Professor May Deny Student a Recommendation Because Student Likes Guns

danjoseph | April 19, 2016
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Just how bad is the bias against those who support the Second Amendment on our nation’s college campuses? It’s bad. So bad in fact that one professor has actually admitted that she may deny a student a recommendation to a teaching program simply because the student is a gun enthusiast.

In an opinion piece posted on the “Chronicle of Higher Learning” website, a professor, writing under the pseudonym “Myrtle Lynn Payne,” documents her inner struggle and explains she is actually considering denying one student a recommendation to a teacher-recruitment program because the student once admitted to visiting a gun range and had said that she was looking forward to getting a concealed-carry permit. According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, Payne is "an instructor in the sciences at a college in the western United States."

“I did take special notice of her on the first day during a sharing activity we typically do at the beginning of my science lecture courses,” Payne writes. “Sarah shared that the most notable experience of her winter break was a visit to a gun range where she had fired an AK-47. I gave the usual 'very good, moving on' response but was thinking, 'Whoa, that’s disturbing.'”

That was it. The student hadn’t threatened anyone with violence. The professor admits that the student was a “very nice young woman” who exhibited “…great energy and was a class leader.”

But the professor’s personal views on guns have apparently become a major factor in her decision as to whether or not she should provide the student with the recommendation that could help the student on her way to possible a career in teaching.

“I don’t know what to do about the recommendation. 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 over interpreting. 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.”

The professor's paralyzing fear of young women carrying firearms would be hysterical if the student’s future wasn’t at stake. 

The fact that she finds the idea of a young person visiting a firing range as “disturbing” is disturbing in itself. But the fact that she would even consider denying this student a recommendation simply due to the fact that the young woman has admitted to taking advantage of her Constitutional rights is downright disgusting. 

Hat Tip: Instapundit

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