Goals
Time period notes
Time period
Country
Location City/State/Province
Location Description
Methods in 1st segment
- Online message posted to the public on Twitter to show support and an electronic message sent to the entire University of Michigan student body showing support
- Online Mass Petition
- University of Michigan students used Facebook pages and Facebook statuses to protest Shirvell's actions and gain support and awareness
- Informal University of Michigan student body community gathering and community lunch organized by students through The Spectrum Center to discuss the events, ways to show support, and ways to become an ally to the LGBTQ community
Methods in 5th segment
- University of Michigan students organized a GlowLight Vigil through The Spectrum Center to show support as a community against bullying, hate, and bias
Methods in 6th segment
Segment Length
Notes on Methods
Leaders
University of Michigan Students
Partners
External allies
Administration of University of Michigan
Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund
University of Michigan Board of Regents
Michigan Civil Rights Commission
Ann Arbor City Council
Michigan Democratic Governor Jennifer Granholm
Involvement of social elites
Opponents
Nonviolent responses of opponent
Campaigner violence
Repressive Violence
Cluster
Classification
Group characterization
Groups in 1st Segment
Groups in 5th Segment
Groups in 6th Segment
Segment Length
Success in achieving specific demands/goals
Survival
Growth
Total points
Notes on outcomes
Database Narrative
Chris
Armstrong was elected University of Michigan Student Assembly President, as the
first openly gay president in April of 2010. The Student Assembly is made up of
elected representatives from every school at the University of Michigan, a
public research university with roughly 43,000 students, who discuss campus
issues and vote on legislation impacting the University. Prior to his election,
Armstrong was the chair of the university’s LGBTQ commission. In his presidential
campaign, Armstrong focused on the issues of gender-neutral housing and weekend
dining hall hours.
Andrew Shirvell, a
University of Michigan alum and Michigan Assistant Attorney General, created a
blog in April 2010, entitled “Chris Armstrong Watch,” a forum used to criticize
Armstrong’s “radical homosexual agenda.” In his inaugural blog posting, he
referred to Armstrong as a radical homosexual activist, racist, elitist and
liar and accompanied his statements with a photo of Armstrong with the word
“Resign” written across his face and a rainbow flag with a swastika on it drawn
next to him.
The interchanges between
Andrew Shirvell and Chris Armstrong began in April 2010 and continued until
August 2012 with two different strategies of defense being utilized: legal
strategies and non-violent strategies. Armstrong played a lead role in the
legal strategies, which began in September 2010 and concluded in August 2012.
The campaign’s usage of non-violent strategies began on 29 September 2010 and
continued until 18 October 2010, with a separate usage of non-violent methods
on 2 March 2011 when Armstrong appeared on CNN, speaking publically for the
first time.
Armstrong took an indirect leadership role in the non-violent
campaign. University of Michigan students became the direct leaders of the non-violent
defense campaign protesting against Shirvell. The University of Michigan
students received support from The Spectrum Center, an office at the university
which provides education, outreach, and advocacy for the LGBTQ community, University
of Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman, the Administration of the University of
Michigan, the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, University of Michigan Board of
Regents, the Michigan Civil Rights Commission, Michigan Governor Jennifer
Granholm, and the Ann Arbor City Council.
In May 2010, Shirvell
followed a group of University of Michigan students who were celebrating a
birthday party. Armstrong’s name was a part of the party’s open invitation on
Facebook. On 22 June 2010, Shirvell telephoned Speaker of the House Nancy
Pelosi’s office, where Armstrong was working as an intern. Shirvell informed
Armstrong’s supervisor that Armstrong was a racist and a militant homosexual.
In September of 2010,
Shirvell continued to write posts entitled “What’s Past is Prologue: Armstrong’s
VIOLENT Supporters & the Coming Persecution this Fall,” warning Christian,
pro-life, and minority students. Later in September, he posted on his blog accusingArmstrong of not keeping promises made
to minority students, participating in “flagrant sexual promiscuity” with a
fellow male member of the student government, organizing a gay orgy in his dorm
room in October 2009, and encouraging incoming students to become a part of the
“homosexual lifestyle.” In September of 2010, Shirvell visited Armstrong’s
off-campus home at 1:30 AM to photograph a party Armstrong and his roommates
were throwing and posted the photos on his blog.
After six months of blog
postings, Armstrong filed a personal protection order against Shirvell on 13
September 2010. Following this order, on 14 September 2010, Shirvell received a
trespass warning by University of Michigan police, preventing him from entering
all university property because of his actions against Armstrong.
In Shirvell’s blog postings
from April of 2010 through 23 September 2010, Shirvell wrote false statements
about Armstrong’s friends and their parents. He used his blog to state that
some individuals were gay, when the individuals were not. On 29 September 2010,
Shirvell told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that his First Amendment rights protected
his comments about Armstrong.
Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox also spoke
with Anderson Cooper, deeming Shirvell’s behavior inappropriate but stating
that it would be illegal to fire him for First Amendment protected speech written
outside of work. In response, non-violent strategies were
utilized by: Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, who voiced her support for Armstrong
and for Shirvell’s firing on Twitter, CNN viewers, who reached out to Cox
regarding firing Shirvell, and the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, which formed
an online petition, enabling the public to directly contact Cox.
