Readers of this blog know that I’ve been running a series of events on law enforcement issues at Felician. Here’s an event I didn’t run:
12:28 pm: Due to the receipt of an alleged, anonymous threat of a shooting on the Rutherford Campus Residence Halls have been secured. -more
12:29 pm: Police and extra security in place. Classes continue, buses run. We’ll keep you apprised. Carry your ID.
2:28 pm: If you receive any calls from media sources, please refer them to me at my extension that is listed below. If you have additional questions or concerns please contact your dean or Vice President.
9:07 pm: Felician took immediate action in consultation with law enforcement. Classes are in session, campus is open.
Oh, but if we were all toting our Glocks to class, this would have worked out perfectly.
What’s that phrase again? “A hostile work environment”? And I thought I left that behind in Abu Dis!
Update: December 11, 2016:
Dec. 9, 4:49 pm
Dear Felician community,
An altercation that occurred in one of the residence halls on Wednesday night was the impetus for the anonymous threat to the campus we received Thursday morning. As soon as we learned of the threat, we followed our emergency protocol, increased campus security and notified local law enforcement. By Thursday afternoon we had identified the students involved and took appropriate disciplinary action, including separating them from the campus.
We remain vigilant to ensure the safety of students, staff and faculty. The residence halls are open only to students who present valid Felician identification.
At least one of the “students involved” was in one of my critical thinking classes. Oh, the irony.
They’re over eighteen–they won’t be doing any time.
Update: December 12, 2016: “Come out and pay…” Bonus insight: What happened here on campus almost literally plays out the scenario that Ayn Rand uses as a counter-example to anarcho-capitalism in her essay, “The Nature of Government.”
Policy of Truth 
We’ve got very permissive gun laws here in Texas. Here’s what I received this evening:
The “Tudor Fieldhouse” is the basketball gym right next to the lot I park in.
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I know, of course, that this would not have happened if those ladies had been packing heat in those purses.
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Kind of a low blow to be robbing Rice students while wearing Rice regalia.
Yes, “this” would not have happened if the ladies had been packing heat. What would have happened is that they’d have been robbed of the contents of their purses plus two handguns, both of which would now be on the street.
Just finished teaching gun control in one of my classes, ironically enough.
Oh, by the way: did you know that academics don’t live “in the real world” like everybody else? We live in an “ivory tower, insulated from reality,” where things are peachy keen all the time.
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Yes, and we never do any work. If I did real work, how would I have time to comment on blog posts?
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You know what the other problem with us is? We have “a certain squeamishness about the history of ideas.” We’ve dismissed “the Great Books as tools of white supremacy,” and “disdain ideological training as the sort of unsavory thing that only conservatives and communists do.” And this is why we’ve been out-intellectualized by the right, and why we wait, trembling, for the accession of Donald J. Trump to the presidency.
So we’re really just lazy, insulated, irrelevant losers. I guess that’s not just one problem, but a bunch. Turns out we’re innumerate, too.
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