Ramblings' Journal

College instructor kicks student for wearing GOP shirt; gets in trouble

An instructor at Durango, CO's Ft. Lewis College says she's sorry for kicking a student. She admits she kicked him for wearing a College Republicans shirt.

Fort Lewis College student Mark O'Donnell said he was showing people his College Republicans sweat shirt, which said "Work for us now … or work for us later," when Maria Spero kicked him in the leg at an off-campus restaurant.

Spero then said "she should have kicked me harder and higher," said O'Donnell. "To physically take that out on someone because you disagree with them, that is completely wrong."

Spero, a visiting instructor of modern languages, apologized to O'Donnell in a letter dated Oct. 29.

"I acted entirely inappropriately by kicking you, giving vent to a thoughtless knee-jerk political reaction that should never have happened," she wrote. "Before the incident, I did not know you and that you are a Fort Lewis student."

I guess it would have been OK for her to kick someone if they weren't a student, eh?

O'Donnell says that Spero's apology letter isn't enough, and is planning on filing a formal complaint with the College.

Posted by mhking at October 30, 2004 07:50 PM