Murder on Campus
My heart goes out to the families of those faculty members killed by a colleague, another faculty member (who was reportedly denied tenure), during a faculty meeting on Friday at the University of Alabama, Huntsville. Denial of tenure is a stressful event for everyone involved, most especially for the one denied obviously. But the loss of a job, and the change in career and the stress that comes with that could NEVER be justification for murder.
I’m so sorry for those whose lives were taken: Drs. G. K. Podila, Maria Ragland Davis; and Adriel D. Johnson Sr., for their families, loved ones, and friends. I’m equally horrified for the children and family of the alleged perpetrator Dr. Amy Bishop.
On a personal level, I’m distressed by the loss of my image of academia as a safe place, an environment where we ideally think that rigorous debate and disagreement can take place but that evidence and reason will ultimately prevail. Every time there is a shooting or other horrible act of violence on a college campus, I lose another little piece of that idealistic notion.
Tragic. Any way you view it.