Professor Torn About Writing Recommendation For Pro-Gun Student

Not everyone has a great experience with firearms. For one professor who grew up in a household with a manic depressive father, she recalled for the Chronicle of Higher Education that she was torn as to whether or not to write a recommendation for a pro-gun student.

The apprehension this professor feels over her own personal history with keeping firearms out of the hands of her father is understandable. Her unwillingness to fulfill her obligation to a young woman aspiring to pursue her own education, however, is reprehensible.

The Washington Times published a good deal of the letter submitted to the Chronicle of Higher Education and we’ll reprint portions of it here to illustrate where the complete and utter disconnect takes place.

via Washington Times

“It’s so complicated. On one side are all of my ideas about supporting students, honoring their individuality and their journeys, creating a safe space for them (and myself), not taking things out of context, not overinterpreting,” she wrote. “On the other side are my memories of growing up in a situation where guns, people, and bullets had to be rigorously kept apart, lest they find each other in a tragic moment of instability.

“She seems to be a good kid, Sarah,” the professor continued. “And I don’t know what she really thinks of gun advocacy and political failures that have cost us all these lives and our sense of safety as educators. I don’t know what she does on the weekends. I also don’t know if she understands emotions, or what real rage feels like. It seems to me no person who has truly experienced the full impact of their own emotions would ever go near a gun.”

For reference, the professor conceded earlier in the letter that she had already promised to help this student with her recommendation. It’s not a question of outright refusal, it’s the knowing sabotage of another person’s aspirations. Everyone has the right to refuse to do something. It’s the underhanded nature of this whole affair.

And here’s where we run into an issue: a student’s performance being held up due to her views.

More particularly, someone who has the legitimate right to own and carry a gun. This is someone who is constitutionally granted this right. This is a young woman taking authority over her own well being.

And that is the basis to refuse to recommend her?

The professor in this letter ascribes the deaths of those at Umpqua Community College and other tragedies as the result of guns. That flawed detail of logic gave birth to the notion that now she has the right to abuse her academic authority and literally sabotage a woman’s progress in her pursuits.

Here’s a little detail: it’s the person behind the gun that’s responsible for the action. When you start anthropomorphizing firearms due to childhood trauma, that’s about the time you should seek help and ensure your obligations are handled by a competent party.