The Wisconsin State Journal reports:
Professors and other academics are sometimes derided as living in an “ivory tower,” but I’ve always found the vast majority of them to be smart, helpful and grounded.There's more:
The response to the arrest last week of a 21-year-old UW-Madison student, however, suggests the ground some of them are standing on is located on a different planet.
On the same day Denzel McDonald was arrested for allegedly tagging campus buildings with “Racizm in the air. Don’t breathe,” “The devil is a white man” and similar sentiments — causing an estimated $4,000 in damage — faculty and staff members started signing a statement that rationalizes the graffiti, and criticizes the “deplorable actions” by campus police while suggesting they acted with bias.
“The way UWPD officers entered my class was very aggressive with bulletproof vests and guns visible,” McDonald’s professor, Johanna Almiron, is quoted as saying. “I cannot believe they humiliated and terrified my students.”
The vast majority of the 14-minute interaction between student and cop, ending in the student’s handcuffing and arrest, takes place outside the classroom or outside the classroom’s building. About the worst thing you can say about the officer’s decidedly deferential behavior is that he continually refers to McDonald as “man” — like they were old buddies or something.The socialist professors aren't upset with vandalism that threatens white folks.
Statement signer and Afro-American Studies department chairman Craig Werner said the media have framed McDonald’s arrest in a way that ignores the “fundamental question” of whether it’s legitimate to go to a classroom to arrest a student.
“The officer should never have entered,” he said.
True enough, that decision violated department practice, UW Police Chief Sue Riseling has said. But other attempts to contact McDonald in person or by phone were not successful, and the officer went in thinking the class had not yet started.
