Networks of care and public violence

by Lisa Conley

The shooting and subsequent deaths of three faculty at the University of Alabama on February 12 by Professor Amy Bishop, since charged with murder, has added another element of concern to violence in public spaces. Over the course of eleven years since the Columbine school shootings, our society has witnessed highly publicized deaths occur in other high schools and then universities. This recent act of violence however, adds an unusual concern to academia that is, by design, a closely networked environment.

Should we see Bishop’s actions simply as those of a person who was so distraught at the fact of being refused tenure again? Should we see this as further evidence of a deepening tear in the social fabric that binds us all with human decency? Should we view the actions of Amy Bishop as the workings of a mad person who might have experienced underlying emotional instability, as the recent New York Times article seems to imply by quoting Bishop’s colleague, “She seemed to be one of these persons who was just very open with her feelings,” he said. “A very smart, intense person who had a variety of opinions on issues.” In any situation where unexpected violence occurs, popular media will be inundated with pundits and “experts” remarking on Bishop’s mental capacities and emotional stability or lack thereof. These reports will function to mythologize the perpetrator, elevating her from a person who experienced a momentary lapse of reality and tragically killed her colleagues to a “woman gone mad.” Bishop’s actions will be divorced from context, like many issues in our society are, and her actions will be the defining moment in her life overshadowing years of accomplishments and seeming normality. We will not be privy to details of personal troubles or perhaps interdepartmental tensions that could have led to Bishop’s fatal actions.

We might be led to ask, “how could a successful, professional like Bishop lose grip on reality and resort to such violence?” This is a question that certainly needs to be asked. In its contemplation lies our current state of social and civic capacity. But few will ask a question I think is equally, if not more important, “what are the current social deficiencies in our society that allows one of our own (and by “our own” I mean human) to feel an act of violence like this is the only answer?” Who were Bishop’s friends and family? Where was the support of her department or colleagues? Could her spouse have offered support- the reality check that might have kept Bishop from taking a gun to work in anticipation of her second tenure rejection? In a society where we tend to individualize the actions of people, where we reduce the negative externalities of modernity to individual pathologies and resort to violence along the spectrum of road rage to war, acts like this remind us that too many of us live our lives as islands- lonely, frustrated, and lacking a true network of care.

Needless to say, Bishops actions prematurely ended the lives of three faculty members and this tragedy will ripple through the academic and non-academic communities alike for years to come. One can hope that perhaps the only positive thing that can result from horrific tragedies such as this is that we all take a moment to reflect- upon our own networks of care and the extent to which we support others in crisis.

When the Columbine shootings occurred in 1999, I was a senior in high school. Prior to Columbine my school was the site of many physically violent acts. Classmates were regularly fighting in the hallways before or after classes, in the bathrooms or gymnasium in efforts to deal with emotions and situations we were not equipped to handle. After Columbine we experienced, like many schools, the increased criminalization of such violence. Threats of violence which had become normalized suddenly warranted involvement of the police and justice system. Seemingly intuitive, we focused our efforts on taking threats serious and deterring fights. The joke “hit list” my friend had kept since our freshman year listing the names of people who had berated him for being gay suddenly could be used as evidence that he was a murderer in the making. Our lives reflected the ripple caused by the senseless Columbine massacre. Yet, we still lacked the tools to deal with the emotions, the anger, the hatred, and the pain that goes hand in hand with high school.

A friend yesterday said, “adult life is high school, writ large.” I can’t help but wonder if Amy Bishop, being nestled in a true network of care, would have committed the same senseless acts. Perhaps if Bishop was given the tools to cope-by friends, family, and society three faculty members would have been spared.