first of all. i ask you all to please, do not make any judgments about my school or anyone involved in this incident. this article is just the tip of the iceberg.
yes, i attend to the art institute of Portland in Oregon. i want to get to the point and clarify some things before this further misleads anyone. what i am writing is based on my opinion and mine only.
i am also from the GAD (game art and design) major. yes, i have had classes with Robert Averil in the past, several times. and i was also there when he took the witness with him to talk to the dean of student affair (as mentioned in the article). but i can tell you honestly that we are so much happier that Robert Averil is no longer attending to the art institute of Portland. why? because nobody likes him in the school. not because of his 'religion'. our school has a pretty high tolerant for religion. although it is in our handbook to never talk about religion in school, but that's just rules written down to avoid repercussions.
the article was correct about the incident. yes, he did talk to the girl about how leprechauns cannot be proven scientifically. basically what the article tells you. everybody in the GAD department knows about this case, because everybody remembers Robert Averil, and when i say remember, i meant "remember".
in all of our opinion, the school DID NOT expel robert Averil because of what he said to the girl. if you read the article, you would notice that bob (robert) has a troubled past with the authorities in the school. this incident is the last straw that broke the camel's back. so i think everyone should withdraw their opinions about my school being "strict".
bob is a kid who never shuts up in class. and all he does is talk about random things that he dug up from forums and corners of the internet. i cannot deny the fact that he has the ability to learn. but he's a total failure in school. he failed most of his classes, he half-asses most of his works, and lied through his teeth just to get a passing grade. and he doesn't seem to understand other's feeling toward him. he's quite frankly drowning in his own arrogance thinking that he's the best student in school and that attending to school is merely for the purpose to earn a piece of paper and move on with life. we would always joke about the school not expelling him for his poor grades because they are in it for the money.
regarding the incident with previous professors. bob used the system and claimed he's disabled and therefore requires a special curriculum. and for the one whole term he gave his professor a hard time and his attitude was just disgusting and awful. in the end, it came to a showdown, and he abused the system to have one of the professors fired.
the second incident happened while i was in his class. for the whole term he did not fulfill a single assignment given by my professor. when he presents his project to the class, he would make up long winded stories and bullshits to cover up the poor qualities of his drawings. and in our final, he did not meet the criteria given by our professor, and he was told in his face that he failed the class. almost immediately bob complained to the dean about my professor being biased.
the school was sick and tired of the complains received by professors and students and were noticing his grades. you can always find students talking about how much they wish the school would kick him out because of his attitude and his behaviors.
and i personally am really sick of what he did after the school expelled him.
currently, all of us in school are speculating that, Robert Averil informed the Portland Mercury, the local news paper. and because there werent any announcements, we did not find out about this until after thanksgiving. he wanted to leave with a bang and therefore he is trying all that he could to make news headlines and damage the school's reputation.
it's safe to say, you can ask any AIPD students and they would know who Robert Averil is, and they will all tell you the same thing:
"nobody likes him because of his attitude and his behavior"
i write this for two reasons. 1. i dislike him, and i am terribly upset that an asshole like him is trying to gain pity from the innocent people. 2. i do it because almost 90% of the people jumped to conclusion about my school wronging him after reading the rather misleading article and not listening to both sides of the story.
and for those of you who are wondering, this is the other side of the story.
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