The academic community is shocked by the news that not only were three faculty members murdered at the University of Alabama but that the suspect is a fellow academic. Amy Bishop, a biology professor, is facing murder charges in the shooting deaths of three faculty members and will be charged with the wounding of three other employees Friday.
In relation to the Virginia Tech shootings, I wrote about how such acts shatter the protected realm of the “academic circle,” here. It is particularly shocking to see a faculty member causing such mayhem.
Bishop is an assistant professor of biological sciences and allegedly killed the professors at Shelby Hall, named after U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama.
It has also been reported that Bishop shot her brother 25 years ago, here.
Killed were professors Gopi Podila, chairman of the biological sciences department; Maria Davis, associate professor of biology; and Adriel Johnson, associate professor of biology.
Bishop is a neuroscientist who joined the faculty in 2003. With her husband, Jim Anderson, chief science officer of Cherokee Labsystems in Huntsville, she created a portable cell-incubator called “InQ” which won a state prize. In one possible contributor of the incident, she was denied tenure. For those details, here.
Our condolences to the entire Alabama faculty, students, and families.
Alabama Suspect Linked to Brother’s 1986 Shooting Death
http://www.aolnews.com/crime/article/3-dead-in-shooting-at-university-of-alabama-huntsville/19356792
I found this quote, that I was unaware of, on gun control. I think this makes a pretty good case for allowing the people to bear arms.
“Germans who wish to use firearms should join the SS or the SA — ordinary citizens don’t need guns, as their having guns doesn’t serve the state.”
Heinrich Himmler
Doesn’t serve the state is right, our founders knew what they were doing when they penned the Second Amendment.
Is this the meaning of “class warfare”?
It would be interesting to find out how many of these spree-killers
are themselves NRA members. But, I agree that the core problem is not access to guns. It’s the gun culture itself, the widespread perception that guns are a problem-solving tool.
Yes, the NRA and its ilk bear a significant portion of the responsibility for propagating the perception that guns are somehow sacred and therefore should not be subject to any restrictions at all. Think of an NCA, a National Car Association that advocates making cars available to everyone, even convicted drunk drivers, even underage children, and without the necessity of such nuisances as a drivers license or a vehicle registration. Cars are sacred, too.
Duh:
“Isoroku Yamamoto; He studied at Harvard from 1919 to 1921 and later became the commander-in-chief of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. Yamamoto was instrumental in planning and executing the attack on Pearl Harbor and the Battle of Midway.”
I wouldn’t call Yamamoto infamous, a brilliant strategist yes, a patriot yes. If I remember correctly he was no fan of war.
“Yamamoto personally opposed the invasion of Manchuria in 1931, the subsequent land war with China (1937), and the 1940 Tripartite Pact with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. As Deputy Navy Minister, he apologized to United States Ambassador Joseph C. Grew for the bombing of the gunboat USS Panay in December 1937. These issues made him a target of assassination by pro-war militarists.”
Dave,
What was the motive?
So what’s with all the Hahvahd-bashing? Methinks a lot of whingers must be overcompensating for small … something-or-others.
One thing that’s interesting here is the degree to which the coverage omits discussion of motivation. LOTS of Harvard-bashing though. Implying, with no rational basis or explanation, that something that many years in the past should control her current situation.
It would make significantly more sense to bash Alabama, which was in fact the current situation. Harvard has no real gun culture, for example, in the way many parts of the South do.
I found one assertion that in addition to the insult (surely perceived as such) of being denied tenure, the department was trying to commit the injury of taking over that invention which was mentioned. That starts to make sense.
When a bunch of folk are adding insult to injury against you, you have a grievance. If the University was doing nothing to address that grievance, I’m sure she felt boxed in.
What can you do to recover those kind of major (many years, most of your youth) personal investments, or the now-denied future major income potential? (Likely no tenure anywhere else either, and your company gone/stolen.) Snapping isn’t the socially preferred option, true. All too often “let them get away with it” is the proferred solution. Doubleplus ungood.
H. Wesson
Thanks for the Joke of the Day. That was funny.
