Early Warning Signals of Tuesday's Shutdown Part 2 Saturday, February 05, 2022
Yesterday, we noted an item from a Boulder TV station detailing warning signs of bizarre and threatening behavior from the former UCLA lecturer that led to Tuesday's campus shutdown. Late Thursday, the Bruin provided more details reproduced below. It would be advisable for the Academic Senate to examine the time table - what was known and when did it become known - the decision to shut down the campus (necessary?) including the timing of that decision (too soon? too late?), and other relevant information.
Students and a classmate of the arrested former philosophy lecturer in Monday’s mass shooting scare said he exhibited a pattern of disturbing behavior months before the week’s incident. Matthew Harris, who was a former UCLA postdoctoral researcher, was arrested in Boulder after threatening several students and faculty, including implied threats of a mass shooting at UCLA. Harris taught at UCLA until winter 2021. Laura Eimiller, an FBI spokesperson for the Los Angeles field office, said in an emailed statement that Harris will appear in court Thursday. She added that Harris has not been charged in the Central District of California. On Monday, faculty and students received emails from Harris which included a link to a video titled “UCLA Philosophy (Mass Shooting)” on his new YouTube channel – which has since been removed by YouTube – and a link to an 800-page manifesto he wrote. In his manifesto, Harris used slurs against various groups including people in the LGBTQ+ community, Asian people, immigrants, Jewish people, white people and women. Prior to Monday’s mass shooting scare, Harris had a history of threatening physical violence. Shortly after the start of the quarter on Jan. 6, 2021, he sent an email titled “SANDY HOOK 2 PROFESSOR SHOOTS EVERYBODY” to his mother, according to a judicial restraining order in force until 2024. About two weeks later, Harris emailed his mother again, saying he intended to move closer to UC Irvine to plan the murder of a philosophy professor there with whom he was acquainted, according to documents filed in court obtained by the Daily Bruin. In the email, Harris also referenced his desire to kill white UCLA Faculty Association Blog: First Quarter 2022
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