A public university adjunct professor posted an outright despicable Facebook comment Wednesday about Otto Warmbier, the American college student who died after being detained by North Korea for more than a year.
University of Delaware anthropology professor Katherine Dettwyler took to Facebook the same day that Warmbier died. The 22-year-old University of Virginia student was detained by North Korea in January 2016 after stealing a government propaganda poster. He was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor.
North Korea released Warmbier back to the U.S. last week in what doctors said could best be described as a state of "unresponsive wakefulness."
Warmbier died one week later.
But as much of the nation grieved the loss of one of its own, Dettwyler wasn't as compassionate.
"Is it wrong of me to think that Otto Warmbier got exactly what he deserved?" the professor wrote in a Facebook post.
Dettwyler went on to say that Warmbier "went to North Korea, for f***'s sake," and she called Warmbier a "spoiled, naive, arrogant" American college student who "never had to face the consequences of his actions." Dettwyler recalled seeing Warmbier crying at his sentencing.
"'What did you expect?'" Dettwyler said she thought to herself as Warmbier was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor.
"How about a few moments of thought given to all the other people in North Korea who are suffering under the repressive government there? Just because they are North Koreans, and not US citizens, we shouldn't care about them?" Dettwyler said.
The University of Delaware professor also posted about Warmbier's race in the comments section of a National Review article.
“Otto is typical of the mindset of a lot of the young, white, rich, clueles [sic] males who come into my classes. These are the same kids who cry about their grades, because they didn’t think they’d really have to read and study the material to get a good grade," Dettwyler wrote, according to the Daily Caller.
"They simply deserve a good grade for being who they are. Or instead of crying, they bluster and threaten their female professors," she said.
Campus Reform reported that one reader confronted Dettwyler in the National Review comments section over "the hatred you spew at ordinary white college kids."
Dettwyler then resorted to further racially charged attacks. She claimed she never specifically attacked Warmbier — just the "white, rich, clueless males" who are "like" him and who "think nothing of raping drunk girls at frat parties and snorting cocaine, cheating on exams, and threatening professors with physical violence."
In addition to attacking Warmbier (or the students "like" him), Dettwyler went after Warmbier's grieving parents for raising their child to think that "he could get away with whatever he wanted."
As extreme as Dettwyler's comments were, though, it's apparently not the first time she has shocked others with her incendiary remarks.
According to Dettwyler's RateMyProfessors page, her students describe her as being "very opinionated” and “obnoxious."
“It’s her opinion or no opinion and she won’t be afraid to express it even if it may offend half the class," one student wrote.
Another student said: "My problem with her is that she says we are not ‘entitled to our own facts,’ but she clearly seems to think she is.”
And yet another one of Dettwyler's students claimed that the professor once said that she "hates America and U.S. ways."
TheBlaze contacted Dettwyler to ask for a comment but she did not immediately respond.
The University of Delaware said Friday in a statement:
The comments of Katherine Dettwyler do not reflect the values or position of the University of Delaware. We condemn any and all messages that endorse hatred and convey insensitivity toward a tragic event such as the one that Otto Warmbier and his family suffered.The University of Delaware values respect and civility and we are committed to global education and study abroad; therefore we find these comments particularly distressing and inconsistent with our values. Our sympathies are with the Warmbier family.
A spokesman for the university did not comment further, saying that "personnel matters are confidential."
Editor's note: This post has been updated with a statement from the University of Delaware.
