Professor calls cops on student

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Instead of telling me how you feel about this, why don't you tell her!

[email protected]


Dear Ms. Anderson,
I am writing to you because I feel you overstepped your boundaries as a college professor in the way that you have treated Mr. Wahlberg. He was participating in your class like he was asked to do, and you filed a complaint against him simply because you don't agree with the subject matter he presented. It is not your place to decide whether you agree with him or not, but simply to grade him on his efforts and partictipation in the assignment. It shocks me that you have attempted to strip him of his Constitutional right to free speech because you disagree with his Constitutional right to "...keep and bear arms...". It is not your place to decide who gets to excercise those rights, nor to decide when or where it is done, and I am surprised that you, who are supposed to be an ecucator, are ignorant of this. I hope you will reconsider how you have handled this situation, and take a different approach should the "...right to keep and bear arms..." be discussed in your classroom in the future.

Sincerely,
XXXXXXXX
Concerned U.S. Citizen
 
once again it show the stupidity of the pc crowd. What part of free speech does this college Professor not understand ? Call atf for *** on list ? call aclu 1st amedment violation file big federal suit on school , professor and college pd. Call local police dept not college pd file report of harassment and intimidation call fbi on treatment by local police agency. then call nra. fox news , glen beck. Call Then take money from case go to good school and raise billboard post sign proffess at college ____ no free speech.
 
1. gauge your professor. If you cannot agree with his/her views (even if that means just writing nonsense for a grade) avoid the topic altogether, or you will pay for it
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This completely defeats the purpose of the academic environment, which is to discuss ideas freely and gain knowledge. If I want to talk about a relevant topic in a class then why the hell shouldn't I?
 
As a college professor, I am appalled. I can't imagine reporting a student to campus police because of a well-reasoned argument in class. But of course, I'm a gun owner, so there you go. . . !

I would like to think that this over-reaction is due to the fact that it happened in CT, but I have to admit that most academics don't have much experience with firearms and associate them only with violence. This knee-jerk reaction can be overcome, but only with a lot of patience and by people they know and trust. Unfortunately, they don't tend to know and trust people who are familiar with firearms, so the result is a vicious circle.
 
There was a graduate student in my sociology class that sat in class and did the whole TA deal that asked us a few questions one time. They went along the lines of "How many have fired a handgun?" "How many have shot a rifle?" "How many own firearms?".

I'm happy to say that more than half the class raised their hands with any of the questions, but the look on the professor and the grad student's face said that they were surprised by the amount of people who had at least shot a firearm.

I don't know what they expected, being in Texas. But San Marcos is slowly but surely becoming Austin Jr, soon to be steeped in mystical and different lines of thought, I'm afraid.
 
Jim Keenan said:
Hmmm. An unwarranted denial of the right of free speech, with the clear threat of an impact on a student's grades, then intimidation and harassment, plus more threats, by the police.

A lot of lawyers will love this one. Unfortunately, the taxpayers of CT might not.

Jim
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Well, I know quite a few CT Tax payers, myself included, that would be more then happy to see this go to court.

I wrote a letter to the professor myself, just real glad I didn't choose to go to CCSU now...
 
None of us where there, so we have no idea was said/ done. For all we know he could have had pics full of gore. Then again he also could have said "I carry every day rather its legal or not"

Get all the facts before you pass judgment.

Also remember in class the 1a, does not apply. While getting my degree I saw lots of people droped from classes/ failed for thier comments.
 
Good point. If the campus police "requested my presence" then I would kindly tell them that I had other plans for the evening.
 
Usually its not an Instructor but rather another student that raises issues like this. I would bet it was another student who went to the teacher and the teacher overreacted.
 
When I attended college most of my professors were rather naive to the manly things of the world i.e. guns, motocycles, tail gate parties etc. I would guess that they would have also gotten upset over a presentation about violence on campus by a student. But they had a little common sense and would not have panicked.
 
This is the letter I sent. I suspect she'll delete the emails she receives, but it made me feel better to write it.


Subject: an old lady would like to comment (politely, of course)

Dear Ms. Anderson,

I'm a former gun hater who has just recently learned that there is much more to gun ownership than killing people. I'm a few months shy of 60 years old, and I fired a gun for the first time eight months ago. It's great sport. I enjoy making holes in pieces of paper in a controlled environment. It's much like bowling, but without the big, heavy ball.

Many people are afraid of guns because they fear accidents. Happily, so far, none of my guns have jumped out of their storage containers and shot at me. I've learned that guns only do what you tell them to do. They're a lot like computers in that respect. Can there be accidents with guns? Of course. Just as there can be accidents with cars and sewing machines and swimming pools and electrical outlets and hammers and cows that fall from the sky.

Many years ago, my 15-year old cousin was killed when he tripped and fell on the shotgun he was carrying while hunting in the woods. Around the same time, another young cousin was killed when he was hit by a truck while riding a bicycle. If guns should be banned because people can be killed accidentally, why not ban trucks and bicycles?

