{"id":125806,"date":"2021-02-12T14:57:46","date_gmt":"2021-02-12T19:57:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=125806"},"modified":"2021-02-12T15:12:43","modified_gmt":"2021-02-12T20:12:43","slug":"autistic-college-student-punished-for-fist-bumps-and-selfies-gets-upsetting-news-in-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/autistic-college-student-punished-for-fist-bumps-and-selfies-gets-upsetting-news-in-court\/","title":{"rendered":"Autistic College Student Punished For Fist Bumps And Selfies Gets Upsetting News In Court"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fautistic-college-student-punished-for-fist-bumps-and-selfies-gets-upsetting-news-in-court%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=125806&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Marcus-Knight.jpeg?w=1200&amp;h=800&amp;ixlib=react-9.0.3\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p>Marcus Knight has always wanted to make friends, which has been difficult since he has autism and cerebral palsy. In high school, he was taught that approaching people and asking for selfies or fist bumps was an acceptable way for him to make friends.<\/p>\n<p>In college, however, with today\u2019s focus on victimhood and students\u2019 desire to <em>never<\/em> feel the least bit \u201cuncomfortable,\u201d Marcus\u2019 learned behavior has been deemed inappropriate. In the fall of 2017, Marcus was a student at Saddleback College with dreams of graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Musical Theater, as singing on stage has always been a joy to him.<\/p>\n<p>In October of that year, Marcus was accused by a student-worker, referred to in court documents only as N.R., of following her and invading her personal space by putting his arm around her shoulder and allegedly trying to put his hand on her thigh. N.R. understood Marcus\u2019 disability and that he meant no harm, so she wanted the matter solved informally. She and Marcus entered into a mutual no-contact order, which Marcus didn\u2019t appear to fully understand, as he continued his attempts to become N.R.\u2019s friend. She again complained about Marcus and said she no longer wanted to be on campus because of him. Marcus wrote a letter of apology, describing himself as \u201cvery lonely and depressed\u201d and simply wanting to \u201cmake friends.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Marcus\u2019 mother, Aurora, arranged for him to have an attendant begin accompanying him to classes the next week. Marcus was already driven to and from his classes by school officials on a golf cart due to his mobility issues \u2013 he can\u2019t walk for long distances.<\/p>\n<p>N.R. no longer appears to have had an issue with Marcus after his apology letter, but two weeks later, another female student, referred to only as M.G., claimed Marcus was following her around and taking pictures of her in the class they shared, though Aurora disputes the possibility of this wording. Marcus couldn\u2019t have followed M.G. around since he was escorted to and from class and had an attendant with him in classes, and the pictures he had of M.G. were taken <em>with<\/em> her \u2013 as selfies. Marcus\u2019 numerous photos of M.G. were because he accidentally hit the \u201cburst\u201d function on his phone\u2019s camera, which instantly takes hundreds of photos.<\/p>\n<p>Nevertheless, Marcus was again called in for a meeting with school officials to discuss M.G.\u2019s complaint and explained that an investigation had been launched. Marcus would be deemed \u201cresponsible or not responsible\u201d for allegedly \u201cfollowing [M.G. around,\u201d taking \u201cover 300 unauthorized pictures of her,\u201d and \u201cforcefully plac[ing] your hand on her shoulder while taking a selfie with her.\u201d Worded as deviously as possible, the allegations amounted to Marcus asking for a selfie with M.G. and putting his arm around her shoulder as he did so, as most people would, and then accidentally hitting the \u201cburst\u201d function.<\/p>\n<p>When M.G. was interviewed as part of the allegation, she claimed that because Marcus asked for a photo with her at the beginning of every class \u2013 again, something he had learned to do to try to make friends \u2013 she started thinking he might be doing something else with the photos. Marcus is not capable of understanding such a thought; the motive was put onto him by M.G. and Saddleback administrators.<\/p>\n<p>Aurora was devastated to learn that Saddleback would be investigating her son as if he were a sexual harasser and accused the college of discriminating against her son for his disabilities.<\/p>\n<p>In the investigation report finalized on March 8, 2018, Saddleback explained that Marcus \u201cand his mother have an expectation that our community college can provide a secure learning environment much like their high school experiences. Unfortunately, the campus and the student body is simply too large. There is an expectation that all of [Knight\u2019s] instructors explain [his] need for selfie taking, which is an unreasonable request.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Marcus would only have a handful of instructors each semester, raising questions as to how \u201cunreasonable\u201d it would be for them to simply explain the situation.