DEATH TO THE ACADEMICS?

Those with PhD degrees can sometimes be rather pompous and egotistical. Sometimes the PhD seems to stand for piled higher and deeper. Such an attitude may be irritating but, people don't usually resort to violence against them. Then comes this story in today's New York Times about Professor Richard T. Antoun who was stabbed in his office on Friday. Here are the money quotes:

"A 46-year-old Binghamton University graduate student from Saudi Arabia was charged on Saturday with killing a retired anthropology professor, a specialist in Islamic and Middle Eastern studies with whom he had worked, the authorities said.
The student, Abdulsalam S. al-Zahrani, was charged with second-degree murder in the death of the professor, Richard T. Antoun, who was stabbed in his office in the university’s Science I building on Friday afternoon, said Gerald F. Mollen, the district attorney in Broome County. “We believe the murder weapon was recovered,” he said.
Mr. Mollen said in a statement that Mr. Zahrani and Professor Antoun had known each other through Mr. Zahrani’s “work in the graduate program.” Later, in an interview, the district attorney said that “they’ve known each other for quite some time.” The extent of their contact was not immediately clear."

It's hard to fathom why someone would want to kill a retired Anthropology Professor of Middle Eastern Studies. But, the fact that the person charged was from Saudi Arabia should raise some eyebrows in the post 9/11 era. Dont cha think? That's why I found it curious that the New York Times would bury (no pun intended) this story on page 36 in the regional section of the paper. I know the Times has gone down hill over the past few years in terms of their biased reporting but, have the editors gone so politically correct that this story needs to be buried so far back in the paper? Hell, if some stupid kids on Long Island kill an illegal immigrant (as happened last year in Patchougue LI) it's front page news at liberal papers like the Times. American Professor's don't usually die at the hand of a Saudi national. But, for some reason it' buried on page 36. Curious.