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UVA-Wise Upholds expulsion of student over class paper; Iraq vet plans to reenlist to repay student
Times News ^ | 03/11/2008 | Rain Smith

Posted on 03/13/2008 12:00:16 AM PDT by Jones_the_King

Steven Daniel Barber, 23, says a culture of fear has displaced rational thought.

The Iraq War veteran's comments came Tuesday, shortly after learning his expulsion from the University of Virginia at Wise had been upheld. He has been prohibited from attending classes since Feb. 29 -- the day after sharing a story in which a character contemplates murdering his professor, then turns to thoughts of suicide.

Barber wrote the piece for his creative writing class.

"It's the nanny state ran amock; political correctness to the extreme," said Barber in a phone interview with timesnews.net.

"Nobody goes after Stephen King, nobody goes after William Shakespeare. This is a whole new low."

Calls to the UVa-Wise Office of College Relations for comment were not returned on Tuesday afternoon. Chancellor David. J. Prior heard an appeal of the expulsion Monday night. Barber says he was contacted Tuesday morning by Prior's secretary, informing him the expulsion had been upheld.

"I am surprised," Barber said. "Chancellor Prior is a reasonable man, and if anyone was going to give me a fair hearing it would have been him. It's a case where the culture of fear has displaced rational thought."

After Barber submitted the creative writing story, officials searched his dorm room for the weapon his fictional character kept under a pillow. Though no weapons were found, Barber told campus police he had three handguns in his car, and a concealed weapons permit for each.

Campus officials then required Barber to undergo a series of mental heath evaluations. Campus police escorted Barber to a Frontier Health facility in Big Stone Gap. On Monday, Campus Safety Chief Steve McCoy said Barber was “involuntarily transported” for medical evaluation; that temporary detainment is “similar” to involuntary commitment, “as far as a police officer is concerned.”

With his appeal now lost, Barber says his will seek a civil suit against UVa-Wise to have his expulsion reversed. He may also explore compensation for financial damages.

"Because I'm expelled I'm immediately going to have to start paying back on my student loans," Barber said. "The only way I can pay for it is if I go back into the military. The plan now is to reenlist and start a lawsuit."

"I took an oath to protect and defend the constitution, and now I'm getting in trouble for expressing my rights," the veteran added.

For Barber, a return to the military had always been an option -- after he graduated from college. That way he could serve as an officer.

"I never anticipated having to go back in as enlisted," he said in discouraged tones. "But if that's the best way to generate some money so I can pay back my loans, that's what I'm going to do."

Barber reports the Chancellor's secretary provided no explanation of why the expulsion was upheld. He says his creative writing class had previously read a story in which a girl murdered her boyfriend. Meanwhile, his piece centered on a student contemplating the killing of a professor -- with no violent action actually taken.

"He doesn't do anything other than drinking and drug use and writing," Barber said of his character. "There is no violence. But yet, everybody assumes that the character is the writer, which couldn't be further from the truth."

Barber is confident a court of law will allow him to be reinstated at UVA-Wise. He also admits the experience could hinder his dreams of eventually entering law school.

And, despite his battle with, "political correctness to the extreme," the Southwest Virginia native remains loyal to UVA-Wise, his school of choice.

"I have a lot of pride in the school, I love the professors there," he said. "I only put in an application to one school, and that was Wise. That's where I wanted to go, and where I want to go now."


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; US: Virginia
KEYWORDS: banglist; barber; essay; highereducation; stevebarber; steven; uva; uvawise; virginia
Pretty strait forward I think. Their was nothing wrong with him writing an essay, and the essay didnt even have any violence in it. What we need to look at is this probably illegal blanket ban on guns at UVA-Wise. Im going to cite the Virginia Attorney General's opinion, which can be found here: http://www.oag.state.va.us/OPINIONS/2006opns/05-078.pdf "It is my opinion that the governing boards of Virginia’s public colleges and universities may not impose a general prohibition on the carrying of concealed weapons by permitted individuals." In other words the blanket ban on guns that UVA-Wise has is unconstitutional in the opinion of the Attorney General, the school policy needs to be changed, not the student thrown out.
1 posted on 03/13/2008 12:00:18 AM PDT by Jones_the_King
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To: Jones_the_King

“Nobody goes after Stephen King, nobody goes after William Shakespeare.”

The prime reason for his expulsion should be that he doesn’t refer to Shakespeare in past tense.


2 posted on 03/13/2008 12:24:30 AM PDT by JSteff ( This election is about the 4 or 5 Supreme Court Justices who will retire . Vote Accordingly!)
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To: Jones_the_King

“He has been prohibited from attending classes since Feb. 29 — the day after sharing a story in which a character contemplates murdering his professor, then turns to thoughts of suicide.”

After what happened at Virginia Tech, am not surprised that red flags were raised.

