THE SRV EXPOSITOR
"The past and the present are within my field of inquiry." — Sherlock Holmes,
in The Hound of the Baskervilles
Nathaniel Yu
SRVUSD's Defamation of Nathaniel Yu
In February of 2017, Nathaniel Yu was a junior-year student at San Ramon Valley High School. As a candidate running for student body president, he posted a spoof video portraying himself as a James Bond kind of character who rescues another student from a Palestinian terrorist with a scarf looking like that of Yasir Arafat. The video was reportedly up live on the internet for just one evening/night.
The video was taken down the next morning, at the recommendation of a friend, who apparently feared that SRVUSD Thought Police might be offended, with repercussions to follow for Nathaniel. That's exactly what happened. Nathaniel won his election, but was removed from his leadership position by District authorities, and then slandered District-wide (and worse). Nathaniel and his parents sued, and in 2020, SRVUSD finally settled the case for $665,000. Pending a more detailed narrative here, the following links tell the story.
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Danville student settles free-speech lawsuit against SRVUSD (Danville/San Ramon)
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School district reaches $665K settlement with student over Bond parody (KTVU)
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SRVUSD activists drive defamation of student, who then wins lawsuit (East Bay Times, re-phrased article title here)
See also: Nathaniel Yu v. San Ramon Valley Unified School District et al. for the defamation-case details.
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