Recently, LiveScience and Yahoo featured an article published by a university professor which claims the more formally educated someone is, the better they are at handling anger. Source (As if people stop learning when they quit going to classes.)
This made me laugh out loud. After working in social science research for years with those supposedly hyper-educated university professors, I can assure you it was never the secretaries or clerks throwing things in anger–it was always the people with “Dr.” in front of their names. Other professors would hide in their offices whenever there was conflict in the air. The PhDs from Rice University worked things out professionally by sabotaging the equipment of those who made them angry. (Not to mention the fact that I’ve been stalked for over seven years by university professors who clearly can’t manage their own anger, either.)
You’ve got to watch those researchers as they are notorious for focusing their studies and conclusions in ways that validate themselves, their values, their behaviors, their personalities, etc.
I think educated people are just more aware of how they should behave, but are more apt to be in denial (lie) about how they really behave as they are more image conscious.
This all reminded me of one of the worst cases of sexual harassment retaliation I have heard which involved a college professor at Tidewater Community College who hired a hit man to kill a female colleague who had accused him of sexual harassment. The story was reported back in 2006. At the time, there were only accusations and charges.
I remember that the harasser’s colleagues were outraged that he had been suspended for this. (It figures)
While the story had not faded from my mind, I had not kept tabs on what happened. So I have been Googling for updates. Here is a recap and what I found out:
Jay Glosser was an IT professor worried that a sexual harassment complaint made by Kimberly Perez could cost him his job. Perez was an associate professor in the same department. (Yes, the sexual harassment complaint was TRUE.)
Glosser had a neighbor, Raymond Groves, who offered to help him with his problem and arranged for one of his employees, F. Devin Scott to assist. Glosser offered the two men $3,000 to $4,000 to persuade Perez to withdraw her complaint or $10,000 to “take her out.”
But when Scott showed up at Perez’s front door, he ended up warning her instead. Later in a phone call, he asked her for $10,000 not to kill her. In another call, he told her he was connected to the Ku Klux Klan and that if he didn’t kill her, “some skinheads would come in from Alabama to do it.”
Subsequently, police sting operations led to arrests of Glosser, Groves, and Scott.
Glosser later pled guilty to conspiracy to commit murder for hire, solicitation, and conspiracy to commit extortion. He was sentenced to 35 years in prison, but most of it was suspended down to 8 1/2 years in prison. Groves got 8 years. Scott got 7 years.
Perez later filed a lawsuit against the college for ignoring her complaints. (I don’t know if this has been settled.)
She says her days are filled with fears and anxiety. “I can’t got to the store without worrying that someone is following me.” She said, “It’s a different life.
Most people still don’t know that the retaliation against sexual harassment complainants is often a lot worse than the original harassment. If you are interested in this issue, Perez’s story is really a must read: Kimberly Perez talks about her ordeal
Let’s get these educated folks some anger management classes. Quick!!!
Other sources for this article: 1, 2, 3
