Feminist Professor Who Assaulted Pro-Lifers Sentenced to Three Years Probation and Anger Management

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Aug 18, 2014   |   3:28PM   |   Washington, DC

University of California Santa Barbara Professor of Feminist Studies, Mireille Miller-Young, has been sentenced in a criminal case in connection with an assault on pro-life young people who took the pro-life message to the UCSB campus.

milleryoung3Miller-Young was sentenced to 108 hours of community service, 10 hours of anger management, and three years probation for her assault on a group of pro-life students in early March. She was also ordered to pay a small fine and restitution of almost $500.

The incident took place on the Santa Barbara campus, where Miller-Young attacked and forcibly took property from teenagers who were exercising their free speech rights in the public square to educate about abortion and promote its alternatives. As a result, Miller-Young was convicted of grand theft, vandalism, and battery in July.

Thrin and Joan Short, victims of the assault for which Miller-Young was convicted, were in court to hear the sentencing, along with their mother, Katie Short, Life Legal Defense Foundation Legal Director. Despite Miller-Young’s attack, the Short family has called for restraint in speaking about Miller-Young.

“While Miller-Young submitted a written apology to the court for taking and destroying the sign, the sincerity of that apology is undercut by other letters she submitted from colleagues, several of which attempt to shift the blame onto the pro-lifers,” Katie Short said.

“Regardless of the actual level of her remorse, her conviction on three misdemeanor charges will undoubtedly be sufficient to dissuade her from any repetition of her outrageous conduct. The prosecution itself should have disabused her of the notion that she could victimize pro-lifers with impunity, an attitude clearly on display in the video,” she said. “We hope that anyone else who might consider violence or vandalism against pro-life advocates will take note.”

The 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.

Miller-Young issued a half-hearted apology that cited her supposed pregnancy as the reason for the attack.