ALL LEWIS & CLARK alumni are invited to use the lush college campus after they graduate—except, it seems, if they’re homeless.
Portlander Barry Joe Stull was a recognizable figure on campus back in the 1990s, both for his age (he was 41 when he graduated as a music major in 1999) and his famous all-hemp suit. However, he is no longer welcome at the college. Security guards roughed him up and kicked him off school grounds last August—and then pressed criminal trespassing charges. Stull, homeless but carrying his alumni ID card, had tried to use the student center during a dance.
The case wound up in court, and Multnomah County Judge Michael Marcus declared a mistrial on the trespassing charges on March 2. In his ruling, Marcus provides a troubling account of the mistreatment of an outspoken alum—solely because of his “appearance as a homeless person”—at a school known for its progressive outlook.
Stull is no stranger to trouble—nor has he been a stranger, since graduating, to Lewis & Clark administrators. His court record stretches over 54 cases, many of them restraining orders, lawsuits, and complaints he has filed against various Portlanders and Portland institutions, including Lewis & Clark. In 2007, he repeatedly criticized the school at public meetings over a proposed development.
At the same time, Stull relied on the campus. His ID granted him regular use of the college’s gym, showers, and phones. Lewis & Clark, as Marcus noted, has no policy for revoking an alumnus’ campus rights.
About 10 pm on August 28, Stull had biked to campus and started to head inside Templeton Student Center for some water. A freshman dance was in full swing, and four guards stopped him outside. The guards’ testimony conflicts about whether Stull indeed showed them the ID he had in his wallet before he pushed through to get to the drinking fountain.
When Stull finished his drink, he turned around. One of the guards, Nick Mobley, asked him to step outside, to which the longtime gadfly replied, “I’m not answering any of your stupid fucking questions, and when did they hire such fucking assholes for campus security?”
According to Marcus, campus security then used “undue force” as they carried Stull out, ground his face into the pavement, and then cuffed him.
Marcus found there was no “persuasive testimony” that Stull was asked to leave for any other reason than his “appearance as a homeless person and mere assumptions that people who look homeless are going to disrupt the youthful dance” on campus.
During the trial, Campus Security Supervisor Tim O’Dwyer argued the guards were right to exclude Stull because of the behavior of a different “homeless-looking” person on campus a few days before… though O’Dwyer made it clear he didn’t think the guards mistook Stull for the other person.
The jury in Stull’s trial found him guilty of criminal trespass, or “remaining unlawfully” in a place he had no right to be. But in an extraordinary move, Marcus declared a mistrial, stating that he, too, had been confused about whether Stull’s rights as an alum trumped the security officers’ order to leave. A new trial is set for April.
The college declined to comment.
Looks like unbuzzworthy times have hit LC. This is not kool in the least, BUT the administration does not wants its students being reminded what a degree in music can do to someone.
Seriously, though, the administration has a responsibility to maintain LC’s image. So they can only have people dress *like* their homeless (while being subsidized by their lamestream parents’ income), NOT actually be homeless, or helpless, or even hemp-suited.
(Caution: the above statement is dripping in sarcasm–if you didn’t already know that. This type of treatment is completely antithetical to the ethos of the college. Those “fascist” security guards need to be removed and replaced by student guards–or something. In closing: fuck, can LC ever do anything right?)
I went to Reed, where there are have been tons of sketchy ass alum trying to bum cigarettes from freshman and generally serving as reminders of what happens if you don’t leave campus once you leave school. I’m sure there were a fair number of 18 year old college students who just don’t want 53 year old dudes all up in their grill.
Hats off to Judge Marcus. He represents the best of our Judiciary in Oregon.
Didn’t Sara go to Reed? You guys should have a pretentious debate over whether or not homeless alum should be allowed on campus. Then all of us who attended better schools but don’t feel the need to brag about it every time we start a sentence can be the audience. Ready…GO!
We need a war on homelessness not a war on homeless people.
@ Pinki
How do you engage in the “war on homelessness”? Where do you start? Do you ask each homeless person for the truthful story of how they ended up homeless?
Each person is held accountable for their own well being, however, I realize there are smaller percentages of cases of people who truly couldn’t make it on their own resources and they need assistance if it is available.
There are missions set up to help those who really want to get off the street that got to homeless status by fuckin up in life and I think if those religious/NPO missions are doing exactly what they’re supposed to do to help those folks, then that’s all that needs to be done.
The homeless exemplify how people who need help are much less attractive than people who don’t need help.
Liberal arts colleges exemplify how our society’s first priority is helping people who don’t need help.
Stop writing articles about homeless people that make no effort to contact or quote the homeless people in question.
I did not finish the 9th grade ~ And I went to 3 Junior High Schools ~ School was no challenge for me ~ Hahaha ~ I would LOVE some FUCKER to approach me and question my whereabouts when I am WHERE I SHOULD Be! ~ Kudos to Mr. Stull…I am fourtunate to own my home ~ If I were not a senior and was not handicapped I would open my home to ALL ~ God Bless ~ May The Goddesses Protect ~ Peace Xx ~