Santa Ana Unified School District Trustee Audrey Yamagata-Noji works at Mt. San Antonio College, as Vice President of Student Services.  She made headlines in June, in the online Mt. SAC Student Newspaper, when she suspended a student – for Tweeting.

Diamond Cruikshank, a 21-year-old radio/television major, was suspended by Yamagata-Noji, and is not allowed to set foot on campus.

Cruikshank’s problems began after a conversation about studio time with Professor of Commercial Entertainment and Arts Tammy Trujillo resulted in a disagreement. Cruikshank signed on to her Twitter account and began tweeting.

Trujillo’s student assistant Cheri Easley was informed by another student that Cruikshank was tweeting. Easley reported that she went to Cruikshank’s Twitter profile and began to read her most recent posts.

According to a letter written to Cruikshank by Yamagata-Noji on the Discipline Hearing results, Cruikshank was suspended for three reasons. “1) your behavior was disrespectful and defiant in failing to comply with the request of your professors; 2) you failed to correct your behavior after the first incident and caused a second disruption to the educational environment and; 3) although you were remorseful during the hearing, you failed to acknowledge your behavior with an apology to your professors,” Yamagata-Noji wrote.

I have always heard that Yamagata-Noji is imperious and that she mistreats students, but this is ridiculous – and illegal.  It is a clear violation of the student’s First Amendment rights.

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