University of Delaware adjunct professor Kathy Dettwyler took to Facebook last Tuesday to voice her opinion on the tragic death of Otto Warmbier, the young American who died on Monday after being arrested by the North Korean government in January 2016 and sentenced to 15 years hard labor for trying to take a state propaganda poster home as a souvenir. The young man, said Prof. Dettwyler, was just another “young, white, rich, clueless” male who ultimately “got exactly what he deserved.” Now Dettwyler is getting what a lot of outraged Americans think she deserves.
“These are the same kids who cry about their grades because they didn’t think they’d really have to read and study the material to get a good grade,” wrote the anthropology professor on Tuesday in a Facebook post edged with leftist vitriol, complete with the “college rape epidemic” narrative.
“His parents ultimately are to blame for his growing up thinking he could get away with whatever he wanted,” she wrote. “Maybe in the US, where young, white, rich, clueless white males routinely get away with raping women. Not so much in North Korea. And of course, it’s Ottos’ parents who will pay the price for the rest of their lives.”
USA Today‘s Delaware Online notes that Dettwyler “made similar remarks in the comments section of an article published by the National Review.”
The reaction to Dettwyler celebrating the death of the young University of Virginia student dying from a traumatic neurological injury at the hands of the dictatorial communist regime has been strong from the public, with people all over the country voicing disgust and calling for her to be fired.
The university quickly issued a statement condemning the professor’s tirade, but initially would not say if it would continue to employ her:
The comments of Katherine Dettwyler do not reflect the values or position of the University of Delaware. We condemn any and all messages that endorse hatred and convey insensitivity toward a tragic event such as the one that Otto Warmbier and his family suffered.
The University of Delaware values respect and civility and we are committed to global education and study abroad; therefore we find these comments particularly distressing and inconsistent with our values. Our sympathies are with the Warmbier family.
“When asked if any disciplinary action would be taken against Dettwyler, university spokesperson Andrea Boyle said, ‘We are not able to comment on the specifics of her employment. Personnel matters are confidential,'” Delaware Online reported.
But on Sunday, the university confirmed that Dettwyler will not be rehired:
As of Sunday, June 25 at approximately 5 p.m., the university has announced that Kathy Dettwyler will not be rehired to teach classes at the school in upcoming semesters. Dettwyler was an adjunct faculty member in the school’s department of anthropology. Her firing comes after widespread national coverage regarding her Wednesday morning Facebook post in which she said that “Otto Warmbier got what he deserved.”
The sad reality is that Dettwyler’s radical and ultimately racist view of Warmbier, her “white, rich” male students in general, and their parents, is not an outlier among the academic Left, but exactly the kind of worldview presented by a large percentage of those teaching all those “clueless” minds in our universities. Dettwyler simply made the mistake of revealing her radical views too directly in a public forum. If more leftist professors were as honest as her, we’d have a lot fewer of them teaching impressionable young minds.
More from The Daily Wire on Warmbier:
What The Left Truly Believes: Otto Warmbier, 22, Deserved To Die
Massive Funeral For Otto Warmbier, American Student Slain By North Korea