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Mireille-Miller Young

A college professor who teaches courses in pornography and black studies avoided jail time on Friday over her attack on two pro-life teens. Instead she was sentenced to three years probation, 108 hours of community service, and 10 hours of anger-management classes.

She was also ordered to pay nearly $500 in restitution to the family of the girl she attacked.

During sentencing, Judge Brian Hill reportedly said he has “no question” that Mireille Miller-Young is “of impeccable character outside of this incident.”

Miller-Young, a University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) associate professor, was prosecuted for three charges of grand theft from a person, battery, and vandalism after she stole signs from two pro-life sisters in March.

She pled no-contest to the charges.

The 38-year old professor had led UCSB students in chanting against Thrin and Joan Short, who were 16 and 21, respectively, at the time of the incident. The sisters were part of a group of pro-life students – mostly from Thomas-Aquinas College – who were holding pro-life signs.

Eventually, Miller-Young stole a sign from the Shorts, and walked away with it. When she was accused of being a thief on-camera, she called Thrin “a terrorist.”

Miller-Young also allegedly scratched the arms of Thrin when she and Joan tried to get their sign back.

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The Shorts were holding graphic images of aborted children as part of a protest sponsored by the organization “Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust.”

A spokesman for USCB told LifeSiteNews.com (LSN) today that Miller-Young is still employed by the university.

Miller-Young has received public support from her fellow faculty members at USCB.

One professor, Paul Spikard, wrote that Miller-Young is being targeted by “an energetic smear campaign that seems to have little to do with her person or her actions, and a great deal to do with fomenting racial hatred and rallying right-wing political sentiment.”

According to Fox News, another of Miller-Young’s colleagues, Professor Eileen Boris, wrote that “if [Miller-Young] appears smiling on camera, she is 'wearing the mask,' that is, she is hiding her actual state through a strategy of self-presentation that is a cultural legacy of slavery.”

UCSB spokesperson George Foulsham told LSN that “the opinions expressed in the letters [of support for Miller-Young] by UCSB faculty members are solely theirs. The letters do not purport to state any official University position, nor do the letters imply University endorsement of the opinions expressed.”

Other letters of support have come from San Diego, Emory University, the University of Arizona, and other institutes of higher education. Social media reactions have been mixed, with one Facebook page calling for Miller-Young to be fired garnering 505 “likes,” whereas a Change.org petition calling for “support” and to “be in solidarity” with Miller-Young has 1,914 signatures

The Shorts and their fellow protesters were in a “free speech zone” on campus. But that did not stop the school's Vice-Chancellor for Student Affairs from sending an email to students in March that condemned the pro-life activists for their presence.

According to National Review Online, which has published the full email, Michael Young wrote, “evangelical types have been visiting UCSB and university campuses since time immemorial. What we see at UCSB today is simply the most recent generation of true believers, self-proclaimed prophets, and provocateurs.”

While he called for peaceful interactions by all parties, he also wrote that “during the past few weeks, UCSB has 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.”

According to Miller-Young, the graphic images on the posters “triggered” her actions, as she was three months pregnant at the time. Since then, she has written a letter of apology, which reads in part:

I wish to apologize for my actions. … The Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust group had a perfect right to come to UC Santa Barbara to express their views about women’s reproductive rights.  As much as the images they displayed were offensive and distressing to my students, and to me, I had no right to take their poster or destroy it.