Tag: UT Martin

In an exclusive interview with The Tennessee Star, Tommy A. Thomas, District Attorney General for Tennessee’s 27th Judicial District, explained his decision not to prosecute University of Tennessee at Martin associate professor of English Charles Bradshaw over a letter he wrote anonymously that contained threats to students promoting a resolution to allow students to concealed carry on campus. UT Martin Chancellor Keith Carver characterized Thomas’s decision not to prosecute Bradshaw as one based on the First Amendment in a statement released on Friday. “The campus reported the situation to the Weakley County District Attorney, who declined to press charges because Dr. Bradshaw engaged in speech protected by the First Amendment,” Carver said in the statement. “That’s not exactly what I said,” Thomas, who serves Obion and Weakley Counties, told The Star on Monday when asked about Chancellor Carver’s statement on Friday that he had decided not to prosecute Prof. Bradshaw since the anonymous threatening letter he sent was protected speech under the First Amendment. “We declined any prosecution because it appeared to me this was clearly not a serious threat but a parody,” Thomas said, adding: Any punishment or anything else should be handled administratively. I did not mention the First Amendment.…

The chancellor of the University of Tennessee at Martin issued a statement late Friday identifying Dr. Charles Bradshaw, associate professor of English, as the author of an anonymous letter that contained threats of violence against the student sponsors of a Student Government Association resolution to allow students concealed carry privileges on campus, a story The Tennessee Star broke on Friday morning. “As many of you are aware, a situation arose this week from an open letter issued by Dr. Charles Bradshaw, UT Martin associate professor of English, under the pen name ‘Wesley Sniper’ that contained descriptions of mass violence on our campus,” Dr. Keith Carver, UT Martin chancellor said in the statement. “The letter was originally crafted as an example of satirical writing for one of Dr. Bradshaw’s classes; however, the letter soon became distributed to a much broader audience. Many individuals who saw the letter outside of the class became concerned for the safety of the campus and reported the matter to the police,” Carver continued. “After an initial investigation, the UT Martin Department of Public Safety quickly determined that the campus was not in imminent danger. Dr. Bradshaw was placed on paid administrative leave while the matter was…