Kris Alingod – AHN News Contributor
Lansing, MI, United States (AHN) – Michigan removed its assistant attorney general, Andrew Shirvell, on Monday for attacking a gay student leader, actions that had prompted condemnation from local officials and the University of Michigan to ban the state official from campus
Shirvell, 30, was fired after a two-day disciplinary hearing on allegations he had harassed and stalked Chris Armstrong, the first openly gay president of the University of Michigan’s student assembly.
The former assistant attorney general had said he was exercising his First Amendment rights during his personal time. But Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox, who previously defended Shirvell’s free speech rights, said Shirvell was removed because he harassed Armstrong and lied to investigators during the hearings.
Cox cited three visits Shirvell made to the student’s home, one at 1:30 am. Shirvell had also followed Armstrong while the student was out with friends in Ann Arbor, and made calls to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office, where Armstrong was an intern, in an attempt to have the student fired.
Officials also found that Shirvell had posted attacks against the student on the Internet while he was at work. The online posts, however, were not themselves cited for Shirvell’s removal from office.
“To be clear, I refuse to fire anyone for exercising their First Amendment rights, regardless of how popular or unpopular their positions might be,” Cox said in a statement to the Detroit Free Press. “However, Shirvell repeatedly violated office policies, engaged in borderline stalking behavior, and inappropriately used state resources, our investigation showed.”
Shirvell’s lawyer told the Free Press that the decision to remove the assistant attorney general seemed “political.” The former state official still faces the possibility of being unable to practice law in the state as Armstrong has asked the Michigan Attorney Grievance Commission to disbar him.
A University of Michigan graduate, Shirvell began a blog in April called “Chris Armstrong Watch” in which he called the student a “radical homosexual activist, racist, elitist, & liar” and “Satan’s representative on the Student Assembly.”
He warned parents to “beware: the University’s first openly ‘gay’ student body president…. is actively recruiting your sons and daughters to join the homosexual ‘lifestyle.’ “
The blog, which can now only be seen by invited readers, showed photos of Armstrong with swastikas digitally added to his face.
The university banned Shirvell four months later, in early September, after Armstrong requested a personal protection order against the state official for harassing and stalking him. Officials modified the trespass warning last week to allow Shirvell access to the Ann Arbor campus so long as he has no physical or verbal contact with Armstrong.
The Michigan Civil Rights Commission had adopted a resolution urging the removal of Shirvell. The Ann Arbor city council had also condemned Shirvell’s actions, which gained national attention amid growing concerns about the spate of suicides by teens allegedly harassed for their sexual orientation.
One of the victims was a Rutgers University music student, Tyler Clementi, who jumped off the George Washington Bridge after his roommate and another student secretly videotaped him having sex with a man inside his dorm room and streamed the encounter online.
Shirvell’s removal also comes a little over a week after an Arkansas school official was forced to resign because of national uproar over his emotionally charged comments on Facebook mocking gays and the teens who committed suicide.
Similar Posts:
- Former Queens University Dean Charged With Embezzling $1 Million
- Student Loan Debt Reaches All-Time High
- Eliminate Student Loan debt by Planning Ahead
- DIY Credit Repair: How to Spot a Credit Repair Scam
- Ontario Student Loan harassment even though Consumer Proposal was accepted
no comment until now