Shirvell Threatens to Sue Univ. of Mich.

Andrew Shirvell, the assistant Michigan attorney general banned from the University of Michigan campus for harassment of gay student body president Chris Armstrong, has threatened to sue the school if it does not lift the ban, now that Armstrong has dropped his restraining order request against him.

Shirvell, a University of Michigan graduate, harassed Armstrong on campus and on a blog, where he claimed that Armstrong represented a "radical homosexual agenda." He has taken a voluntary leave of absence from his job in the attorney general's office but will face a disciplinary hearing when he returns to work next week.

On Monday, Armstrong dropped his request for a restraining order because Shirvell had not contacted him since the service of the petition.

According to Talking Points Memo, "Juliana Keeping of AnnArbor.com reports that Shirvell's attorney Philip Thomas says that now that the request has been dropped the school's ban should be as well: 'In the matter concerning the appeal of the trespass, we want that withdrawn. He 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.'"