Professor Calls Cops After Student's Presentation...WTF?!

Everyone loves a smart ass! :) :) :)

Thank you for copying and pasting a bunch of comments from a different website. Wow, the light you shed is just blinding. Thanks, because none of what was said there was said here, and those people commenting on that site have much more grounds and basis for conclusion than do people here. You are so amazing, pulsaf! Your research methods are insurmountable!

anybody who teaches speech has heard many pro-gun/anti gun, pro choice/pro life, etc. Some issues are timeless - check with any speech teacher, it is common knowledge.

yes I am an instructor. Clearly the woman teaching speech has probably heard a 100 pro gun presentations - it is not a novel position.

And yet the teacher felt compelled to report the student. In my experience, this would only happen if the teacher and students perceived a real threat.

As a teacher I know it would be a pain in the ass to make the report, paperwork etc., and one would only do it if it was absolutely necessary.

First of all, you're a teacher and you can't consistently use proper grammar or spell correctly? This concerns me. What do you teach? And to whom?

All that was 'necessary' for this professor to do was notify the campus police. It took her a phone call to do so. No real effort was needed on her part to make the call to the police. It was an obvious case of over reaction.

But now I see that you're just biased because you're a teacher. It's a pity you can't get over your own personal biases to engage and help students engage in healthy debate about any topic.

You are indeed a loony.

No, unimatrix, what you are 'spouting' (thank you, that is a better word for what you are doing) is hearsay because the only reference in the article to the content of the class presentation is this:

"On October 3, 2008, Wahlberg and two other classmates prepared to give an oral presentation for a Communication 140 class that was required to discuss a “relevant issue in the media”. Wahlberg and his group chose to discuss school violence due to recent events such as the Virginia Tech shootings that occurred in 2007.

Shortly after his professor, Paula Anderson, filed a complaint with the CCSU Police against her student. During the presentation Wahlberg made the point that if students were permitted to conceal carry guns on campus, the violence could have been stopped earlier in many of these cases. He also touched on the controversial idea of free gun zones on college campuses."

Does it say he talked about his guns? No. How is it clear from that paragraph that the student is a poor communicator?

Perhaps we should look at his quotes at the bottom of the article:

'“I was a bit nervous when I walked into the police station,” Wahlberg said, “but I felt a general sense of disbelief once the officer actually began to list the firearms registered in my name. I was never worried however, because as a law-abiding gun owner, I have a thorough understanding of state gun laws as well as unwavering safety practices.

“I don’t think that Professor Anderson was justified in calling the CCSU police over a clearly nonthreatening matter. Although the topic of discussion may have made a few individuals uncomfortable, there was no need to label me as a threat,” Wahlberg said in response. “The actions of Professor Anderson made me so uncomfortable, that I didn’t attend several classes. The only appropriate action taken by the Professor was to excuse my absences.””'

What indicates, by the only examples that you have been presented with, that this student is 'obviously a poor communicator'? As I stated above, which, uncannily, you have declined to address or respond to, I made a college presentation at a public university about lesbians. It made many of the students uncomfortable at the time. Many of them even mocked me. The 'uncomfortable feelings of some students' does not warrant police intervention into other students' lives for idea expression and thought provocation.

As also stated, you take a conventionally viewed as being controversial stance on marijuana policy. How would you feel if your college professors notified campus police of your presentation on marijuana policy? Would you like to be interrogated over this?

Also, perhaps you should read the superbly balanced NurseDiesel's post: the class is a communications class. This means that the controversial subject of concealed carry and gun zones in universities, which had already been addressed in the mainstream media (http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/04/14/campus.guns/index.html) is fair game for a COMMUNICATIONS class (ie, the kind of classes you take if you want to work in the MEDIA).

So, no, you can't say you support free speech if you support police interrogation of student communications presentations regarding media topics when the topics have already been approved by the university. Sorry, you are very wrong in this matter.

The teacher no doubt has heard plenty of pro and anti gun speeches in her class. However, this particular time, she and the rest of the class were so frightened by your little pal that she felt she had to notify the authorities.

This is clearly a reflection on the student, not the teacher or the class mates.

The post is silly, it is all here say.

