[Jones_the_King]

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.

[JSteff]

“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.

[KantianBurke]

“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.

[petitfour]

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?

[goldfinch]

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.

[panthermom]

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.

[bert]

>>>>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.