Thursday, June 29, 2017



Anthropology professor slammed for saying North Korea prisoner Otto Warmbier was a 'privileged, rich, clueless white male' who ‘got exactly what he deserved’

I would pay "clueless" but nobody deserves to die for a typical student prank


She likes dogs but people not so much.  Anthropologists are typically far-Left

People across the country are calling for a part-time professor to be fired after she wrote on Facebook that she thinks Otto Warmbier 'got exactly what he deserved.'

Katherine Dettwyler, who teaches anthropology at the University of Delaware, wrote on her personal Facebook Tuesday, one day after Warmbier's death, that he had the 'typical mindset of a lot of young, rich, clueless males who come into my classes.'

The post, which was deleted just after being captured by the News Journal, accused the deceased University of Virginia student of 'growing up thinking he could get away with anything'.

Otto Warmbier died on Monday, less than a week after he was returned from North Korea in a coma. He was imprisoned there for 17 months while on a school trip in January 2016, accused of stealing a propaganda poster and sentenced to 15 years of hard labor. 

While Warmbier's family was dealing with the grief of never speaking to their son again, the professor eviscerated his memory online.

'These are the same kids who cry about their grades because they didn't think they'd really have to read and study the material to get a good grade. His parents ultimately are to blame for his growing up thinking he could get away with whatever he wanted,' the post read.

'Maybe in the US, where young, white, rich, clueless white males routinely get away with raping women. Not so much in North Korea. And of course, it's Otto's parents who will pay the price for the rest of their lives,' she continued.

The post quickly sparked anger on social media, with many people sharing it with the school and calling for the University to fire her.

On Friday, the University of Delaware released a statement in response to the adjunct-professor's remarks, which reads: 'We condemn any and all messages that endorse hate and convey insensitivity toward a tragic event such as the one that Otto Warmbier and his family suffered.

'The University of Delaware values respect and civility and we are committed to global education and study abroad; therefore we find these comments particularly distressing and inconsistent with our values. Our sympathies are with the Warmbier family.'

The University has not yet said if any action will be taken against Dettwyler.  

SOURCE



5 comments:

Bird of Paradise said...

Just another intellelectian eeghead with their walnut sized brain their problem comes from always having their foot in their mouth every time they open up their piehole

Anonymous said...

"intellelectian eeghead?"

You are trying to disparage people based on their intellect?

And you write "intellelectian eeghead?"

You want to call out people based on intelligence and thought process when you can't spell or write sentences?

Please go back to school. Get out of your mother's basement and stop being a hypocritical liberal.

Anonymous said...

And, of course, as this website is dedicated to those who support the idea that private expressions should not result in public sanction - everyone here will agree that, while her comments are deplorable, she should suffer no sanction for expressing her views.
Right?

Anonymous said...

she should suffer no sanction for expressing her views.

The concept of freedom of speech is that the government should not be able to punish people for what they say or write; that does not mean that other people cannot punish them.

Anonymous said...

The concept of freedom of speech is that the government should not be able to punish people for what they say or write; that does not mean that other people cannot punish them.

The University of Delaware, where she was employed, is a public college and as such is the government.

Dettwyler was an adjunct professor and as such was teaching on a semester to semester contract. She was not teaching summer courses when she made her comments.

The school has declined to rehire her for the fall semester.

See: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/06/26/university-delaware-cuts-ties-professor-who-said-warmbier-deserved-die/427846001/

While I would be against firing her for her comments as they don't appear to have been made while being identifying herself as a professor at UD, her comments seemed to drag the unnamed university at which she taught into the fray.

So the questions really are 1) should she be fired for making statements outside of the classroom if she is not speaking as a professor at UD?

That answer is "no."

2) Does the University of Delaware have to hire someone who has demonstrated such callousness, bigotry and hatred for the students (customers) of the University as Dettwyler did?

That answer is "no" as well.

They shouldn't have been able to fire her, but they don't have to hire her or offer her a contract.