Expelled Student Suing The UW For $30 Million

Expelled student

suing the UW

for $30 million

SEATTLE

A University of Washington student expelled after trying to place an ad for an assault rifle in the college newspaper has filed suit in U.S. District Court in Seattle seeking $30 million in damages.

Brian Brookbank, who has also been accused of disruptive behavior in class, said the university had denied his right to free speech, his right to due process before expelling him, and his right to bear arms.

He said he was seeking $5 million in compensatory damages and $25 million in punitive damages from the university in the suit filed yesterday.

``They threw me out of the U without any due process whatsoever. . . . They never asked me what the gun ad meant,'' he said.

Brookbank said the advertisement, which was not accepted by the UW Daily, was meant as a statement against gun control. He said his action was in response to an article in the newspaper about a professor who was offended by an ad in the Daily for a .22-caliber gun.

Brookbank's ad was for an AK-47 ``like used in California schoolyards,'' referring to a Stockton incident in which a gunman killed five children. Respondents were asked to contact ``the reactionary'' in a women's studies class, which Brookbank attended.

Three UW officials last month alleged in court papers they had been harassed by telephone by Brookbank.

Brookbank has denied the allegations.

Complainants were Eric Godfrey, chairman of the UW student disciplinary committee; Nancy Kenney, assistant professor of psychology and women's studies; and Steven Oswang, a vice provost.

Kenney said during a disciplinary hearing that she, her assistant teachers and students in her women's studies class were fearful of Brookbank's behavior.