Trucks, bicycles, and guns are inanimate objects. The fault lies, not with the object, but with the person using the object. In the two examples I cited, sadly, the fault belonged to the child who died. One boy was holding his gun in an unsafe manner; one rode his bicycle into the path of an oncoming truck.

Many people are afraid of guns because they fear violent crime. Is there violent crime using guns? Of course. Will banning guns help? Of course not. No criminal is going to say to himself "Oh darn, I was planning on robbing a bank and raping a few women today, but I can't legally own a gun, so I guess I'll have to go get a job instead." Personally, I have no desire to be raped at gunpoint. Oddly enough, I'm not comforted by the thought of being raped at knifepoint instead.

The intimidating weapon is an inanimate object. The true danger lies, not with the weapon, but with the person wielding it. A violent criminal, intent on harm, will use whatever weapon he can get - gun, knife, baseball bat. If guns should be banned because people can commit violent crimes with them, why not ban steak knives and baseball bats and duct tape?

Rest assured, the vast majority of gun owners are not irresponsible beer-swilling, bambi-killing, biker, gangsta-rapper, redneck thugs.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Sincerely,
my name
my city
 
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Hi Jim Keenan

Hmmm. An unwarranted denial of the right of free speech, with the clear threat of an impact on a student's grades, then intimidation and harassment, plus more threats, by the police.

A lot of lawyers will love this one. Unfortunately, the taxpayers of CT might not.
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Although a college is 'supported' by the state it is a private institution. The 1st amendment only covers acts of the state not that of private institutions.

If this person is a communications major or minor the better strategy would be to sue the college as a breach of contract as it's very hard to learn to communicate when everything you say could be used against you.

Selena
 
If I were in that class, my next project would be titled "Authority's Suppression of Thought and Speech on College Campuses Today"
 
+1 to Seminole's comments. I've been a college professor for 16 years, and I'm frankly offended by the idiocy demonstrated by Prof. Anderson and by the campus police personnel.

But please keep in mind that not all college professors are anti-gun nuts, any more than all gun owners are the whackies that some people make us out to be. It's awfully easy to stereotype, and we see it all the time: in newspaper and magazine articles, on radio and television shows, even on credible gun boards such as THR.

At the same time, please keep in mind that the same Bill of Rights that guarantees our right to keep and bear arms also guarantees Paula Anderson's right to free speech. Sadly, neither amendment acts as a guarantee against stupidity.
 
Gamera: "This completely defeats the purpose of the academic environment, which is to discuss ideas freely and gain knowledge. If I want to talk about a relevant topic in a class then why the hell shouldn't I?"

I disagree. College students pay a lot of money to receive instruction according to an established curriculum. As a college student in earlier times, back when Soviets and other dinosaurs roamed the earth, it never ceased to amaze me how loudmouthed ignoramuses felt it was somehow part of the curriculum for them to spout off whatever ill-conceived, half-baked lame-brained idea happened to enter their drug-addled, mentally-challenged thoughts.

Somehow, the 1960s never really came to an end on college campuses. The kids somehow imagine they will become educated by talking to one another. That's a load of crap. The professor knows more than you do about the subject you have paid considerable sums to study. That's why she's the professor. Shut up and listen, and keep your thoughts about guns, politics, art and the professor's legs to yourself.
 
Let's not forget this important point:

Yes, the prof. is a blithering idiot, and definitely in the wrong. No question there.

But the police are far more culpable in their actions than the professor. The police get raving lunatics making raving lunatic reports to them all the time. The appropriate response is "sorry, there's no law broken; nothing we can do about it." Here we clearly have a raving lunatic reporting something perfectly legal, and a complete non-issue as far as the police are concerned. But, she's entitled to make her raving lunatic phone call. The police made a huge mistake in actually taking steps on a perfectly legal action - asking for an interview with "non-suspect" in an allegation of *speech promoting the lawful use of self-defense*. They should get slapped with a lawsuit, or at a minimum, uphold disciplinary action against the officer who authorized following up on a non-threat / non-crime.
 
The Kampus Kops are not a police agency. They are more akin to mall cops. Private security. NOT sworn law enforcement officers. They take their marching orders from the President of the College and his academic minions, and are not subject to those Constitutional restraints imposed on law enforcement agencies. I really don't blame the Kampus Kops here; they probably were as embarrassed about the situation as they could be, but weren't going to get fired over it. The student sounds like a nut case. He ditched class after all that, because he felt uncomfortable? After all that? He got his fifteen minutes of fame -- and exited, stage left? Wierd.
 
They should get slapped with a lawsuit, or at a minimum, uphold disciplinary action against the officer who authorized following up on a non-threat / non-crime.



fail but it sounded good
 
In my state, campus police are indeed sworn law enforcement officers, required to complete POST training like any and all other law enforcement officers.
 
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