The American University library employee who snatched away a soon-to-be-burned American flag from a protesting student will keep his position after a stint on administrative leave.
During an anti-Donald Trump protest the day after the election, AU’s Scott O’Beirne got into a scuffle with wannabe flag-burning student Ciera Jeffries — and a few other protesters — at the school’s Mary Graydon Center.
Jeffries accused O’Beirne of “grabbing her and pulling her up the stairs” during the scuffle.
As reported by The Eagle, American’s director of public relations said in a statement that O’Beirne “has returned to work as the Academic Multimedia Services Coordinator” after the university concluded he is “genuinely contrite and understands the necessity not to obstruct others from expressing their views.”
This doesn’t sit well with Ms. Jeffries. She had expected O’Beirne to be axed based on a conversation she had with AU’s Deadre Johnson of the Human Resources Department.
“She seemed to strongly hint toward some type of permanent administrative leave,” Jeffries told The Eagle. “So when I heard that he was coming back, I was extremely surprised, especially since this is not his only incident.”
The Eagle previously reported that O’Beirne has been reprimanded by the University in the past, including at least two disciplinary policy violations. Junior Jacqueline Bennett, who worked for O’Beirne for a year, and another former employee who wished to remain anonymous, confirmed that one of the violations was issued because O’Beirne said people of Asian descent “all look alike.”
Due to what Jeffries sees as the University’s lack of action in response to O’Beirne’s violations, Jeffries plans to take her case to the Office for Civil Rights in the Department of Education and has emailed a NAACP official about the incident, she said.
MORE: American U. students enraged by Trump win burn American flags
Jeffries’ allegations of discrimination arose in response to Alexander’s statement concerning O’Beirne’s military service. Describing the events of Nov. 9, Alexander wrote that several people who observed the flag burning found it “deeply painful and disrespectful, particularly those in the crowd who [were] veterans and service members.” O’Beirne’s LinkedIn profile states that he has been in the Army National Guard since 2014.
“In the moment, and while emotions were high, one such [service member] – an AU staff member – attempted to remove a protester’s flag in an effort to prevent her from desecrating it,” Alexander said in her statement.
Jeffries said she understands how burning an American flag could make service members more angry because it’s something they fought for, but that they should carry themselves in a different way due to their training.
“When you became a serviceman, when you took on that title, you chose to uphold certain things, and [free speech] is one,” Jeffries said.
Ms. Jeffries believes gender and race played a role in American’s decision to retain O’Beirne:
“If they’re giving him special treatment because he’s a serviceman, that’s BS. I feel like they’re giving me the exact opposite type of treatment because one, I’m female, and two, because I’m black. I feel like had he been a black man, he would have been fired already. Had I been a male or white student, he would have been fired already.”
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