In a refreshing change of pace, a trio of Auburn University professors threw an appreciation lunch for local law enforcement last Friday.
Paying for the visit by a local food truck to the Auburn Public Safety building out of their own pocket, Professors Glenn Richey, Beth Davis-Sramek and David Ketchen said they felt a need to “give back and give thanks to the public safety here.”
The effort by these profs stands in contrast to that of their colleague Jesse Goldberg, who a little over a month ago created a social media ruckus after tweeting out “F*ck every single cop. Every single one” and Facebooking “ACAB,” or “All Cops are Bastards.”
Late last month, members of the Auburn English Department wrote a letter in support of Goldberg, complaining he had been “bullied” by some in the Auburn community and “doxxed” by right-wing media.
In a statement to Yellowhammer, Davis-Sramek said she and her two colleagues have been “troubled by bombastic rhetoric casting the police as ‘instruments of violence on behalf of capital.’
“These ill-conceived Marxist notions stand in direct contrast to an indisputable reality – capitalism is the only economic system in history that has lifted billions of people out of poverty.”
“As a group, we were dismayed that vitriol was directed locally at our police,” [Ketchen] remarked. “The way to counter hate is love and love is what we are expressing with this lunch event. Without women and men who are willing to risk it all for citizens’ well-being, Auburn would not remain the loveliest village on the plains for long. …
Richey, who serves as Harbert eminent scholar in supply chain management, called for a greater respect for law enforcement given the difficulty of the jobs they perform.
“We seem to have lost our sense of civility in the U.S.,” observed Richey. “When people start vilifying ALL police, it becomes quite obvious that things have gone too far. These men and women work a job that is often thankless and dangerous, but always important. We need to spend more time thanking them.”
The professors purchased approximately 70 lunches.
Auburn Chief of Police Cedric Anderson said being a cop is “a thankless job a lot of times.” He added that when someone goes out of their way to do something like the professors’ purchase of lunches, “it’s almost overwhelming.”
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