Umpqua Community College Expels Nursing Student Over Shooting Paper

Umpqua Community College Expels Nursing Student Over Shooting Paper

A man murdered 10 people at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, OR, in 2015.

A teacher used the shooting as an excuse to give nursing student Kaylyn Willis a 0 on a paper, which led to her expulsion.

Chronic I instructor Patrick Harris asks his students every week to write a story from the perspective of someone with a chronic disease or disorder:

For the sixth week’s assignment, Harris asked his students to reflect on the support systems of chronically ill individuals and how a person with a chronic illness might respond to the sudden and unexpected loss of a support system. Willis submitted an imagined scenario about a woman suffering from ALS who shoots and kills her husband, her primary caretaker. She intended the post to be an exploration of the deterioration of mental health caused by a chronic illness and drew from a publicized case where a man was found not guilty of murdering his wife and sister-in-law because of ALS-related mental health issues. Willis also researched support groups for incarcerated people suffering from ALS.

Willis received a zero on the assignment. When she emailed Harris to discuss the grade, he responded, “Do you honestly think that your post on a nursing school assignment was appropriate? Joking about killing your husband? I’m really questioning your critical thinking if you think this was an appropriate discussion post.”

Harris indicated that he interpreted the post as making light of gun violence, which he viewed as particularly offensive because of a 2015 shooting on UCC’s campus.

Later that evening, Willis received an email summoning her to a meeting with school officials the next day. At the meeting, school officials informed her that she was being removed from the program and alleged that her post violated the nursing student handbook prohibiting “[a]cts which are dishonest, disrespectful, or disruptive.” The Grievance Panel’s written decision stated that Willis’ post was “insensitive” and “failed to take into consideration the events of UCC’s past and the impact her post could have” — sending the chilling message that gun-related speech is dependent on whether an institution has faced a campus shooting.

Willis’ appeal was denied on May 19. She remains expelled from the program and is unable to seek admission to any other Oregon Consortium Nursing Education programs, effectively ending her career plans.

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