On 30 September 2010, the
university community responded to Shirvell’s actions by supporting Armstrong
through non-violent strategies of defense. Students utilized the Spectrum
Center to email the entire student body, informing them of ways students could
rally around Armstrong. The Spectrum Center hosted an informal community
gathering to discuss the events and encouraged students to make their Facebook
statuses “Elected By Us, Respected By Us.” The center also sponsored a “Brown
Bag” lunch where students could become educated about how to be an ally to the
LGBTQ community.
University students looked to Facebook pages like “We Support
Chris Armstrong,” with 5,610 members, and “Fire Andrew Shirvell,” with 5,976
members, to spread awareness and support. Students handed out “Elected By Us,
Respected By Us” T-shirts. In addition, University of Michigan President Mary
Sue Coleman expressed the administration’s support for Armstrong. On 11 October
2010, students through The Spectrum Center organized a GlowLight Vigil to stand
as a community against bullying, hate, and bias. On 12 October 2010, Michigan
Civil Rights Commission, a government body that probes alleged acts of
discrimination, condemned Shirvell’s actions. On 14 October 2010, University of
Michigan Board of Regents supported the campus community’s response to
Shirvell’s actions against Armstrong. On 18 October 2010, the Ann Arbor City
Council unanimously supported a resolution condemning Shirvell’s actions.
Armstrong dismissed the
personal protection order he brought against Shirvell after he was assured
Shirvell would not contact him on 24 October 2010. By 29 October 2010,
Armstrong and his attorney Deborah Gordon filed complaints against Shirvell,
looking for an investigation and possible disbarment for Shirvell’s attacks.
The complaint focused on the Michigan Rules of Profession Conduct Rule 8.4, which
defines misconduct. Armstrong’s goal was for a retraction of Shirvell’s lies
and defamation.
3 November 2010, Shirvell’s
trespass warning was modified, allowing him to be on campus but preventing him
from attending events where Armstrong was. On 8 November 2010, Michigan
Attorney General Mike Cox issued a statement that Shirvell was fired for
conduct unbecomingof a state
employee. Cox noted Shirvell was not fired for his use of his First Amendment
rights but for his harassing conduct, the effects of his usage of state
resources, and his lies during a disciplinary conference. Gordon and Armstrong
requested an examination of Shirvell’s actions by the Michigan Attorney
Grievance Commission and potential disciplinary action, including disbarment.
In response to the events
between Shirvell and Armstrong, the University of Michigan Student Assembly
looked to pass more legislation dealing with LGBTQ issues. On 23 February 2011
at a round table, the university stated plans to enable students who openly identify
as transgender to have roommates of their identified gender.
Armstrong remained publicly
silent through most of the Shirvell incident.
He appeared on CNN in an interview with
Anderson Cooper on 2 March 2011, after a recent series of suicides by teenagers
who were bullied due to their sexuality, increasing awareness through
non-violent methods.
On 6 April 2011, Armstrong
and Gordon filed a lawsuit against Shirvell, alleging that Shirvell stalked
him, invaded his privacy, and defamed him. Armstrong sought damages in excess
of $25,000. In May of 2011, Shirvell filed a motion to dismiss the claims made
against him in Armstrong’s lawsuit.
While in the process of
legal cases, in November 2011, Armstrong posted a YouTube video announcing a
scholarship of $100,000 for University of Michigan incoming freshmen who
experienced bullying.
In the interim period, on 27
March 2012, two years after Shirvell’s initial firing, William Hutchens, a
hearing officer at the Michigan Civil Service Commission released a decision
confirming Shirvell’s termination and preventing any further appeals. In April
of 2012, Shirvell’s motion to dismiss claims was denied and the trial was able
to move forward. By August 2012, the almost two-yeartrial came to an end and Armstrong won his defamation suit against
Shirvell with $4.5 million awarded in damages.
The nonviolent campaign was
successful in gaining the support for the termination of Michigan Assistant
Attorney General Andrew Shirvell, but was unsuccessful in achieving Shirvell’s
disbarment nor did Shirvell retract his statements or apologize to those his
actions affected. By moving beyond just utilizing legal strategies of defense,
non-violent strategies of defense brought further achievement and led to
structural and cultural changes within the university. The
University of Michigan Student Assembly assisted in helping openly transgender
students to have roommates of the gender they identify with and Armstrong
created a scholarship fund for University of Michigan freshmen who experienced
bullying. The nonviolent strategies of defense enacted by University of
Michigan students in support of Chris Armstrong spread awareness and increased
support for LGBTQ issues in the University of Michigan community.
Influences
Throughout the process, Chris Armstrong was influenced by the Tyler Clementi case which occurred at Rutgers University in September of 2010. (1) The cyber-bullying of Clementi and Shirvell's cyber-bullying of Armstrong both are examples of attacks on the LGBT community and how frequently members of the community are bullied. (1)
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