This is a quick note that may not surprise most people. Amy Bishop, at University of Alabama Huntsville, just killed three colleagues and injured some more. It seems that this act may be related to having been denied tenure. A PhD from Harvard, Amy Bishop had grants, and sat in a startup board, which are traces of a successful academic career. She was also a mother of four. Can your academic job environment be so toxic as to motivate murder? She was possibly suffering major depression at the time of the incident, and other mental health issues.
The evidence that an academic career is too stressing is piling up. An academic deals with rejection very often, from both peers and students, gets paid like a boy scout, and works every waking hour. This should be a waking call to all academics that feel tenure is the center of their lives.
A Previous Shooting Death at the Hands of Alabama Suspect – NYTimes.com
UPDATE: removed wrong photo.
Why use a tough work environment as an excuse? Some people are just self-centered, dbags. She killed 3 people because she was passed over for promotion, looks like the selection board made the right decision.
Too stressing? Most academics I know who are denied tenure have over a year of job security and benefits at their disposal as they look for another job. No one I know outside of academia gets that. They are lucky to get a month’s severance package. This is one reason why people think academics are out of touch.
You really need to check that photograph. I think you have the wrong Amy Bishop. You can’t just pull in any random person’s photo off LinkedIn.
BTW, the link to the uah.edu page isn’t there anymore.