Conservative student to fight discipline by Fresno State

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By Heather Somerville, The Fresno Bee

Neil O'Brien arrived at Fresno State in fall 2010, and before the semester was over he had spearheaded a conservative movement aimed at driving out illegal-immigrant students and challenging what he calls radical ideas espoused by Fresno State administrators.

Now he has gone a step further. After Fresno State took disciplinary action against him for allegedly threatening two faculty members in the Chicano and Latin American Studies Department, O'Brien hired a lawyer.

And not just any lawyer -- Brian Leighton, a Clovis attorney who won a major case against the CIA in 2009 and has gained a reputation for challenging federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Claiming the college has squashed O'Brien's First Amendment rights, Leighton said he is eager to go up against Fresno State. "I don't like what Fresno State is doing," Leighton said.

O'Brien will face administrators at a judiciary hearing Sept. 13. If he and Leighton don't like the outcome, they're prepared to go to court.

O'Brien's judiciary mess started with a poem printed last May in La Voz de Aztlan, an ethnic student publication distributed with the college newspaper. O'Brien took issue with language in the student-written poem, most notably the term "white savage."

O'Brien said he wanted to know why the poem was published in a student-supported newspaper. So last May, armed with a video camera, he headed to the offices of Chicano and Latin American Studies Chair Victor Torres and teacher Maria-Aparecida Lopes to demand answers. Torres is one of the newspaper advisers.

His unannounced visit rattled the teachers, who alerted campus authorities.

In Torres' formal complaint, he wrote that O'Brien was "belligerent and loud" and that he felt threatened by O'Brien's "hostile and angry attitude" and "unwillingness to leave my office."

In a separate complaint, Lopes said she felt "threatened and vulnerable."

In a written statement, Torres said he isn't involved in newspaper editing, but that all short stories and poems "are protected by the same right that Mr. O'Brien uses to shield his own publications -- the freedom of speech and expression."

O'Brien, 28, has a website that challenges illegal immigrants and the "radical liberalism" at Fresno State.

College officials have charged O'Brien with violating the student code of conduct. He calls the accusations lies and refuses to accept the school's settlement that requires him to stay 100 feet from the Chicano and Latin American Studies department and faculty. He will contest the charges at the judiciary hearing.

Carolyn Coon, assistant vice president for student affairs and dean of students, is handling the case. Federal law prevents her from speaking about O'Brien, but she said it's rare for a student to take a case this far. The school holds at most one judiciary hearing per year, and many years there are none. The hearings, Coon said, take a lot of time and resources.

In her 10 years on the job, Coon said no student has taken a disciplinary case to court.

Leighton said he would try to solve the case out of court, but he could file charges against Fresno State for violating O'Brien's freedom of speech and right to a speedy trial. Leighton is protesting college rules that prohibit him from attending the hearing.

"I don't know a bigger due process violation than that," he said.

O'Brien said being barred from the Chicano and Latin American Studies could delay his graduation. But O'Brien is a recreation administration major, and while classes in Chicano and Latin American Studies could satisfy his general education requirements, they are not required for his major.

Contact: HSOMERVILLE@FRESNOBEE.COM OR (559) 441-6412

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