The United States Merchant Marine Academy has issued a 45-day suspension to a professor who has been on administrative leave since he joked during class time about July’s mass shooting in an Aurora, Colo. movie theater.
The decision to suspend professor Gregory Sullivan was made Sept. 11 following an internal investigation of Sullivan’s comments during a class session on July 31.
Sullivan reportedly said “If someone with orange hair appears in the corner of the room, run for the exit,” prior to screening a documentary for a class that included a student whose father was killed in the Aurora attack.
The comment referred to the appearance of James Holmes, who is awaiting trial for the shooting which killed 12 and wounded 58. Holmes dyed his hair orange before allegedly opening fire at a screening of “The Dark Knight Rises.”
As part of the penalty, Sullivan will also undergo sensitivity training.
“This decision was made after careful review of all information collected as part of the process required under the federal policy governing Academy faculty and staff. The Academy’s first priority is the well-being of its students, and it will continue to work with the entire campus community to ensure its ability to train and educate the nation’s future merchant mariners,” according to a statement released by the academy.
The student whose father had been killed 11 days earlier was “obviously upset” and exited the classroom following Sullivan’s comment, according to internal documents obtained by the New York Times.
Members of the academy’s administration were considering harsher punishment for Sullivan, according to the documents.
Professors at the Academy had already been notified of the death of the student’s father.
According to the Times’ review of the documents, the administration sent an academy-wide e-mail addressing the student’s loss.
Academic Dean Shashi Kumar reportedly advocated for Sullivan’s dismissal an internal notice. Kumar’s office declined to comment for this article, referring all inquiries to the academy’s external relations office.
Sullivan, a tenured professor of humanities and an Asian history scholar, has worked at the academy since 2006. He was placed on leave by Rear Admiral James A. Helis, who became superintendant of the academy in August.
“The academy’s first priority is the well-being of its students,” Helis said in a statement issued on Aug. 17. “As soon as I learned of the incident, I immediately placed the professor involved on administrative leave and he is not teaching class at this time.”
The academy is overseen by the U.S. Department of Transportation.
