A Student Was Sodomized With a Pole at His Public High School. This California Congressional Hopeful Rejected His Damages Claim.

Democrat Jay Chen ‘ought to have’ identified of horrific hazing ritual as faculty board member, lawsuit states

Collin Anderson • October 22, 2022 5:00 am

As a faculty board member in Southern California, Democratic congressional hopeful Jay Chen voted to reject a damages declare from a highschool scholar who was sodomized with a pole as a part of a horrific hazing ritual.

Chen—who’s now operating for Congress in California’s forty fifth Congressional District—sat on the Hacienda La Puente faculty board throughout a high-profile hazing incident in 2011, which noticed older members of a boys’ highschool soccer staff within the district sexually assault and sodomize their youthful teammates with a sharp, javelin-like pole. In October 2012, one sufferer filed a declare for at least $25,000 towards the district, alleging that Chen and different high officers failed to guard him. Chen led a movement to reject the declare in November 2012, board meeting minutes present.

The sufferer later detailed the brutal assault in a lawsuit towards Chen’s district, which cited the preliminary damages declare. “Plaintiff and other varsity soccer players were victimized after being lured to the backroom … where athletic equipment was stored,” the swimsuit acknowledged. “Before the assault, the victim is asked whether he wants it ‘the easy way’ or ‘the hard way.’ The easy way meant that the victim would bend down and accept the sexual assault without resistance—while the hard way meant, upon resistance by the victim, he will be physically attacked by those present and forcefully have a foreign object inserted into his anus.”

Chen was explicitly talked about within the lawsuit, which alleged that Chen knew or ought to have identified of the “sexually abusive actions” and that the district “failed to protect” the victims. Chen’s district settled the swimsuit simply days earlier than its scheduled trial date in March 2016. The assaults additionally led to felony assault convictions towards three juveniles.

Years after the ordeal, Chen is mounting a high-profile bid to unseat freshman Rep. Michelle Steel (R.). That race has seen Chen lean closely on his educational background—his marketing campaign web site touts his function as a “school board member” and says he “dedicated himself to public service and education” to “ensure all students have a chance to thrive and succeed.” But Chen’s faculty board tenure could very properly be his weak level as a candidate. 

Beyond his 2012 vote towards the sodomy sufferer, Chen in 2010 spearheaded an effort to carry the Confucius Classroom program—which China’s Ministry of Education, an arm of the Chinese Communist Party, funds and runs—into his district’s Okay-12 lecture rooms. The program would have introduced CCP-backed academics and curriculum supplies into Chen’s Southern California group. After native mother and father pushed again, Chen’s district rejected the academics however accepted program textbooks from China, in line with the Los Angeles Daily News. Chen didn’t perceive the outrage, telling the Daily News he did not “see anything sinister about using books from China” given “practically everything we use is made in China.”

Chen’s embrace of this system prompted criticism from Steel, whose marketing campaign in February highlighted the Democrat’s help for “CCP-sponsored schools.” Chen responded by accusing Steel—one of many first Korean-American ladies to serve in Congress—of participating in “anti-Asian racism.” Just months later, Chen mocked the Republican’s accent throughout a marketing campaign occasion.

“She just had another town hall the other day. And it’s tough. Like, we’ve transcribed it,” Chen mentioned. “You kind of need an interpreter to figure out exactly what she’s saying.”

In addition to his faculty board tenure, Chen touts his function as a Mt. San Antonio Community College trustee. Chen turned president of the varsity’s board in 2015, and over the following 4 years, the Democrat thrice voted to boost nonresident tuition, the Free Beacon reported in June. Now, Chen calls scholar mortgage debt “one of the biggest crises faced by our country” as tuition prices “skyrocket.”

Chen first ran for Congress in 2012, shedding to former Republican congressman Ed Royce by 15 factors. He will face Steel in November after successful 43 % of the vote in California’s June primaries. Chen has raised $4.1 million to Steel’s $6.3 million as of Sept. 30.