CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A Kanawha County circuit judge denied an attempt by a George Washington High School senior to gain an injunction against her school principal.
Judge Duke Bloom handed down the order Monday in the case of Katelyn Campbell, ruling the student failed to prove GW principal George Aulenbacher threatened her or caused or harm.
Campbell, 17, filed legal action against Aulenbacher last month, claiming he violated her right to free speech. The student said Aulenbacher threatened to make maligning statements to the college that had accepted her as retaliation for critical comments Campbell made to the media about an abstinence-only speaker at the school.
Campbell testified during an April 23 hearing she wanted the injunction to keep Aulenbacher from doing anything else in connection with the situation.
In his ruling, Judge Bloom’s wrote that he doesn’t believe Aulenbacher threatened Campbell and noted the court cannot issue an injunction as a precautionary matter. Bloom noted Wellesley College already confirmed Campbell’s scholarship and admission are not in question.
Aulenbacher said during the April 23 hearing he was upset that Campbell went to the media about the speaker instead of coming to him first.
“I told her, ‘I feel like you stabbed me in the back.’ I said, ‘Why wouldn’t you come and speak to me first and give me a heads up?’ I told her, ‘How would she like if somebody called your college and made accusations about you without you even knowing they made it?'”
Bloom criticized the principal in his ruling by emphasizing Aulenbacher’s choice of an analogy when he met with Campbell was “extremely poor.”
Bloom said he respects Campbell’s right to speak up, but this case was not about free speech.
“This case is about whether Mr. Aulenbacher threatened Ms. Campbell and whether under the circumstances the Court is required to prevent Mr. Aulenbacher from doing irreparable harm to her. Based on the evidence adduced at the hearing, the Court has no choice but to find that Ms. Campbell failed to meet this high burden,” Bloom wrote.
Campbell did not see the presentation by Christian speaker Pam Stenzel in person. Campbell opted, like several other students, not to attend. But the senior said she later heard a recording of the event, during which Stenzel warned students not to rely upon condoms and birth control.