News (USA)

UM student president drops protection request against state Assistant AG

UM student president drops protection request against state Assistant AG

Chris Armstrong, the openly gay student assembly president University of Michigan, withdrew his request Monday for a personal protection order against a state lawyer who’s accused of harassing him.

WXYZ-TV
Andrew Shirvell (left), with a defaced image of Chris Amrstong posted on Shirvell's blog.

For nearly six months, Assistant Attorney General Andrew Shirvell has waged an vicious online campaign against the openly gay student, calling Armstrong a “radical homosexual activist, racist, elitist and liar.”

An official at the Washtenaw County Circuit Court in Ann Arbor says 21-year-old Chris Armstrong’s lawyer filed a motion to drop the matter Monday, hours before a court hearing was scheduled. [Washington Post]

A hearing had been set for 1:30 p.m. in Washtenaw County.

In the request for an order of protection, Armstrong said that Shirvell took pictures outside his home at 1:30 a.m. [Protection order request (narrative) here.]

“The petition for a personal protection order was dismissed by Chris Armstrong because he received assurance that he will no longer be contacted by Andrew Shirvell,” Armstrong’s lawyer, U. Ashwin Patel, said in an e-mail to The Associated Press.

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Patel said Armstrong “would like to focus on his classes, finishing his senior year and his work with” student government.

Shirvell’s personal blog, “Chris Armstrong Watch,” is a venue he created and has used to attack Armstrong, calling him “Satan’s representative on the student assembly.” (The previously public blog has since been changed to “invited readers only” access.)

Shirvell is on a personal leave from his job in the attorney general’s office, and faces a disciplinary hearing when he returns.

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