UAlbany: Home of the Craigslist Killer and apologists for torture

"at the University at Albany, Mr. Markoff was a member of the College Republicans, and traveled to Washington in 2004 to hear speeches by Ann Coulter and Karl Rove."

Goodnough, Abby and Nate Sweber and Javier C. Hernandez. "Details, but Little Insight, on Craigslist Killing Suspect." N.Y. Times. April 28, 2009. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/28/us/28boston.html

I'd been at a debate between the College Republicans (of which the "Craigslist Killer" Philip Markoff was a member, as above noted) and the Campus Greens. The CReeps literally high-fived each other over an "argument" they made in which they excused torture at Abu Ghraib by equating it to fraternity hazing. If they're aware of fraternity hazing at UAlbany that rises to the level of the torture at Abu Ghraib, or even of any hazing whatsoever, they'd be obliged to report it.

"During his college years at the University at Albany-SUNY, he indulged in poker nearly every weekend, often all night. He was a bitter loser and not one to walk readily away from a losing streak. James Kehoe, a friend from Albany, said that in addition to poker, Markoff liked video games and golfand marijuana [...] Markoff belonged to a College Republican Club and to a medical fraternity. He supported the Iraq war and gun rights" (bold emphasis added)

Hawkins, Kristal. "The Illicit List: Crime and Craigslist." Crime Library on truTV.com. http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/classics/craigslist_crimes/3.html

Did his support of the Iraq war extend to supporting war crimes as it did for some of the other CReeps?

Granted, there has been hazing at UAlbany somewhat of the Abu Ghraib nature - e.g. in 1988 a pledge in his underwear was electrocuted in an electrified, cold, polluted stormwater runoff pond filled with metal debris: https://sites.google.com/site/notthenormalschool/

The electrocuted student's death was decided not to be the result of hazing because he allegedly consented to it. Yeah, right. Typical UAlbany administrative logic. Joe Paterno fan Bob Ford then pressured the electrocuted student's younger brother to join the football team.

As I found in the Communication Department in 2011, a middle-aged untenured white male American professor can joke about hooking up a young, petite, Asian female foreign national PhD candidate teaching assistant to electrodes and shocking her until she screams - and Jeanette Altarriba, the chair of the "Presidential Advisory Council for the Prevention of Sexual Assault" will ensure that such men can continue gratifying themselves in that way and that any students who report it are severely retaliated against. Go Great Danes! :-(

Some CReep writing:

" Take for example the claim that the media has been tracking in lieu of news lately, that President Obama was born in Kenya and faked his birth certificate, making his presidency illegal under the Constitution's Article 2 mandate for natural born citizens to serve as Presidents. The proponents of this theory have given liberals another reason to chuckle at those silly conservative wing-nuts.

"What I am suggesting is that the Obama administration itself is responsible for the resurgence in popularity of this theory. Seriously, think about it, who benefits the most from the theory? Barack Obama, that's who."

O'Neill, Matt. "Attention True Believers: the Truth About 'Birthers.'" UAlbany College Republicans. August 8, 2009. http://uacr.blogspot.com/2009/08/attention-true-believers-truth-about.html

Wingnuts either way.

More charming CReep writing, ignoring the possibility that firing someone for using a racial slur might also be a form of free speech and that perhaps society's better served by having people on the air who aren't morons:

Shock Jock Don Imus recently referred to the Rutger's Women's Basketball team as, 'nappy-headed hos.' The racial slur led to a two week suspension from his job broadcasting from CBS. MSNBC followed suit by dropping the simulcast of his morning show. This raises a few important questions: Are we becoming too politically correct as a society? Are people over reacting [sic] to Imus' comments? [...] If some one [sic] doesn't like an opinion, they don't have to read it or listen to it. Society is better served by having morons like Don Imus out there, than having the thought police regulating what can be said.

Novak, James. "Lynching Free Speech." Albany College Republicans. April 12, 2007. http://albanyrepublicans.blogspot.com/2007/04/lynching-free-speech-by-james-novak.html

As I recall, the CReeps proclaimed themselves the victors of the debate on their website. Markoff could've been one of the high-fivers; I don't recall what the young men looked like. One wonders what the other CReeps got up to after they graduated and whether they've turned out to be better or worse than their friend Markoff did.

I do hope other universities aren't quite as sick.