Faculty-Member Kills Three After Not Getting Tenure

This shooting happened today at the University of Alabama-Huntsville.

Quote :

A university spokesman confirmed that three people are dead in a shooting Friday afternoon on the campus of the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

Two more people were at Huntsville Hospital in critical condition, and a third was stable. All were in the emergency room.

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A female suspect is in custody. The shooting reportedly occurred just before 4 p.m. during a biology faculty meeting in the university's Shelby Center. Police were taking witness statements.

And from another article.

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Authorities said a female faculty member during a Biology faculty meeting learned she would not receive tenure. She then pulled out a gun and started shooting.

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For fuck's sake, this is like the third school-related shooting in the area within a month.
First one was at Alabama A&M for...I still don't know what that one was about.
Second one was at a middle school. poor kid got shot execution-style in the head.

What the hell's going on?!

Lembech wrote:

For fuck's sake, this is like the third school-related shooting in the area within a month.
First one was at Alabama A&M for...I still don't know what that one was about.
Second one was at a middle school. poor kid got shot execution-style in the head.

What the hell's going on?!

There's an Alabama joke in here somewhere, but I'm not quite enough of an asshole to be the one to make it.

In any case, damn. Those poor people. Especially low of her to go after people in the critical ward.

KelinciHutan wrote:

Quote :

Authorities said a female faculty member during a Biology faculty meeting learned she would not receive tenure. She then pulled out a gun and started shooting.

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I wonder if she would have done that even if she had received tenure.

...okay, my seat in this handbasket is quite firmly assured.

Maybe if she had the good sense to wait until she got tenure, she could have kept her job through all of this.

Also, Darthy, I think you're confused. It sounds like she sent people to the ICU, not that she gunned down people already there.

The fact that she had the gun in her purse already hints that someone was going to get shot no matter what happened.

Also:

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Six of the five victims are faculty members.

MATH FAIL! [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

It doesn't say how long she'd been teaching there, and I don't know how long you have to teach somewhere to get tenure (it probably varies from school to school). She may have just been one of those people with a sense of entitlement, and when she didn't get what she wanted, she acted out. It's not like they fired her-they just denied her tenure.

Hm, I wonder how this will affect her chances for getting tenure next time.

Rabid Badger wrote:

It's not like they fired her-they just denied her tenure.

I don't know if AL handles things differently than Indiana (and if this is on a state or university basis), but at least at my uni, if a university professor is in a tenure-track position and doesn't get tenure once they're up for it, they ARE fired and the post is freed for another candidate. So this might be a prospective job-loss situation. Not that shooting up the place makes things better, but it might put some perspective on it.

The story gets weirder when you learn this isn't the first time she shot and killed someone. In December of 1986 she killed her brother in a supposed shotgun accident, which some people are now claiming was actually deliberate. [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

I know details tend to get hazy with time, but I do find it odd that the entire case file's simply disappeared into thin air. Also, why would an argument with her father make her decide to learn how to load a shotgun?

Rabid Badger wrote:

Also, why would an argument with her father make her decide to learn how to load a shotgun?

Fear of the argument escalating into something worse?

Preparing for the zombie apocalypse?

Kill, kill, murder, kill, kill?

I'm guessing it's option C. To say this woman has anger issues is to state the painfully obvious.

Alleged Ala. killer was suspect in attempted bombing of Harvard professor, FWIW

rachel wrote:

Alleged Ala. killer was suspect in attempted bombing of Harvard professor, FWIW

This woman's just a little ray of sunshine, isn't she?

rachel wrote:

Alleged Ala. killer was suspect in attempted bombing of Harvard professor, FWIW

The local news has been saying she shot her brother 20 years ago. It was ruled an accident (apparently based on the mother's statement), but they're looking into it again.

Her brother in 1986.
The professor in 2003
Her colleagues in 2010.

That's evrey seven years. spooky.

klotterbeck wrote:

Her brother in 1986.
The professor in 2003
Her colleagues in 2010.

That's evrey seven years. spooky.

...

2003 - 1986 = 17

Edit: Curse you,  . CURSE YOU.

Oupsie. Is it a lame excuse to say that I've never been good at maths?
Hm, yes it is.

Obviously somebody has not been paying attention.

But it would have been spooky, if it had been every seventh year.

I'm glad this woman didn't get tenure. Can you imagine what she would have done if a student failed her class?

Lady Anne wrote:

I'm glad this woman didn't get tenure. Can you imagine what she would have done if a student failed her class?

. . .

*Makes a note to start showing up to Management 210*

Mikey Go WOOGA wrote:

Lady Anne wrote:

I'm glad this woman didn't get tenure. Can you imagine what she would have done if a student failed her class?

. . .

*Makes a note to start showing up to Management 210*

Too bad you can't do what I did and CLEP/DANTES it. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Amy Bishop Punched a Woman Over a Restaurant Booster Seat

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The AP reported today that Bishop admitted in court in 2002 to punching a mother in the head after the woman was given the last booster seat in an International House of Pancakes restaurant in Peabody, Mass.

Bishop apparently wanted a booster seat for her own young child and yelled at the woman, "I am Dr. Amy Bishop," according to the police report.

Peabody police Capt. Dennis Bonaiuto said Bishop admitted to the assault in court and the case was adjudicated, meaning the charges eventually were dismissed. In addition, the Boston Globe reported today that after fatally shooting her brother in 1986, Bishop tried to steal a car from a dealership and ended up in an armed standoff with police...

Holy Cow, this woman is nuts. Also, some of her students didn't like her and wanted her gone. (From the article's first page:)

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Some of Bishop's students said they knew something wasn't right with her. Dozens of them signed a petition to remove Bishop last year after appeals to school administrators failed to get her out of the classroom.

One of the letters was addressed to the biology department chairman, Gopi K. Podila, but in a subsequent meeting with the students Podila dismissed their complaints, student Caitlin Phillips told the Associated Press. Podila was the first person shot when Bishop allegedly began her shooting spree last Friday.

In at least three complaints to administrators, the students said Bishop had unsettling ways, never looked students in the eyes, and frequently talked about her alma mater, Harvard University.

As a university teacher, I know that there are always some students who complain. Every semester, I have at least one student moaning about my homework load, but I've never had dozens of them ask that I be given the boot. If Podila had listened to them, he might have been OK today--or she might have snapped even sooner. Who knows?

holy shit how did this lady slip through the cracks

Lady Anne wrote:

I'm glad this woman didn't get tenure. Can you imagine what she would have done if a student failed her class?

Stabbed them through the heart, probably.