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Shirvell's attorney threatens to sue UofM

ANN ARBOR – I
t appeared that tensions had eased. Chris Armstrong agreed to drop his request for a personal protection order against Andrew Shirvell, the assistant attorney general accused of stalking the openly gay student at the University of Michigan. In court filings Oct. 25, Armstrong said he agreed to drop a personal protection order request because Shirvell had not tried to contact him since being served notice by the court of Armstrong's intent to get the PPO.
The court dismissed the case Oct. 25. Shirvell is on paid leave from his position at the attorney general's office and the university has banned Shirvell from its campus.
But the appearances of reduced tensions were short-lived. Shrivell's attorney turned around and threatened to sue UofM if his client is not immediately allowed back on its 3,000-acre campus. Shirvell is currently not allowed to do so under a trespass warning issued Sept. 14.
According to Philip Thomas, Shirvell's attorney, his client has tried to get a hearing with University's Public Safety Director Ken Magee at least three times since campus police read Shirvell the trespass warning. A campus police spokesperson confirmed to http://www.Annarbor.com that a meeting with Magee had not been scheduled as of Oct. 25.
Armstrong, who is the university's first openly gay student body president, filed the request for a PPO after Shirvell launched a blog attacking him for his "radical homosexual agenda" and started showing up at various events as well as outside his home to protest and heckle Armstrong.
In the PPO application filed Sept. 13, Armstrong called Shirvell "a threat to my own personal safety" and detailed several instances where Shirvell followed Armstrong's friends as they gathered in various Ann Arbor locations, hoping to confront Armstrong. He wrote that Shirvell's actions made him "fear for his safety."
"The actions that Mr. Shirvell has taken against me over the past four months have been incredibly distressing," Armstrong wrote. He added he might feel slightly different if Shirvell was a student. "His actions… have been an outright attack on my ability to live my life openly and be honest about who I am."
"In the matter concerning the appeal of the trespass, we want that withdrawn," Thomas said. "(Shirvell) should be able to go onto that campus for whatever reason. It's legal as long as what he's doing is legal, and he's not threatening in any way."
Thomas said his client is proud of attending the UofM and loves his school.
"The next step would be the courts," Thomas continued.

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