Deadly Scholarship

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD.

Henceforth, these NONFICTION book reports will be a time-saving device. You need not read entire books anymore. Read these condensed versions instead. You'll have that much more time for your own blog.

Today I read "Deadly Scholarship" by Edwin Chen, published in 1995.

In 1985, Lu Gang, loner, exam high-scorer from a family of peasant farmers in China, arrived in America to start his graduate school career at the University of Iowa.

As a physics PhD candidate, he became increasingly frustrated with the elitism at the school. The finals straws came in 1991 when he perceived he was receiving unfair treatment with regard to defense of his dissertation, and his failure to be nominated for a certain physics award.

A fellow student, Shan Linhua, also Chinese, presented a better quality dissertation, was nominated for, and won the said award. Lu Gang complained bitterly and persistently to the University administration about the award.

In three days' time, Gang was granted a gun license in summer of 1991. He bought two guns over the next few months. By late October, his attempts to resolve the award issue in his favor were going nowhere. You can guess what happened next. On November 1, 1991, he went on a shooting rampage, killing the rival student and the professors and administrators whom he thought had wronged him, and wounding an innocent by-standing secretary, paralyzing her from the neck down; six people in all. Then he killed himself.

As a result, gun-control laws in Iowa were stiffened to include a five-day waiting period and background check. It is unknown whether such measures would have prevented the above tragedy, but there have been no killing sprees at the University since.