<\/p>\n<p>As Aurora told me, the instructor in this particular class never reported Marcus as being disruptive during class.<\/p>\n<p>The investigative report recommended Marcus be suspended for the rest of the 2018 spring semester. Marcus and Aurora were informed there could be a hearing to finalize those recommendations. Panicked, Aurora hired an attorney to defend Marcus, and in August, the Knights were informed that the hearing was cancelled because M.G. was no longer available, as she was no longer a student at Saddleback.<\/p>\n<p>Without the hearing regarding the allegations, Saddleback decided not to suspend Marcus but to still discipline him by including a \u201cdisciplinary notice stating expectations with regard to [his] future conduct.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For Aurora, this was unacceptable. It was a black mark on Marcus\u2019 permanent record that she believed would hold him back from achieving his dreams, as it appeared as though he had done something wrong, when she contended he hadn\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat happens when Marcus tries to transfer to a four-year university? Will the accusations follow him? I am terrified for his future,\u201d Aurora <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thepostmillennial.com\/exclusive-autistic-college-student-clears-name-after-false-allegation\/\">told<\/a> reporter Toni Airaksinen more than a year ago.<\/p>\n<p>She sued, and in November 2019, The Daily Wire <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/autistic-college-student-punished-for-fist-bump-and-selfies-finally-clears-his-name\">reported<\/a> that the court sided with Marcus and ordered Saddleback to set aside \u201cthe findings and sanctions\u201d against Marcus. The news meant everything to Aurora, who raised Marcus as a single mother and who only wants what\u2019s best for her son.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe is smiling!\u201d Aurora said after the short trial that led to the court decision. \u201cAfter court Mark [Hathaway] took a selfie with Marcus. Then we told Marcus he could do a selfie too \u2026 he was afraid to do so. But we told him that it was ok, and he finally did!&nbsp; He wants a fist bump and selfie party!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hathaway is Marcus\u2019 attorney.<\/p>\n<p>For a while, things seemed to have gone Marcus\u2019 way, but Saddleback appealed the court\u2019s decision and last week, California\u2019s Fourth District Court of Appeal ruled that Saddleback no longer had to remove the disciplinary notice from Marcus\u2019 file. The court argued \u2013 in documents shared with The Daily Wire \u2013 that Marcus didn\u2019t have a right to the due process he would have received during a hearing because it was cancelled, even though it meant he received the disciplinary notice. The court also argued that there are no \u201cdecisions\u201d or \u201csanctions\u201d to set aside, arguing those referred to the suspension that never happened. The lower court, however, was working off the facts of the case, so the understood meaning of \u201cdecisions\u201d and \u201csanctions\u201d referred to the disciplinary letter.<\/p>\n<p>This means that Marcus will still have the note in his file. The news was devastating for Aurora, who called me panicking and crying that Marcus was still being viewed as a disciplinary problem.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am upset because all this is insanely absurd,\u201d Aurora told me. \u201c[Saddleback] knew that Marcus has limited expressive language\u2026 but the fact that he IS SPECIAL is automatically assumed [to be] doing something wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hathaway provided The Daily Wire his exclusive take on the ruling, noting that while it ignored much of what Marcus has been through, it might help future students who have been treated unfairly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Marcus Knight opinion cites every significant decision enforcing student and faculty rights in university and college discipline and explains that before imposing severe sanctions, schools must provide \u2018second-level due process,\u2019 \u2013 which includes first-level due process as well as a formal hearing with witnesses and cross-examination,\u201d Hathaway said in an email.<\/p>\n<p>For now, Saddleback\u2019s reprimand letter remains in Marcus\u2019 file, but he and Aurora plan to appeal the latest decision.<\/p>\n<p><em>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><em>member<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Marcus Knight has always wanted to make friends, which has been difficult since he has autism and cerebral palsy. In high school, he was taught that approaching people and asking &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1893314,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[6555,6558,4023,6557,6556,5135],"class_list":["post-125806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-autistic","tag-bumps","tag-college","tag-fist","tag-punished","tag-student"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125806"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125806\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1893314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}