At a public event on “The Rule of Law in a Time of Polarization,” a Northeastern University professor told the audience that he “wouldn’t mind” seeing President Trump “dead.”
Aubrey Kenderdine, a Campus Reform contributor who is a senior at the school, ripped Bluestone for his remarks.
“Here we see a respected professor advocate for violence against our president in a public forum while hes representing my university. This is outrageous,” Kenderdine said.
2018 MYRA KRAFT OPEN CLASSROOM SERIES:
Campus Reform reports:
The event was part of Northeastern’s 2018 Myra Kraft Open Classroom series, which explores “the definition of the Rule of Law, what it requires, what happens in its absence, and how it has declined and emerged globally,” as well as how it functions in times of “polarization and technological upheaval.”
“Would I kill him? No. And I normally abhor violence in all forms.”
The event description notes that the term “Rule of Law” can have different meanings to different people, but asserts that “at its core it involves all members of a political community being subject to the same (well defined) laws and standards and an independent judiciary.”
Barry Bluestone, a professor of political economy at Northeastern’s School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs who served as the school’s founding dean from 2006 to 2012, participated in the January 31 installment of the series, which focused on “Challenges Posed by Economic Inequality & Stagnation” and also featured progressive journalist Robert Kuttner.
On Monday, Northeastern’s School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs posted a video (THE VIDEO HAS BEEN REMOVED BY THE SCHOOL) of the two-hour event to its YouTube page, near the end of which Bluestone shared his fantasy of seeing Donald Trump leave the presidency, either through impeachment or death.
“This president that we have is really out of control…sometimes I want to just see him impeached,” Bluestone remarked. “Other times, quite honestly—I hope there are no FBI agents here—I wouldn’t mind seeing him dead. But, actually I don’t wa…”
Kuttner, seated to his left, quickly interjected, supplying the qualifier, “…of natural causes.”
“Of natural causes,” Bluestone affirmed with a nod to his colleague. “Thank you. Thank you.”
Bluestone pointed to the camera and then to Kuttner saying “FBI,” as if to suggest that any FBI agents listening should heed Kuttner’s hasty correction.
