A lawsuit is being filed against the University of California and one of its Santa Barbara campus professors, Mireille Miller-Young, seeking damages for her physical attack on a team of pro-life activists that left a child bleeding.

The action was triggered by an incident last spring in which Miller-Young, who teaches pornography, queer theory and black film, attacked the visiting pro-lifers.

She later pleaded no contest to three charges stemming from the incident. While not technically an admission of guilt, it meant that she was not disputing a sentence recommended by prosecutors for her behavior.

See video of the original confrontation:

According to the Santa Barbara Independent, which first broke the story, Miller-Young came across the pro-life display sponsored by the Christian pro-life group Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust on March 4.

Thirteen members of the group had posted banners and literature that displayed graphic imagery of late-term abortions designed to spark conversations with passing students.

Joan Short, a 21-year-old student at Thomas Aquinas College and a member of the pro-life group, told the paper Miller-Young exchanged heated words, complained about the anti-abortion message, and led the gathering crowd into a chant of “Tear down the sign! Tear down the sign!” before grabbing a banner and walking with it across campus.

As Joan Short called 9-1-1, her 16-year-old sister, Thrin Short, began recording the events on a smart phone as the pair followed the professor and two of her students into a building to try to retrieve the banner.

The Independent said:

As Miller-Young and the students boarded an elevator, Joan said that Thrin repeatedly blocked the door with her hand and foot and that Miller-Young continually pushed her back. Miller-Young then exited the elevator and tried to yank Thrin away from the door while the students attempted to grab her video camera. “As Thrin tried to get away, the professor’s fingernails left bloody scratches on her arms,” Joan claimed. The struggle ended when Thrin relented, Miller-Young walked away, the students rode up in the elevator, and officers arrived to interview those involved.

Police later found the sign destroyed.

The incident even captured the attention of top-rated radio host Rush Limbaugh, who commented about the professor:

So what do we have here? We have hyphenated name? Check. Teaches multicultural nonsense? Check. Attracted to perverted and worthless areas of academic emphasis? Check. Instinct to lash out violently at those who disagree with her? Check. Resorts to violence when she doesn’t get her way? Check. Logical conclusion: She is a madcap leftist and she has tenure. She is teaching young skulls full of mush, inculcating them with this worthless drivel that their parents are paying through the nose for.”

The action prepared for filing Thursday in the Superior Court of Santa Barbara was on behalf of the members of the pro-life group, including Sarah Rivera, Catherine Short through guardian William Short, Joan Short, Mairead McCardle, Felicity Pastrone, Maragaret Langley, Mary Massell, Giorgia Navarone, Sara Smillie, Clare Langley and Anne Gribbin.

Named as defendants are Miller-Young, the regents of the school and a couple of other students.

The complaint states: “On March 4, 2014, plaintiffs placed themselves in a specially designated free speech area on the campus of the University of California at Santa Barbara …. to engage in peaceful, lawful, expressive activity on a matter of significant moral, political and religious import. While there, they were accosted by a UCSB professor, defendant Mireille Miller-Young … Miller-Young loudly and aggressively disagreed with plaintiff’s viewpoint and attempted to incite UCSB students to tear down the plaintiffs’ signs. When that effort failed, Miller-Young herself stole a sign and recruited several students to help her carry it off and destroy it.”

In that process, Miller-Young “struck and scratched” plaintiff Catherine Short.

The complaint notes the teacher later told police she held a “moral right” to steal and destroy the sign.

Then a school official, Michael Young, dispatched an email to students, saying “the most recent generation of true believers, self-proclaimed prophets and provocateurs” including “anti-abortion crusaders” was on campus.

The action was brought by the Life Legal Defense Foundation, and seeks compensation for physical battery, property theft and civil rights violations, on top of the criminal case that resulted.

“This is a mature, supposedly educated woman charged by the University of California to convey knowledge, and instead she conveyed discrimination and intolerance. Not only was she out of line in attacking students, but she literally drew blood from a minor,” said Dana Cody, president and executive director of Life Legal Defense Foundation.

It was reported later that Miller-Young cited the “cultural legacy of slavery” as a reason for her attack.

Young’s message to students on campus in defense of the porn instructor said, “Some passionately believe in their causes, while others peddle hate and intolerance with less-than-noble aims.

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

He noted that during the previous few weeks, UCSB had 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.”

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