A new twist in the Colorado shooter case is the release of information about his application to the graduate program in neuroscience at the University of Illinois (I believe at Urbana-Champaign). The Associated Press got a copy of his application file which includes letters of recommendation from professors. There are a couple of articles on this and here is one: http://www.pjstar.com/free/x2095092294/Movie-theater-shooting-suspect-impressed-U-of-I-neuroscience-program and here is another: http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/colo-suspect-impressed-ill-1496680.html NOTE: The Colorado judge's gag rule does not apply to other states.
He was highly praised in his letters especially for his "intellectual and emotional maturity". Fortunately for the professors who wrote the letters, their names are redacted in the copies. Otherwise, I have a feeling some UC-Riverside faculty would have a gaggle of journalists knocking on their doors asking about the shooter and how they might have missed a future mass murderer. This reminds me of a similar situation involving Ted Bundy who had been a psychology major at the University of Washington. In one of the biographies I read about him back in the 1990s, I was amused by the contents of one of the letters of recommendation written by a U of W psychology professor in which Bundy was described in glowing terms and was highly recommended. I have wondered what those professors thought and felt when they found out what Bundy really was like. Some professors pride themselves in thinking that they know some of their students really well, which is why they write letters of recommendation for them. But professors often forget what a thin slice of a person's life they are exposed to as well as forgetting that not everything students tell them is truthful. I wonder, how many professor actually think about whether their letters of recommendation will come back to haunt them (or have the media ask questions about them) if the person being recommended turn out to a Bundy or someone like the Colorado shooter? -Mike Palij New York University [email protected] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=19642 or send a blank email to leave-19642-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
