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Saturday, February 28, 2009 Professor Reports Student to Police for Defending Concealed Carry By Paul Hsieh @ 10:01 AM At Central Connecticut State University, student John Wahlberg was reported to the police by his professor Paula Anderson, after he gave a presentation in class on campus violence in which he defended concealed carry. After Wahlberg raised the point that allowing students with concealed weapons permits to carry on campus might have saved lives in incidents such as the 2007 Virginia Tech shootings, Professor Anderson filed a complaint with the campus police against Wahlberg stating that his presentation was making students feel "scared and uncomfortable". The police questioned Wahlberg about his own firearms and where he kept them: "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 guess Professor Anderson doesn't think that academic freedom extends to students arguing to exercise certain constitutionally-protected rights. As another student noted: "If you can't talk about the Second Amendment, what happened to the First Amendment?" asked Sara Adler, president of the Riflery and Marksmanship club on campus. "After all, a university campus is a place for the free and open exchange of ideas." Update: As others have noted here and elsewhere (e.g., Volokh and Instapundit), we may not have the full story. So appropriate caution is warranted before leaping to hasty conclusions. Labels: Academia, Guns Share |    E-mail Paul Hsieh     PermaLink ()    Comments (New Page)   Subscribe to NoodleFood Blog Posts via Feed Reader   via E-mail Subscribe to NoodleCast Podcasts M4A via iTunes (MP3)   via Feed Reader   via E-mail

Comments
	Saturday, February 28, 2009 at 12:00:48 mst Comment ID: #1 Name: Jim May E-mail: seerak(at)gmail.com Someone should file a complaint against Professor Anderson, stating that his complaint made First and Second Amendment supporting students feel "scared and uncomfortable".
	Saturday, February 28, 2009 at 12:01:50 mst Comment ID: #2 Name: Jim May E-mail: seerak(at)gmail.com "Her" complaint. (Missed the "a" at the end of "Paula").
	Saturday, February 28, 2009 at 13:42:54 mst Comment ID: #3 Name: Details Wanted Just like the news article about the diet study, this news article is light on details. While the professor may have been acting irrationally, we don't know the *content* of the presentation and what exactly the student said. I'm hesitant to condemn the professor without more information.
	Saturday, February 28, 2009 at 14:21:47 mst Comment ID: #4 Name: Kyle Haight E-mail: khaight(at)alumni.ucsd.edu URL: http://www.leftist.org/haightspeech I'm not. My general rule of thumb is that modern college professors do not deserve the benefit of the doubt. This smells like an attempt to chill speech the professor found objectionable, and Jim nailed the proper response -- the professor should be required to attend First Amendment sensitivity training.
	Saturday, February 28, 2009 at 15:34:20 mst Comment ID: #5 Name: Fast Eddie E-mail: rasimus(at)verizon.net URL: http://thundertales.blogspot.com I'm a bit reluctant to accept "modern college professors do not deserve the benefit of the doubt". As an adjunct professor in government with MS degrees in both Political Science and International Relations, I don't resemble that remark. I'm also a 23 year veteran USAF fighter pilot and a life member of the NRA. Sort of out of the cookie-cutter, heh? Ditto my comfort level with regard to "should be required to attend First Amendment sensitivity training." I recognize the tongue-in-cheek aspect of the comment, but it is so typically politically correct in the current environment that it could be taken seriously. The professor's problem was that rather than being able to rationally debate an issue with her student she went like some sort of KGB or Gestapo informant to campus security to turn the guy in for speaking about an issue he deemed important. By the time we get to college classes students should be mature enough not to be frightened or made uncomfortable by ideas with which they do not agree. Further, I think the student would have been well within his rights to question how the campus security folks were able to "actually beng to list the firearms registered in my name." The implications of that Big Brother statement are chilling and begin to leave me "scared and uncomfortable." Losing academic freedom and the ability to debate ideas rationally is the danger here. It may already be too late on many campuses.