People with guns kill people. Bishop would not have been able to kill and wound as many co-workers with a knife or a board–which can’t compare to guns as weapons of choice for mass murders.
I was just thinking about this one. It would be better if everyone had revolvers. My great Granddad Daniel started the latter half of what is known Smith and Wesson. We need better armed citizens, everyday and every way.
Guns do not kill people, people kill people. It could have as easily have been a board or knife.
rcambell:
I was thinking the same thing. Well said. The NRA will be on this like white on rice.
More guns, isn’t that always the answer?
Let’s not forget:
Isoroku Yamamoto; He studied at Harvard from 1919 to 1921 and later became the commander-in-chief of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. Yamamoto was instrumental in planning and executing the attack on Pearl Harbor and the Battle of Midway.
Some other infamous Harvard alumni include Charles K. Lee, who embezzled over $100,000 from a charity for children with leukemia, and Ernst Hanfstaengl, who became a close friend and confidant of Adolf Hitler.
I don’t think it’s the school, but the number of students and the long history. It’s like the lottery; the more you play, the better your chances of winning. The ore you increase the numbers, the better chance you have of finding a bad apple.
mespo–
Harvard can lay claim to both great and infamous alumni. Here are a few Harvard alumni of the latter category who come to mind: Jeffrey Skilling, John Thain, John Yoo, Robert McNamara, Theodore Kacyzinksi.
My first reaction was–I’m surprised this doesn’t happen more often. I’ve known quite a few very talented people who didn’t get tenure. Often they were great teachers but not very effeicient at getting the evidence of research productivity (publications, big grants), and sometimes had rather little talent in research. Some were weak across the board. Given that this isn’t a major reserach institution, I have to wonder what their expecations were and how she performed. It may be that she was a great second banana to her husbnad, but not a productive independent scholar. many academic couples in the same field are like that. In my experience, the wife is usually the dynamo and the husband is the one either is a great project managere or just a lox, but happens both ways.
Re: Harvard—my relatives with advanced degrees from Harvard enjoy making fun of the place and its pretensions. Like most elite research universities, some departments are better than others and not all graduates go on to distinguish themsleves. I used to work with a Yale PhD whose degree was in a field where Yale has long had a pre-eminent department. He was, in a certain sense, dumb as a fence post–good at regurgitating info and sucking up to powerful people, but an utter flop in his field. probably had great GREs and letters. He was a part-timer with us and later vanished into the private sector. OTOH, his classmates included some extremely bright people, a few of whom went on to be among the most disntinguished academics of their generation. After people have been out of school for awhile, a degree from an elite university means less and less, often they are terrible places in terms of mentoring.
Ok, I am Bushed out on this one. But then, don’t fergit that Scalia will only look at folks that think like he does.
I am reading a book about TR right now. The River of Doubt. I do stand corrected. I do indeed.
AY:
“Enough said Harvard Trained. Enough to Ruin a Country.”
********************
Two Roosevelts, two Adams’, a Brandeis, and an Oliver Wendell Holmes would seem to make up for scores of George W. Bushs’ wouldn’t you think?
More guns on campus. The NRA and its members must be so proud.
Another tragic incidence of apparent work-place violence will have as its predictable consequence more restrictions and safeguards to protect us from ourselves. These incidents generally reveal outrageous conduct as perceived by the perpetrator, accompanied by feelings of rage and hopelessness as procedures designed to address personality-based decision-making either fails or are deemed too troublesome to employ. Add to this, the seeming insatiable need to attain, progress, and be recognized so prevalent today, and you have a recipe for violent flare-ups. What we see here is how close– even in the “civilized” realm of the academe– we are from crossing the line into barbarism. If justice has but one virtue, it is the perception by most that it is attainable, if nowhere else, in a court of law. When that perception vanishes, we have what we have here.
Madness.
Enough said Harvard Trained. Enough to Ruin a Country. I was surprised to see that this occurred. Something must really be remiss that she resorted to this to settle a dispute. I am presuming it was a dispute. Could Tenure have been in question or plagiarism at work. This is sad for all, including the alleged perpetrator.