity of free speech. If you have heard me speak at Convocation or at anti-hate events, or if you have seen me officiating at the Queer Wedding, you know that my message on both counts is clear. Recent events lead me to believe that this message bears repeating.

First, the principle of freedom of expression resides at the very foundation of our society and, most certainly, at the foundation of a world-class university such as UC Santa Barbara. Freedom and rights are not situational: we either have freedom of speech or we do not. We cannot pick and choose which views are allowed to be aired and who is allowed to speak. If that were the case, then only those in charge — those holding power — would determine who gets to speak and whose views are heard.

Second, freedom is not free. The price of freedom for all to speak is that, at times, everyone will be subjected to speech and expression that we, ourselves, find offensive, hateful, vile, hurtful, provocative, and perhaps even evil. So be it! Law and policy ban only an extremely narrow band of speech and expression-”yelling ‘fire!’ in a crowded theatre,” for example, and child pornography. The price we pay to speak our own minds is allowing others to speak theirs, regardless of how oppositional their views are to our own. Our Founding Fathers-all white men of privilege, some even slave owners-got it right when designing the First Amendment of the Constitution.

Having firmly stated my support for freedom of expression, I hasten to follow with a lesson my mother taught me when I was a small child, a lesson that has remained with me the rest of my life and that I relay to our entering students every fall at Convocation. My mother taught me that just because you can say or do something doesn’t mean that you should. Civility plays an important role in how we choose to exercise our right to expression. We all have the right to say odious things, to display offensive slogans and placards, and to hurt and disrespect groups and individuals that disagree with us. The question is: should we? Should we engage in these behaviors just because we can or because they serve our political, religious, or personal agendas?

At UCSB, our students have proven that we are better than this. While it has not always been easy, time and again UCSB students have demonstrated that they can disagree about the critical issues of our time — fundamentally and passionately but within a framework of humanity and civility, respecting the dignity of those whose views they oppose. Time and time again, UCSB students have demonstrated that they understand their role in defining the character and quality of this campus community — revealing their unwillingness to lower themselves to the tactics of those whose agenda comes wrapped in intolerance and extremism.

And now we are tested once again, outsiders coming into our midst to provoke us, to taunt us and attempt to turn us against one another as they promote personal causes and agendas. If we take the bait, if we adopt negative tactics and engage in name calling, confrontation, provocation, and offensive behavior, then they win and our community loses. While urging you to engage with differing ideas and opinions in a civil manner, I also want to remind you that you have the option not to engage at all. You do not have to listen to, look at, or even acknowledge speech or expression that you find provocative or offensive. The Arbor Mall is a free speech area, as is the area in front of the University Center. If you do not want to be confronted by certain materials or expressions, you should avoid the free-speech areas when you expect that you might encounter them, or simply ignore them. I promise you the visitors will hate that.

And, finally, if you think demonstrators, activists, or proselytizers are violating the law, report them to the UC Police Department. If you think they are violating campus policies, report them to the Office of Student Life (OSL). Similarly, if you feel harassed or think you are being subjected to offensive speech or material as an involuntary audience, please contact the Office of Student Life immediately. Katya Armistead, Associate Dean of Student Life and Activities, can be reached at 805-893-8912. If you do not reach her, someone at the general OSL number (805-893-4550) will be able to relay your message to her. The campus regulations address UCSB’s free speech policies further