	Saturday, February 28, 2009 at 16:38:53 mst Comment ID: #6 Name: KPO'M E-mail: ka84796(at)comcast.net Kyle, apparently you didn't get the message that "academic freedom" applies only to collectivist ideas. Anyway, I think I'll enjoy a nice evening walking around alone in the west side of Chicago tonight. After all, we don't allow concealed carry and have a strict handgun ban, so it must be safe, right? :-)
	Saturday, February 28, 2009 at 18:28:02 mst Comment ID: #7 Name: Jim May E-mail: seerak(at)gmail.com Fast Eddie writes: "I'm a bit reluctant to accept "modern college professors do not deserve the benefit of the doubt". As an adjunct professor in government with MS degrees in both Political Science and International Relations, I don't resemble that remark. I'm also a 23 year veteran USAF fighter pilot and a life member of the NRA. Sort of out of the cookie-cutter, heh?" Certainly, and I'm glad there are people in academia who don't fit the cookie-cutter. Kudos to you and all academic non-conformists for running that gauntlet and winning. But in your position, you are probably as aware as we are, that the possibility of any random professor being someone "out of the cookie cutter" just isn't the way to bet. There is no shortage of the kind of Leftist, politically corrupt BS that many, many professors engage in -- ask certain Duke lacrosse players. Moreover, the piece of evidence we do have -- a complaint based on the student *feelings* -- is a pretty good indicator of what we are dealing with here. As you wrote: "The professor's problem was that rather than being able to rationally debate an issue with her student she went like some sort of KGB or Gestapo informant to campus security to turn the guy in for speaking about an issue he deemed important." I agree. It would therefore be fitting for Wahlberg to retaliate by means of the same mechanism she used against him, and so should any of her future victims. Perhaps then the absurdity of such things might be exposed.
	Saturday, February 28, 2009 at 21:52:47 mst Comment ID: #8 Name: Kyle Haight E-mail: khaight(at)alumni.ucsd.edu URL: http://www.leftist.org/haightspeech #5: I meant something very specific by my statement -- when I read a credible story about a modern college professor acting like a would-be totalitarian, I am not willing to assume the presence of facts not in evidence that would have recast their behavior in an acceptable light. And yes, I'd apply that to you, should I find credible news articles about you acting like a would-be totalitarian. Do you think that's likely? As for the First Amendment sensitivity training, I view that as justice. This professor needs her nose rubbed in the fact that her students have the freedom to express their own ideas, and that rubbing should be in the most public, humiliating and memorable way possible. That said, I am perfectly aware that there are college professors who are not would-be totalitarians. My father taught at CSU San Jose for over 30 years, and I know many of his colleagues who are superb teachers and decent (if liberal) people. But on the basis of the evidence as presented, Dr. Wahlberg is not like them and I decline to assume that she is.
	Saturday, February 28, 2009 at 23:09:19 mst Comment ID: #9 Name: Paul Hsieh E-mail: paul(at)geekpress(dot)com URL: http://www.geekpress.com Kyle: Just as a name correction -- Wahlberg is the student's name. Anderson is the professor's name.
	Sunday, March 1, 2009 at 11:40:54 mst Comment ID: #10 Name: Kyle Haight E-mail: khaight(at)alumni.ucsd.edu URL: http://www.leftist.org/haightspeech D'oh! Thanks for the correction.
	Sunday, March 1, 2009 at 12:44:25 mst Comment ID: #11 Name: Anna Keppa E-mail: jelink(at)aol.com I find myself wondering about the campus police "requesting the presence" of the student. What's the law on that? Suppose your local police call you up and "request your presence" at the station in 15 minutes. Don't you have the right to tell them to pound sand? And if you do, don't they have to issue an arrest warrant or get a judge to issue a subpoena? Do students have less rights vis a vis campus police? If so, who decides that?
	Sunday, March 1, 2009 at 12:45:49 mst Comment ID: #12 Name: Gonzo I suspect that, at bottom, the disquiet the professor "felt" arose from hearing a student articulate his willingness to take a life with his firearms (in defense of himself and others). For many, it is jarring to hear someone who is willing to kill to protect the good from the evil. I fear our society has devolved to where the notion of good men doing nothing is the instinctive approach.
	Sunday, March 1, 2009 at 12:46:11 mst Comment ID: #13 Name: Prague E-mail: riveter_rosie(at)hotmail.com Why's the professor filing the complaint on behalf of the students, anyway? I'd like to know if she had actual evidence that any students were "scared and uncomfortable," or if it was just the prof.
	Sunday, March 1, 2009 at 12:49:31 mst Comment ID: #14 Name: Prague E-mail: riveter_rosie(at)hotmail.com Anna - just saw your comment after mine posted. The college I went to heavily implied that if you did not cooperate with campus police, you could be expelled or put on probation for essentially some BS reason. I saw a lot of craziness happen - even over trivial issues like parking permits - and they were only the department of "health and safety," not police.
	Sunday, March 1, 2009 at 12:56:33 mst Comment ID: #15 Name: ThomasD "we don't know the *content* of the presentation and what exactly the student said." What a weenie argument. Do we *need* to know the exact content of his presentation? Have their been *any* allegations of threatening or other unlawful statements? It *appears* not. Would that Mr. Wahlberg was afforded a similar presumption of innocence before being hauled in front of a police inquiry.
