Comments on: Fine Teaching Gig You’ve Got Here. Be a Shame If Anything Were To Happen to You.

By: Fascist Nation

Fascist Nation — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 23:25:38 +0000

Nothing like calling your buddies at campus security to gt the professor’s location…but the Sheriff did apologize.

http://www.trentonian.com/articles/2010/02/25/news/doc4b85ed2e38d5c793032313.txt

I am of two minds on this. First there is nothing wrong with double dipping. The Sheriff earned his retirement as a credentialed officer at the Sheriff’s dept. Then he became the elected Sheriff.

Secondly, the professor unwisely brought the man’s wife (wives) and kids into it.

But as a public oaficial, and the county’s highest law enforcement official, he should know better. The prof has a right to his opinions particularly with respect to a fellow public oaficial. And the only proper threat from the Sheriff should have been slander in a civil court if there were no public apology forthcoming — which was made.

By: Frank

Frank — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 23:31:43 +0000

#27 Mike T, except for special and specific circumstances, if some assclown with a badge, uniform and gun shows up in my personal space wanting to talk to me, it’s not a social call. End of line.

By: Angry Voter

Angry Voter — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 23:10:01 +0000

What he should have said is the sheriff probably needed the money for gay prostitutes.

By: celticdragonchick

celticdragonchick — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 22:33:15 +0000

You’ve got a mighty purty mouth, Professor Glass…

*cue banjo music*

By: ShelbyC

ShelbyC — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 22:07:35 +0000

Mike T,

can you point me to where it says it was a social call? Most folks don’t interupt class for a social call, I’d assume if a proffessor gets pulled out of class by the sherriff he’s going to assume it’s official police business, no?

By: Dennis Quaranta

Dennis Quaranta — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 20:10:20 +0000

Perhaps the sheriff makes “social calls” on legislators who might close the gap that allows him to collect a salary AND a pension. Just a friendly handshake, y’see. In case the lawmakers want to meet their constituents.

By: Mike T

Mike T — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 16:39:19 +0000

ShelbyC,

According to the article, he didn’t come under the color of authority, but rather paid a personal visit. Still unethical to do, but calling it “under the color of authority” when it wasn’t presented as official police business, but a social call, is an abuse of language.

By: cyto

cyto — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 16:03:06 +0000

Z’s comments are right on target. Although you’ll be flipping that 110/90 split the other way pretty soon. Heck, with all of the bills coming due on entitlements and with the service on the debt growing voraciously, you’d be lucky to keep more than 50 of that 200k in another 15 years.

By: someguy

someguy — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 15:28:05 +0000

Mercer County Community College is a great community college. In general Community College’s are a fanatastic public good.

By: z

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 12:51:24 +0000

Don’t know how to spend $200k? First, send $90k to the governments….

By: scottp

scottp — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 12:03:23 +0000

Mr. Glass then returned to the room, introduced the sheriff, and apologized for making disparaging remarks about him.

Not trying to be an ITG, but it would be a cold day in hell when I introduced the sheriff to the class and apologized.
Besides, what’s so disparaging about saying a person needs money for alimony and child support?

By: the innominate one

the innominate one — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 08:00:30 +0000

Don’t forget, the student who texted the sheriff is quite the little weasel.

By: InMD

InMD — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 02:22:36 +0000

Very disturbing indeed. I do wish the professor had shown a bit more balls but its hardly his fault and far be it from me to criticize someone who is faced with such a sudden bizarre and threatening situation from law enforcement. I hope he uses the incident as a means of bringing more attention to the problem.

Also just to correct Mr. Balko above, the school is actually public according to the school’s wikipedia entry so there wasn’t a trespass on private property (unless NJ’s laws are very different from MD’s, here any state citizen can freely enter public university property; you can even sit in for classes though they won’t give you credits unless you pay).

Not that I disagree about anything else. A public official who can’t take criticism without making threats shouldn’t be a public official any longer.

By: Radley Balko

Radley Balko — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 01:03:35 +0000

When the teacher was called out on it, he seemed to realize that he was wrong.

No, he didn’t. He told the newspaper he felt intimidated, and that he had no choice but to apologize.

You have every right to criticize a public official, particularly one serving in an elected office. The sheriff abused his authority, trespassed onto private property, and used intimidation to silence a critic. Frankly, he ought to lose his job.

By: Xenocles

Xenocles — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:51:53 +0000

Lest anyone misunderstand what I was saying:
Professor’s wrong: |-|
Sheriff’s wrong: |—————————–|

By: Mike T

Mike T — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:35:30 +0000

Double-dipping is a serious issue. There are some women in my grandmother’s church who make nearly six figure incomes because their husbands worked for the military and state and got social security on top of it. 2 pensions + social security is ridiculous. The tax payers should not have that burden.

By: ShelbyC

ShelbyC — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:26:21 +0000

The professor is entitled to be wrong about double dipping. The sherriff is not entitled to come into his classroom under color of authority and make him appoligize. There is exactly one bad guy in this story, and it ain’t the prof

By: Juice

Juice — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:19:41 +0000

The teacher should have brought the Sheriff into the class and then said, “Sheriff, can you tell the students what you just told me?”

By: akromper

akromper — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:07:20 +0000

What’s with the “they were both wrong” attitudes? A professor makes a flippant comment and somehow that equals abuse of legal authority? I’ll remember that next time a kid pushes me. Under that reasoning I’ll be free to knock him out and just shrug “we were both out of line”. Think that’ll happen?

By: MacGregory

MacGregory — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:05:45 +0000

Maybe the professor was wrong. But who else other than a LEO or an elected official can force an apology?