The University of Delaware strongly disavowed comments by a faculty member on a social media post regarding a college student who left a North Korean prison in a coma and later died after his arrival in the U.S.
The university later announced that anthropology lecturer Katherine Dettwyler, who last taught in the spring as an adjunct faculty member, will not be rehired to teach at the university. As an adjunct faculty member, Dettwyler does not have tenure or other job protections.
Dettwyler posted on social media that Otto Warmbier “got what he deserved” when tearing down a poster during a student trip to the dictatorship and receiving a 15-year sentence.
She went wrote that Warmbier was “typical of a mindset of a lot of the young, white, rich, clueless males who come into my classes. She went on to add that “his parents ultimately are to blame for his growing up thinking he could get away with whatever he wanted. Maybe in the US, where young, white, rich, clueless white males routinely get away with raping women. Not so much in North Korea.”
UD issued the following prior to announcing that Dettwyler would not be rehired.
“The comments of Katherine Dettwyler do not reflected the values or position of the Univeristy of Delaware. We condemn any and all messages that endorse hatred or convey insensitivity toward a tragic event such as the one that Otto Wambier 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 disturbing and inconsistent with our values. Our sympathies are with the Wambier family.”
Dettwyler’s comments were quickly picked up by Fox News, Daily Caller and other conservative media that have long ccriticized whatthey see as a double standard in condemning comments by those on the far right while not doing the same for those on the other end of the spectrum.
News also surfaced that a Huffington Post contributor raised the issue of white male privilege when Wambier was sentenced to hard labor in North Korea.
Warmbier’s father did say that the Obama administration did not do enough to secure his release.
Dettwyler is a published author and authority on breast feeding.
