Feminist Professor Apologizes for Destroying Pro-Lifer’s Sign, But Not for Assaulting Her

State   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Aug 15, 2014   |   3:46PM   |  

Letters from fellow professors defending a pro-abortion feminist studies professor at University of California Santa Barbara who attacked a young pro-life activist, stole and destroyed her sign, and encouraged a group of students to violence, cite some rather odds reasons for her actions.

Meanwhile, the professor, Professor of Feminist Studies, Mireille Miller-Young, has issued a letter apologizing for destroying the pro-life person’s sign but not for assaulting her.

milleryoung2The incident, which took place on March 4, saw two pro-life students Thrin and Joan Short, lead the peaceful pro-life outreach event with 11 friends, most of whom were students from Thomas Aquinas College. They used signs displaying images of abortion victims to begin conversations with students before a confrontation by Professor of Feminist Studies, Mireille Miller-Young turned violent.

The angry professor interrupted the students’ calm interaction with the activists by grabbing a pro-life sign out of the hands of one of them, carrying the sign off through the campus flanked by her students, and then assaulting Thrin Short while trying to hide from police, who were on their way, the group said. Police officers later found the remains of the sign, which had been destroyed.  UC Santa Barbara police are completing their report to be submitted for prosecution.

The professor’s tired left scratches on the arms of one pro-lifer.

According to local news reports, Miller-Young has issued a letter of apology, which comes on the heels of pleading no contest to criminal charges.

The pregnant 38-year-old who pleaded no contest to misdemeanor counts of theft, vandalism and battery after stealing and destroying an anti-abortion poster and injuring a a16-year-old activist, says she’s sorry for some of her actions and hopes to “makes amends through community service.”

The News-Press obtained Ms. Miller-Young’s apology letter, which was part of a package of letters of support prepared by defense attorney Catherine Swysen, aimed at getting the lightest possible sentence for her client.

Three months pregnant at the time of the March incident, a portion of which was recorded on a cellphone camera, Ms. Miller-Young states, “I wish to apologize for my actions … The Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust group had a perfect right to come to UC Santa Barbara to express their views about women’s reproductive rights.”

“As much as the images they displayed were offensive and distressing to my students, and to me, I had no right to take their poster or destroy it,” she writes.

But the letter says nothing about the battery charge, which stemmed from Ms. Miller-Young scratching teenage activist Thrin Short.

Thrin’s 21-year-old sister, Joan Short, who also participated in the demonstration, isn’t buying the apology, telling the News-Press exclusively today, “I guess I would like to see her say to her students, ‘I did a really stupid thing. You shouldn’t follow my example.’ ”

Meanwhile, letters of support say a “cultural legacy of slavery” led the professor to assault the pro-lifer.

Some of the letters were written on UCSB letterhead, presumably on university equipment and university time. Among them is one from history professor Paul Spikard, who states that his colleague is the object of “an energetic smear campaign that seems to have little to do with her person or her actions, and a great deal to do with fomenting racial hatred and rallying right-wing political sentiment.”

Click here to sign up for daily pro-life news alerts from LifeNews.com

“It would be tragic if Dr. Miller-Young were sentenced to jail time or mandatory anger management classes based on the press’ portrayal of her as an Angry Black Woman.”

He cites no reports or stories to back up the claim.

Another letter of support, also on UCSB letterhead, comes from Eileen Boris, a professor in the Department of Feminist Studies.

Prof. Boris seeks clemency for her colleague, stating, “she was at the stage of a pregnancy when one is not fully one’s self fully, so the image of a severed fetus appeared threatening.”

“If she appears smiling on camera,” Prof. Boris continues, “she is ‘wearing the mask,’ that is, she is hiding her actual state through a strategy of self-presentation that is a cultural legacy of slavery.”

Miller-Young has entered a plea of nolo contendere (no contest) to the criminal charges against her, which include grand theft, vandalism, and battery. The plea means that she will be convicted on the three misdemeanor charges. A sentencing hearing was expected today.