Workplace Violence: “Snapped: Were there warning signs?”

By Cheryl Paradis, Psy.D., Psychology Today

It was a shock to hear about the shootings at the University of Alabama and the arrest of assistant biology professor Amy Bishop. As a forensic psychologist, I am always aware that I could be hurt by a defendant I am interviewing, but, like most people, I never imagine that I could be hurt by a co-worker.

Dr. Bishop is accused of killing three colleagues and injuring three others during a faculty meeting. Her court-appointed attorney, who seems to be laying the foundation for a psychiatric defense, told the press that she is mentally ill and has claimed amnesia for the time of the shooting.

I have evaluated many defendants who have killed family members, acquaintances, and strangers, and I have seen how seemingly stable people are driven to the breaking point. As an associate professor at a small liberal arts college, I also have first-hand knowledge of the pressures of academic life. College professors at prestigious institutions-and untenured faculty just about everywhere-work under high levels of stress. Academics must “publish or perish” to survive the zero-sum game of the tenure track process. Those who are denied tenure are essentially fired.

The year that follows the denial of tenure is grueling and demoralizing. All the other faculty members quickly learn of the tenure decision, which can be humiliating for the professor in question. Reeling from the rejection, she has just one more year of employment to find a position at another institution. She knows that when her curriculum vitae is reviewed, it will be obvious that she was rejected for tenure. She may feel branded as a failure. Denial of tenure can not only make it difficult to be hired at another college-it can be a career-ending event.

Dr. Bishop was denied tenure. Shortly before the shooting she was informed that her appeal was unsuccessful. She has not given any statements to the press, but it is likely that this was the final blow, the point at which she snapped.

It is now clear, in retrospect, that there were warning signs. The issue to address is whether these warning signs were ignored. News reports indicate that students had complained about Dr. Bishop and her colleagues were aware of her emotional problems.

This is not the first time that Dr. Bishop was violent or in trouble with the law. In 1986, at the age of twenty, she shot and killed her brother. She was never charged, and some now question whether the case was inadequately investigated.

It has also been reported that Dr. Bishop assaulted a woman at the International House of Pancakes in March 2002 after the woman took the last child booster seat. Then, in 1993, in a truly bizarre turn of events, Dr. Bishop was suspected of sending a letter bomb to one of her Harvard professors. Fortunately, he was suspicious of the package and did not open it. Dr. Bishop and her husband were interviewed by police, but she was not charged and no one was ever arrested for the crime.

In the next few months we will see what type of psychiatric defense, if any, Dr. Bishop uses.