RA Prof Murdered Family, Keeps Job

[Martin Eisenstadt]

Before you say "WTF?" you probably should know...this all took place at a college in the wonderful State of Illinois....in the City of Decatur, which just happens to be located right about smack in the middle of the 13th Congressional District....the very same one in which another brain-addled RA prof is running for office against an alum of said college.

Illinois university backs psych professor even after learning he murdered family in 1967
By Joshua Rhett Miller /
Published August 08, 2013 /
FoxNews.com

An Illinois university is standing behind an award-winning psychology professor, despite the new revelation he gunned down his parents and sister when he was a teenager, spent time in a mental institution and changed his name.

Dr. James St. James, chair of [regionally accredited] Millikin University’s Department of Behavioral Sciences, joined the school in 1986, some two decades after he confessed to killing his mother, father and older sister with a .22 long-barrel rifle in Texas in 1967. A jury found the then-16-year-old — born James Gordon Wolcott — not guilty by reason of insanity and he was released six years later after being treated for paranoid schizophrenia. Two years later, in an attempt to restart his life, Wolcott changed his name to James David St. James.

James’ violent past was unknown to university officials until an expose by a Texas newspaper — the Georgetown Advocate — that revealed his troubled history in a series of reports last month. And despite calls by Decatur Mayor Mike McElroy and U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Ill., for James to either step down or be placed on administrative leave, university officials are backing the man who won its Teaching Excellence and Leadership Award in 1997.

“[Regionally accredited] Millikin University has only recently been made aware of Dr. James St. James’ past,” the statement reads. “Given the traumatic experiences of his childhood, Dr. St. James’ efforts to build his life and obtain a successful professional career have been remarkable. The university expects Dr. St. James to teach at [regionally accredited] Millikin this fall.”

A spokesman told FoxNews.com Thursday that the liberal arts university would not be commenting beyond its statement issued last week and declined to discuss calls by Illinois lawmakers for the professor to leave the classroom.

“In all matters, [regionally accredited] Millikin University remains committed to its mission of delivering on the promise of education by preparing students for professional success, democratic citizenship in a global environment, and a personal life of meaning and value,” the statement concludes.

St. James, 61, declined to comment when reached early Thursday by FoxNews.com at his Decatur home.

“Have a wonderful day,” he said before hanging up.

McElroy, who did not respond to several messages seeking comment, told the Chicago Sun-Times that it would be the “right thing” for St. James to step down now that his past has been revealed.

Davis, who is also an alumnus of the 2,300-student university, said he’d like to see university officials act before [regionally accredited] Millikin University’s image is further sullied.

“My issue is I don’t want to see my alma mater have its reputation damaged,” Davis told the Chicago Sun-Times. “I’m a parent of a 16-year-old daughter who’ll have to choose a school in a few years. If my daughter said she wanted to be a psych major at [regionally accredited] Millikin, I hate to say, I’d have some concern.”

Davis, who graduated from the school in 1992 but did not have St. James as a professor, said he’d also like to know why St. James’ past wasn’t uncovered three decades ago when he was initially hired.

“At a minimum, they should put him on administrative leave to get to the bottom of why this wasn’t disclosed,” Davis continued. “I frankly don’t know why this guy would want to stay, especially with all the media attention he’s going to attract … Why bring the institution down?”

St. James, according to the Georgetown Advocate, was a brilliant teenager “by all accounts,” an accomplished musician and voracious reader. His father, Dr. Gordon Wolcott, was the respected head of the biology department at nearby Southwestern University; while his mother, Elizabeth, was a “vivacious” woman originally from South Carolina. His 17-year-old sister, Libby, was also known for her musical talent and affection for literature.

“They were exceptional people living what seemed to be a typical suburban life,” the newspaper reported Monday.

Minutes after midnight on Aug. 4, 1967, James, in his own account to reporter Ann Marie Gardner, “sniffed some airplane glue ‘to give him a boost’” and then loaded a .22-caliber long-barrel rifle before walking into the living room and shooting his father twice in the chest. He then shot his sister in the chest and face before doing the same to his mother, who was awakened by the initial gunshots.

“He later admitted that he had decided to kill them a week prior and made a plan the night before,” the Georgetown Advocate reports.

The Wolcotts' relatives from South Carolina arrived in Texas shortly after the killings. His uncle, according to the newspaper, concisely summed up his version of what happened.

“Jim has always been on the brilliant side, and he has gone berserk,” his relative said.

[WilliamW]

In Illinois violence-prone extremism amongst college profs is pretty much par for the course.

For example, the University of Illinois is well aware of George Gollin's sordid history of death threats, stalking, extortion, computer hacking, civil rights violations, and law enforcement impersonations. They also know all about his domestic partner Mel being cited by the FDA for selling mutant lab pigs to the public for food, her inept "conflict of interest" officer fiasco and her references to Catholics as "dirty Papists."

Unless and until somebody actually gets killed on campus they won't do anything. A dead student is less important to them than the risk of annoying some union goons.

[Winston Smith]

In Illinois violence-prone extremism amongst college profs is pretty much par for the course.

Don't forget communist terrorist bomber Bill Ayres, formerly UI Chicago.

Ayres, Gollin and this "St. James" character are three shitbirds of a feather.

[Don Dresden]

Dr. James St. James, chair of [regionally accredited] Millikin University’s Department of Behavioral Sciences, joined the school in 1986, some two decades after he confessed to killing his mother, father and older sister with a .22 long-barrel rifle in Texas in 1967. A jury found the then-16-year-old — born James Gordon Wolcott — not guilty by reason of insanity and he was released six years later after being treated for paranoid schizophrenia. Two years later, in an attempt to restart his life, Wolcott changed his name to James David St. James.

If he's a department chair he must have a PhD. Just what kind of third rate, dumbass-factory diploma mill would give an insane, murdering SOB a PhD???? Why, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, of course! Read his official bio bio here here:

Dr. James D. St. James, B.A. Stephen F. Austin State University, M.A. Texas Women’s University, and Ph.D. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is an Associate Professor of Psychology in the Behavioral Sciences Department. He currently serves the the [sic] Department Chair. He is is [sic] an Experimental Psychologist and teaches a variety of courses including Advanced Experimental Psychology, Advanced Statistical Methods, Introduction to Psychology, Memory & Cognition, and Principles of Psychology with Lab. Dr. St. James' research interests include motor control and motor learning, attention, and memory.

http://www.millikin.edu/academics/cas/bs/pages/fac.aspx

Naturally, this story was broken by somebody down in Texas, not Illinois. Too bad there wasn't somebody at UIUC who could have discovered this dangerous loony sooner and warned innocent people, maybe some sort of nosey, meddlesome, pathological, obsessive stalker type who likes to spend his ample free time sifting through other people's personal business.



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