“Campus officials then required Barber to undergo a series of mental heath evaluations. Campus police escorted Barber to a Frontier Health facility in Big Stone Gap. On Monday, Campus Safety Chief Steve McCoy said Barber was “involuntarily transported” for medical evaluation; that temporary detainment is “similar” to involuntary commitment, “as far as a police officer is concerned.”

So is the kid unstable? At what point was he expelled. WHY was he expelled? For writing the story? For possessing guns? Or for being involuntarily committed due to being an actual nutcase? If the latter, kicking him out was a good decision and the military shouldn’t let him back in either.


3 posted on 03/13/2008 12:36:53 AM PDT by KantianBurke (President Bush, why did you abandon Specialist Ahmed Qusai al-Taei?)
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To: Jones_the_King

Is there some violation of University code here? Or has the University jumped the gun, so to speak? I guess Jim Webb is not welcome at UVA because he’s written some interesting stuff. How many of UVA’s professors have written fictional works that contain contemplation of violence? How many of the same have written fictional works that contain violence that is not just contemplated? heh. They’d better look out. Their jobs may be on the line.

Was this guy’s teacher a woman?


4 posted on 03/13/2008 1:00:21 AM PDT by petitfour
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To: Jones_the_King
A contrary though...Harris and Keobold, the Columbine killers, wrote violent stories for their creative writing class. They also made a video for another class where they pretended to shoot up the school. After the shootings, the teachers and school were criticized for not picking up on the signs of Harris and Keobold's violent tendencies.

Not saying it is right or just to expel the Iraq veteran for his essay...just saying that it is understandable in light of the rash of school shootings.
5 posted on 03/13/2008 1:15:42 AM PDT by goldfinch
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To: KantianBurke
So is the kid unstable? At what point was he expelled. WHY was he expelled? For writing the story? For possessing guns? Or for being involuntarily committed due to being an actual nutcase? If the latter, kicking him out was a good decision and the military shouldn’t let him back in either.

I think of all aspects of this story, the part about someone being taken to a mental hospital under police escort without a court order or the like, simply because someone didn't like what they read bugs me the most. What if you dared write that you think that homosexuals should be forbidden from their sinful relationships? Could you be hauled off to the hospital for an involuntary commitment? That aspect of it should result in a pretty good lawsuit - and I'm not a big fan of lawsuits.

If the university wanted to expel him, I think they got every right to. But there is a long road between separation of free association to holding someone against their will and subjecting them to the whims of a psych exam.

6 posted on 03/13/2008 1:46:48 AM PDT by kingu (Party for rent - conservative opinions not required.)
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To: Jones_the_King

Let this be a lesson to students, when taking a creative writing class, make sure you write about teddy bears, rainbows or the angst of being gay in an oppressive homophobic world. You don’t want to scare anybody.


7 posted on 03/13/2008 3:11:18 AM PDT by panthermom
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To: panthermom

Just don’t write about clowns. They scare me.


8 posted on 03/13/2008 3:36:25 AM PDT by rlmorel (Liberals: If the Truth would help them, they would use it.)
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To: panthermom

Sad, but true.


9 posted on 03/13/2008 3:55:29 AM PDT by RU88
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To: kingu

Again, the news article leaves out WHY the kid was expelled. It dances around the issue and quite frankly I’m a little skeptical that it was solely due to his class assignment.


10 posted on 03/13/2008 8:29:29 AM PDT by KantianBurke (President Bush, why did you abandon Specialist Ahmed Qusai al-Taei?)
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To: petitfour

The teacher was a man.

The newspapers are starting to write hit pieces about barber and with all the rumors running around theirs actually a web site for it now: http://stevebarbertruthsquad.blogspot.com


11 posted on 03/13/2008 11:52:56 AM PDT by Jones_the_King
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To: Jones_the_King

>>>>In January 2002 at the Appalachian School of Law in Grundy, Va., a 43-year-old former student walked into the offices of two faculty members and shot them to death. Hearing the gunfire, two students immediately and independently ran to their separate cars, retrieved their firearms and returned to confront the killer and hold him at gunpoint for police, preventing any further murders.>>>>>

Keep in mind the school at Grundy is just a piece up the road from wise.

People in Wise county are the actual typical hunters who carry rifles on racks in their pickups.


12 posted on 03/13/2008 12:02:54 PM PDT by bert (K.E. N.P. +12 . Never say never (there'll be a VP you'll like))
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To: kingu

The mental evaluation they gave him showed that he did not have a mental illness or was a danger to himself or others, which is why they released him. The expulsion seems to be over the guns but it wouldn’t surprise me if they tried to work the essay into the reason to expel him, but like I said in my original post, the blanket gun ban at UVA wise seems to be illegal and is unconstitutional in the opinion of Virginia’s attorney general, so the school policy should be changed.


13 posted on 03/13/2008 1:37:56 PM PDT by Jones_the_King
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