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Originally posted by: Robert Campbell
"Here at last is the Toy McLaughlin story on Liberty and Power.

The item got deferred more than once, but I still think that the whole episode deserves attention outside of Hattiesburg. (Sorry, Seeker, but university foundation officials just don't behave like this anywhere else...)

http://hnn.us/blogs/entries/12221.html

Robert Campbell"

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USM Sympathizer wrote:

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 I suspect that "Toy" was indeed trying to be funny, but his choice of language (and not just the reference to shooting) was in ridiculously poor taste.

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To characterize McLaughlin's "shooting" comment as one of poor taste is a colossal understatement. I'm a regular offender when it comes to fringe humor, but this was waaaay over the line.  I happened to be sitting in a freshman Physics class on the Texas campus in August, 1966 while Charles Whitman methodically picked off almost 50 people from atop the UT administration building. I believe there were at least 15 dead.  I can assure you that the mental images of Whitman's handiwork and its aftermath do not dim with time.  They are every bit as haunting as my memories of Viet Nam, leaving ugly scars that do not fade. How anyone could find humor in the suggestion of senseless carnage, or hint that they would countenance such acts, is material for the psychopathologists.  In my opinion the apology offered by Mr. McLaughlin was insufficient and should have been followed by his resignation from all USM boards and foundations.

AE

Robert Campbell wrote:

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I attended grad school at the University of Texas, starting in 1974. Obviously, I wasn't there on the day that Charles Whitman started shooting from the Tower, but while I lived in Austin I heard the stories of several who were. I agree with Austin Eagle that McLaughlin's "high powered rifle" remark was taken way too lightly by the EagleTalkers.

Robert Campbell

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Voter wrote:

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Seeker wrote:

Robert Campbell wrote:
I attended grad school at the University of Texas, starting in 1974. Obviously, I wasn't there on the day that Charles Whitman started shooting from the Tower, but while I lived in Austin I heard the stories of several who were. I agree with Austin Eagle that McLaughlin's "high powered rifle" remark was taken way too lightly by the EagleTalkers.

Robert Campbell


Robert

Just what should the EagleTalkers have done, dragged McLaughlin into the streets and flogged him until your heart was content?


No, Seeker, as we have said many times, he should have been asked to resign, as he would have been at any decent university--world class or otherwise.

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Seeker wrote:

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Just what should the EagleTalkers have done, dragged McLaughlin into the streets and flogged him until your heart was content?

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Seeker,

There's no need for hyperbole here.

McLaughlin should have been kicked off EagleTalk, the way posters who threaten bodily harm against other participants are kicked off message boards every day.  And it would have been nice if some of the EagleTalkers had publicly objected to his behavior...

After that, it was the responsibility of USM's administration to ask McLaughlin to resign from the board of directors of the USM Foundation.  (But, of course, under Shelby Thames no such thing would ever happen.)

Robert Campbell