	Sunday, March 1, 2009 at 13:07:22 mst Comment ID: #16 Name: David in San Diego E-mail: dhorton(at)thehortonfamily.org In response to Kyle's comment about how in effect, "one bad apple shouldn't spoil the barrel", I am tired of hearing that sort of comment. Liberals, people of the Left, the MSM (but I repeat myself) more than often bring the case of an extreme person on the Right, and then portray that example as a representation of all on the Right. It does not matter that most of the Right condemns that particular person and his/her actions, we have been branded all the same. So, academia has two choices: They can in a loud, long and consistent manner condemn the actions of Ms. Anderson. Or, They can be damned along with her,
	Thursday, January 1, 1970 at 0:00:00 mst Comment ID: #17 Name: comatus E-mail: comatus(at)bex.net This university is smack-dab in the middle of Gun Valley, where my grandfather used to deliver New England hardwood to the charcoal ricks to fuel the brass and bronze foundries. There is absolutely no excuse for them not already having a Department of Firearm Studies. Erstwhile Lecturer Anderson could be the secretary. "The nation that invented the equalizer cannot walk away from it." There are still gun manufacturers doing business in this town! The idea that anyone would be frightened by the mere mention of them beggars belief. Academic freedom for me, but not for thee? No more excuses: put her on a registry, keep her 1000 feet from any school, so she can't try it again somewhere else. A good liberal dose of justice.
	Sunday, March 1, 2009 at 17:37:27 mst Comment ID: #18 Name: Jim E-mail: Jim(at)jimlee.com "Upon entering the police station, the officers began to list off firearms that were registered under his name, and questioned him about where he kept them." That's kind of disturbing that the police had such a list.
	Sunday, March 1, 2009 at 18:14:14 mst Comment ID: #19 Name: Austin E-mail: moseleytx(at)yahoo.com If "Instructor" Anderson felt uncomfortable before, come tomorrow, she will be in the hotseat. This story has made all the gun boards. I feel sorry for her for what is to come. But she probably deserves it.
	Sunday, March 1, 2009 at 18:59:49 mst Comment ID: #20 Name: Tombo Its funny that people in one sentence decry the media as being biased against their positions, then in the next believe the media reports as wholeheartedly true when it benefits their positions. "Don't believe everything you read," has been around a long time. If there's one thing I've learned is that the media is usually full of shit.
	Sunday, March 1, 2009 at 20:26:39 mst Comment ID: #21 Name: Jim May E-mail: seerak(at)gmail.com "If there's one thing I've learned is that the media is usually full of shit. " Agreed... though the shit is never spread evenly. Reporters tend to be militantly ignorant when reporting on matters of guns, and the anti-self-defense bias is thick enough to be asphyxiating. I have found this bias to be reliable and consistent enough that I can apply a pro-self-defense corrective bias of my own and end up much closer to the truth than if I took MSM reporting at face value on this topic. That being said, this story was not in the "MSM"; it's the campus newspaper. I don't think there has been any mainstream coverage of this story.
	Monday, March 2, 2009 at 9:56:55 mst Comment ID: #22 Name: submandave E-mail: submandave(at)gmail.com URL: http://submandave.blogspot.com I think the best parallel raised was what the professor's reaction would have been if he had advocated for drug legalization or medical marijuna? I wonder if she would have been a prone to assume that the student's activities and lifestyle were equally deserving of police attention?
	Tuesday, March 3, 2009 at 1:54:23 mst Comment ID: #23 Name: Rhymes With Right E-mail: RHYMESWITHRIGHT(at)GMAIL.COM URL: http://rhymeswithright.mu.nu Here's a different spin on this -- generally speaking, should statements made as a part of a classroom discussion/assignment be the basis for making a report to the police? Now I realize there are cases when they can, should, and must be -- as a high school teacher, I've made more than one report in cases where papers have been "outcry essays" about being abused or molested. And if a student confessed to a violent felony in class or an assignment, I might find myself bound to make a report. But that does not appear to be the sort of thing that happened in this case. Suppose, for example, this kid had instead given a speech about illegal immigration and disclosed his own (or his parents') undocumented status. Should the professor have made a call to ICE? Moreover, WOULD the professor have made such a call? Or if the kid disclosed that he liked to smoke a little pot on the weekend -- should and would the prof make a call to law enforcement? Suppose a talk had been given by a Muslim student in support of Hamas in Gaza -- especially if the student argued that Israel had no right to exist and supporting jihad against Israel. Does anyone really think that a professor would have called Homeland Security reporting him/her as a potential terrorist/terrorist sympathizer? Would the professor retain his/her job for long if he/she did? I think we all know the answer -- and I also suspect that everyone here would offer condemnation of the professor for making such a report.
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