Michigan Assistant Attorney General
Andrew Shirvell has been terminated for harassing a gay student, CNN
reported.
Shirvell, 30, faced a disciplinary
hearing on Friday over accusations that he tormented
twenty-one-year-old Chris Armstrong, the openly gay president of the
Michigan Student Assembly at the University of Michigan.
On Monday, his boss, Attorney General
Mike Cox, announced he had fired Shirvell.
Shirvell “repeatedly violated office
policies, engaged in borderline stalking behavior and inappropriately
used state resources,” Cox said in a statement.
Cox initially defended Shirvell's
actions as free speech, but later reversed himself.
The civil servant attacked Armstrong on
the Internet, at his home and at university events. At
his now private blog Chris
Armstrong Watch, the official accused the student of preying
on impressionable freshman, of being “Satan's representative on the
student assembly,” and labeled Armstrong a Nazi, a racist, a liar
and an elitist.
Cox, a Republican, insisted he was
firing Shirvell for persistent harassment of Armstrong, insisting
that Shirvell was not being disciplined for exercising his First
Amendment rights.
The case attracted nationwide attention
when Shirvell
appeared on CNN's Anderson
Cooper 360
defending his right to campaign against Armstrong's “radical
homosexual agenda.”
The appearance led to a loud outcry
against Shirvell, who decided to take a month-long leave from the
attorney general's office. He returned to work on Friday to attend
his hearing.
Armstrong has also filed a complaint
with the Michigan Attorney Grievance Commission. In the complaint,
Armstrong
claims that the attorney has violated the profession's code of
conduct, and asks for an investigation, which could lead to
disciplinary action or possible disbarment.