The University of Oregon School of Law has fired adjunct law professor James L. Olmsted after his unhinged, fiery, profanity-laced confrontation with several students during a pro-immigration rally on the school’s campus.
The fireworks occurred last Thursday afternoon outside the school’s student union, reports The Oregonian.
Olmsted, who also practices land-use law locally, approached the activists and initially appeared to agree with them, reports Fox News. Soon enough, however, Olmsted began to criticize the civilized methods the activists were using.
Students captured video of the fracas for posterity, and the video has since gone viral on YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYgWsKQJcLo“If you want this country back, start a fuckin’ war and take it back,” the leather jacket-clad law professor advised the protesters.
“That’s not how we have to do things,” an unseen woman then suggested.
But Olmsted would not listen to the milquetoast voice of reason.
“Start a war,” he insisted. “Get a gun. Shoot me first. I’m right here.”
“Instead of just being pussies and talking, do something,” he added, and then proceeded to lecture the students.
The protesters didn’t like it, and told Olmsted that he had no business lecturing them.
Olmsted didn’t appreciate their disagreement with his sage counsel. So, he took off his leather jacket — apparently as a demonstration of his seriousness and physical prowess.
“This is an aggressive tone. I’m feeling pretty threatened right now,” one protester can be heard saying at that point.
Olmsted then shoved someone who approached him and tried to settle him down.
“Get away from my space, you prick,” the professor bleated.
Later, Olmsted forcibly seized a cell phone from a woman who was recording his tirade. As he yelled some more, the phone continued to chronicle events from his back pocket.
“I’m part of your performance,” he said later. “You need a protagonist.”
Police subsequently arrested Olmsted on charges of theft and physical harassment.
In addition to sacking the former law prof, school officials banned him from entering campus.
“His teaching responsibilities have been reassigned to other professors on staff,” a school official for the University of Oregon told Fox News.
Olmsted has declined several requests for comment since the incident.
The pro-immigration group that organized the rally is called Students Against Imperialism. Its mission is to “challenge imperialism where the United States is the world’s leading colonial power,” notes Inside Higher Ed.
The group was formerly known as Students for Palestinian Liberation but apparently changed its name to better address border and immigration issues between the United States and Mexico.
