If you don't get tenure, you usually have a year or two to stay and teach while you decide what's next. They are not normally kept at the school forever. In some cases they may be encouraged to stay at their current status and apply again in a few years. Professors are on contracts, so aside from extreme situations or moral turpitude, they can't be fired at will. For the first several years you sign contracts year by year, but depending on the university's rules, if you've already been there for a certain number of years, they may be required to offer you at least one more contract. Once they get tenure, it is extremely difficult to remove them - would require some extreme situation of misconduct and probably a special motion to have them removed.
^ Yea, a true "that's what she said". Tenure is the promised land for teachers; those who don't get it are left scrambling. Non-tenured teachers or those who haven't gotten theirs yet are like temporary employees but temps for 2 or 3 years instead of 3 months or 6 months but they still get benefits during that time (the non-tenured teachers, that is). Another important thing to remember with university and college professors is that there is an expectation of doing so much research and publishing papers. Oftentimes, you would encounter a professor that really didn't give a **** about teaching but was only there to do research. Most of the times, the university or college would grant these people tenure because they were so brilliant at research and they were willing to put up with their weakness in the classroom. Apparently, this wasn't the case here. It is very sad and shocking to me as I went to UAH from the fall of '95 through the spring of '97 to try to get a masters in math. Even though I fell short (my GPA was a 2.83 and you had to have a 3.0 to graduate), you never ever would think something like that would happen at a place that you go to school or went to. Really sad story and sounds like the woman just snapped; why she felt compelled to have a gun with her is something that I think really needs to be asked as Huntsville is not as dangerous of a city compared to a Memphis or an Atlanta. Isabel - are you teaching at UNA in Florence or are you further down south like at UAB or in another state?
That pretty much sums up the story. This is a slap on the face, but she will not be getting a slap on the wrist.
Manny - I'm teaching part time at a college in Montgomery, though I live well north of there while I pursue my music-school dream. I decided not to pursue any more tenure-track craziness, since it wasn't my idea of a good time. If I had, it would have been at a community college only. In this case, the professor's teaching seems to have received mixed reviews; that kind of thing can depend on popularity, group reactions, which kind of personality she teaches to, and so many different things. You can get very different opinions of the same teacher from different students. As well as research (which wouldn't be that big a deal at UAH, which I doubt is a first tier research school, though it does have to be done), popularity among students and other faculty is a factor. Sometimes popularity is for a good reason, sometimes it's due to herd or high-school mentality which some people are never too old or smart for. Students have been known to lie outright about what faculty members said or did, though this is more likely to happen at smaller schools where a very small group can control things. I know many people who have been denied tenure who deserved it, and many who didn't deserve it. A lot of them get jobs teaching at other schools and do fine and get tenure there (or choose a lower-pressure non-tenure track or community college career). Denial of tenure isn't always the end of the world, it just means you have to move. I don't want to draw any conclusions about the professor's teaching based on this alone. but, unfortunately, we know now that she wasn't a very balanced person. Some of that was probably already showing through in her actions. And that business with shooting her brother - how did that get covered up???
When I first posted this story, it didn't say she shot the gun in the incident with her brother three times. however, fox reported that she was with the mother and brother, and the brother was teaching her how to load a gun. sounds suspicious obviously.
Ah, I see. Thanks for responding - also good to see you posting again. I am still stunned that this woman killed her brother over 20 years ago and nothing was done about it. If the idiots up in MA hadn't lost that report or whatever they did with it, this looney tune would have never even sniffed a job, especially one down at UAH. And as a result, 3 people would still be alive. I hope they find out what really happened to that report and convict whoever was responsible. That stupid b*stard or bastards need to be locked up for sweeping that incident under the carpet.
Don't really think this occurring in Alabama has much to do with the extent of her prosecution, but capital punishment does exist in Alabama. Insanity will have to be the defense in this instance. And Manny: Even though you did go to UAH, I don't think that school would be any more likely/unlikely to hire her compared with any other college or university in the country. The name recognition of Harvard is arousing to any school out there. That "missing" police report from the 80s may have indeed made a difference. I suppose the biggest problem with that missing police report would have been her future ability to purchase a weapon (though this may not have been hers), but that's all essentially rhetorical. Either way this bizarre incident should never have occurred.
I wonder if they do background checks for faculty jobs; I don't remember any such thing (except for at only one of the several places I've taught adjunct classes). They are usually too busy looking at your academic record, teaching statement, etc. On the other hand, you can't even set foot in the public K-12 schools without it, and right now I'm being background checked and drug tested just to be a substitute pianist in a church. The higher academic circles probably think they don't have anything to worry about, though something like this may change it in the future.
Crazy b****. So it was ruled an accident before?....but changed now?.... Either way shes gone for good....
Just think, 3 deaths could have been averted if they had locked this crazy b**** up the first time she killed someone. The parallels to the Duffy murders are disturbing. That should've been a big f'n clue that the death of her brother may not have been an accident.
