Seattle Lawyer Wants to be Un-Googled

(Seattle, Washington) A Seattle civil rights lawyer, Ethiopian-born Shakespear Feyissa, is in a big conflict with the school administrators and the student newspaper staff at Seattle Pacific University (SPU).

Ten years ago while a student at SPU, Feyissa was suspended after being arrested on suspicion of sexual assault and the school newspaper carried the story. Although Feyissa was never formally charged in the case, the archived news story still pops up on Internet searches for Feyissa and he wants the school to remove the story.

He sued SPU in 2004 for violating its own policies by suspending him without a hearing. He lost the case in 2005 and an appeal in 2006 because the statute of limitations had expired. (That lawsuit also appears on Google.)

Feyissa didn't stop there. He still believes justice has not been served.

The 1998 article in the student newspaper, the Falcon, quotes Feyissa saying "SPU is still a school like the KKK, in my opinion." It also quotes then-provost Bruce Murphy saying there was "sound reason to believe that Mr. Feyissa is a threat to persons on campus."

With that popping up every time someone searches his name, Feyissa said he cannot escape the shadow of the accusation of attempted sexual assault, even though Seattle police closed the investigation and he was never charged. He's also worried what people will think after reading this article.

"Do you know how many girls, after they see that, we go on a date and they don't want to see me again?" he asked.

And for the sake of his business, Feyissa said, he fears the article casts him as a troublemaker who files frivolous discrimination complaints -- not exactly the image he wants as a civil-rights lawyer.

The current status of the conflict is unresolved. The student newspaper group adamantly refuses to remove the story from its archives claiming that acting otherwise would be censorship. University administrators are caught in the middle, having to pay for legal representation to respond to Feyissa's maneuverings while trying to placate him and force the student newspaper staff to comply to his wishes.

Don Mortenson, vice president of business and planning, said administrators tried repeatedly to convince the students that the article benefited no one and wasn't worth standing up for. But from the students' perspective, the larger issue — freedom of the press — was.

"The student editors decided it was their right or whatever to keep online what they wanted," Mortenson said. "It's not a matter of someone's rights being violated, it's just a matter of wisdom. Is it the prudent thing to do?"

Mortenson said every time Feyissa calls SPU's attorney about the Falcon, the school gets the bill.

"I'd love to have the students pay for it next time," he said.

So, for SPU administrators, it's not about freedom of speech, it's all about the Benjamins.

Interestingly, although Feyissa said the article paints him, presumably inaccurately, as a "troublemaker who files frivolous discrimination complaints," there appears to be no basis to believe otherwise.