CU junior suspended, arrested for comments

http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/18/cu-junior-suspended-arrested-for-comments/

This headline was looking up at me from the front page this morning. Max Karson, a junior at the University of Colorado, was suspended from the university and arrested by the university police yesterday for comments he made in a class that was discussing the Virginia Tech tragedy.

Multiple CU students reported to the police that Karson was "angry about all kinds of things from the fluorescent light bulbs to the unpainted walls, and it made him angry enough to kill people," and that "he made comments about understanding how someone could kill 32 people." The police arrested him on suspicion of "interference with staff, faculty or students of an education institution" because of these remarks.

Karson was booked into the Boulder County Jail last night, and the Daily Camera said he was scheduled to appear in court this afternoon. I have no idea what happened at that appearance, because the local news hasn't really covered it yet.

Michael Karson, Max's father, was told by police that his son was arrested because his comments were "outrageous and threatening, and they go beyond free-speech rights." As far as I know, Max Karson is still in the Boulder County Jail.

Right now, I have no idea how to react to this developing story here in Boulder. Karson was obviously pushing his First Amendment rights in this class given the context and the events that happened this week, but apparently he's said controversial stuff before (click the link and read the story to see very vague examples), so he's known in the respect os speaking his mind. However, I can't, at this point in time, justify arresting a college student just because he decided to be stupid and say something stupid in front of other people that freaked them out.

There are all sorts of stories peppering the newscasts and on-line papers here that are telling about bomb threats, people with guns, scares at local schools, lockdowns, suicide attempts, and reports of shooting. It seems like there is some sort horrible insanity and irrationality that is sweeping Colorado and the country at large in the wake of these horrible events.

I'm so confused. I think I need to go take a nap.

Post-Columbine I'm not surprised but I'd never heard that one before.

Those kids (or their parents) pay HUGE money to get into a school that is falling apart. The desks are from the 60s, the chalkboards are impossible to read, etc.

But man they have a good looking stadium.

I'll be interested to hear the rest of the story. CU has its share of problems, so this may be right on, but it does sound like somebody overreacted.

I think any problems CU may have are being slowly but surely fixed. The campus is FINALLY coming into the 21st Century. There are some crappy classrooms, but I never really went to class hoping for a warm, fuzzy, comfortable, distracting atmosphere. The less the room distracted me from the actual class being taught, the better.

I think somebody has severely overreacted because i don't think this kid meant any harm. I wasn't there and I don't know him, but from what the local papers have reported, it sounds like he was very angry over this tragedy, and that he has experienced anger in his own life as well. By admitting he's been angry enough that he felt he could kill somebody, I think that means he's rational enough to know how wrong it is to do such a thing.

Then again, I'm just an outsider looking in.

It's just that such a good school should spend a few bucks on making the place at least look structurally sound.

I didn't expect to see couches and ferns in the classroom, but I did expect to not see big holes in the walls, etc.

And I have no doubt you're right about the kid.

I know that's what you meant, and I agree. There are some REALLY crappy buildings and rooms at CU, but things are getting better. They're spending many millions to build brand new facilities and replace the ages-old buildings to make the campus actually look nice on the inside, and not just on the outside.

I'm not tying to defend what Karson said at all, but it's a very tricky situation. We have free speech rights here in the United States, and we should be allowed to speak our minds, no matter how stupid our thoughts might be. On the other hand, I can understand completely wanting to protect students from this kind of talk just one day after such a terrible tragedy.

We just need to ask ourselves when free speech crosses the line, and when the silencing of free speech crosses the line.

I can understand someone being upset enough to say a comment like that, as much as I think they're a lower form of life for thinking that way. However, actually saying it, on a campuss...other kids don't wanna get shot up. I think it's good they're taking talk like this seriously now.