COLUMN: New Jersey Sheriff Barges In Class, Confronts Professor

The Perspective:

[Prof. Michael] Glass, teaching a State and Local Politics course, mentioned [Sheriff Kevin] Larkin as an example of a New Jersey official who was "double-dipping" -- or receiving public pension payments and a public salary at the same time. According to Glass, Larkin makes approximately $200,000 per year from these combined sources of income.

One of the students in the class, who happened to work in Larkin's office, texted the sheriff about what the professor had said. Stunningly, Larkin himself showed up to the classroom later that night, interrupting what was otherwise an ordinary class session.

Read the whole story: The Perspective

Comments

[James Leo]

01:03 PM on 02/27/2010

"Glass, teaching a State and Local Politics course, mentioned Larkin as an example of a New Jersey official who was “double-dipping” — or receiving public pension payments and a public salary at the same time. According to Glass, Larkin makes approximately $200,000 per year from these combined sources of income"

In my opinion, both men are wrong.
What the Sheriff did was totally inappropriate and consistent with a totalitarian state.

Having said that, the professor using the classroom and/or lecture hall to defame a civil servant is equally out of bounds.
The Sheriff should have contacted the Dean and made a formal complaint and demanded the professor retract his comments. I know this is simplistic but "two wrongs do not make a right."

Neither of these men earn high marks in my book.