Professor Goes on Warmbier Rant: 'Got What He Deserved'

The internet is not happy with a University of Delaware professor's comments
By Gina Carey,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 24, 2017 6:10 AM CDT
Professor: Otto Warmbier's Parents 'Are to Blame'
The casket of Otto Warmbier is carried from Wyoming High School after his funeral, Thursday, June 22, 2017, in Wyoming, Ohio.   (AP Photo/Bryan Woolston)

A University of Delaware professor is causing a riot online after posting to her personal Facebook page that student Otto Warmbier "got exactly what he deserved" following his death Monday upon returning from North Korea. According to USA Today, adjunct anthropology professor Kathy Dettwyler went off on students like Warmbier, whom she called “young, white, rich, clueless males who come into my classes." She wrote (in a post that has since been made private or deleted), "These are the same kids who cry about their grades because they didn't think they'd really have to read and study the material to get a good grade,” and said Warmbier’s parents “are to blame” for raising him to believe he could do anything he wanted.

The Facebook rant, as well as similar comments posted by Dettwyler on a National Review article, have people demanding her termination. University of Delaware released a statement saying that Dettwyler’s words did not reflect the institution, and that it found the “comments particularly distressing and inconsistent with our values.” A spokeswoman did not comment on Dettwyler’s employment status, saying it was “confidential.” (Warmbier didn't attend the school.) Fox News reports that the professor has mixed reviews among students, with many who laud her for her expertise in the anthropology department on RateMyProfessors.com, but some who say her opinions get in the way of her teaching: “Professor Dettwyler is intelligent, but way too opinionated to the point where she becomes unprofessional.” (More Otto Warmbier stories.)

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