I completely agree, and thank you for having such a balanced view on the subject. That is another issue - this subject had previously been discussed all over the mainstream media (aka the ultimate form of American communication).

The subject was discussed before the communications class incident here:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/04/14/campus.guns/index.html

How can a student expect to go on into the professional world, especially the professional communications world (media) and simultaneously be made to feel threatened by media topics?

unimatrix,

Are you serious? The student was scared out of attending classes for weeks because of this incident. This is totally unacceptable. It's people like you who are DOING THE CENSORING. What don't you understand?

This letter was sent to me by the most bleeding heart liberal hippie i've ever met, and he was SCARED by it.

That is the most crazy absurd thing I've ever heard. You are the nut job in this scenario. Again, show me registered gun owners who commit crimes with their guns. No one seems to want to acknowledge this.

Once, I was in a class discussing lesbians before it was 'popular' or 'acceptable' and it made many class mates uncomfortable. Should the police have been called in that instance? You are incredibly delusional and, actually, you personally frighten me.

An attempt to intimidate a teacher. You are crazy. I emailed the teacher saying that she should be ashamed to call herself an academic if she stifles students' free speech and INTIMIDATES THEM SO MUCH THEY CANNOT ATTEND CLASSES.

You are completely, 100%, no holds barred delusional.

The shame falls on you for calling yourself a 'liberal' and handing off the founding fathers' constitutional rights to a media which has prepared you with a nutty idea that 'all gun owners are crazy right wing nut jobs'. Guess what? Criminals....they will always have guns in this country. Some people live in places where they have to defend themselves. People like you terrify the hell out of many law abiding people like me.

The fact remain it is a cowardly act to post someone's email on a site like this and encourage people to harass that individual.

If you had any class or self respect you would remove the email address. It is one thing to discuss ideas or policy; it is quite another to encourage abuse and harassment.

Again, the action is shameful and despicable.

unimatrix,

I encouraged no one to harass her. I'll take it down just for you, though, since you think that individuals cannot be trusted to say appropriate things to other people. I assure you, the email I sent her was not and could not in any way be viewed as harassment in any light. You are disgusting. It is a sad, sad thing that you live in America. Our rights are taken away more every single day, and people like you are the ones handing them over. You should be ashamed of yourself.

thank you smallgod

I think you did the right thing

It is terrifying. I'm pretty sure they can get the records from anyone.

By the way, this post has been censored. That's scary, too.

Wow, I'm sorry. I have yet to make sense of all these people who think it was right for the police to interrogate this person and scare him out of going to class for weeks.

Next time you do something stupid, I hope the cops are there to arrest you. The issue is not the content of the presentation, that is already covered by freedom of speech. The problem is with the involvement of law enforcement in a situation where they had no jurisdiction or right to antagonize.

Betico,

How, exactly, by your 'assumptions', do you take this student to be an 'idiot'? What proof have you? The only quote from the student in the article makes him appear as an ordinary and, actually, well articulated individual. Is talking about the possibility of concealed carry in a university setting really cause to label someone an 'idiot' and say that they deserve police interrogation? You should provide more of an explanation for your statement.

You're right, maybe you should contact the professor, whose email is listed above, before resorting to name calling. You're saying that the professor was in the right for calling the Police on a student for a presentation? Thanks for helping the military industrial complex with your attitude.

Also, we don't need any 'liberals' (I use the term very, very, very loosely) telling anyone that I or anyone doesn't have a right to free speech. When did 'liberals' start having the authority to tell people what they can and can't talk about or can and can't discuss in an intellectual environment? Things like what you just said are truly frightening. And don't go calling me a 'right wing' 'conservative' 'gun nut jockey' because you don't even know who I am or how I vote. Additionally, the person in the article is not even an individual to be concerned over. Why don't you go check and see how many registered gun owners go out and shoot up schools or commit crimes with their registered firearms in general? What's your issue with law abiding, safety acknowledging gun owners? What's the first thing Hitler did in Nazi Germany? Take away gun rights. People....wake up please.....

neocongo is right

unimatrix,

What, his little two line quip that you already agreed with was enough to convince you? Please, never do jury duty.

Better to get all of the evidence before anyone makes a decision.