Can you imagine this scenario if the professor was a conservative and the student was an abortion activist?

From the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Guns, Pancakes, and Ambiguity

“Sarah” was a very nice young woman who turned up in one of my classes a year or so ago. Her academic abilities were not strong but she had great energy and was a class leader. Definitely a process, and not a content, type of gal. I did take special notice of her on the first day during a sharing activity we typically do at the beginning of my science lecture courses. Sarah shared that the most notable experience of her winter break was a visit to a gun range where she had fired an AK-47. I gave the usual “very good, moving on” response but was thinking, “Whoa, that’s disturbing.”

When I was in college, we had this thing called the Santa Shoot. At the end of the semester you could bring your old books and tests to the firing range and “take out your frustration.” The Massachusetts Institute of Technology had a championship shooting team at the time (late ‘90s) and the Santa Shoot was a great fund raiser. MIT had to stop it, though, because people were starting to bring pictures of their professors (and their girlfriends) on which to take out their frustrations…

Last year at some point, Sarah said she was applying to a teacher-credential program and asked me for a recommendation. Initially I said yes because I usually do. I don’t know the exact date she asked, but I am thinking it must have been before the Umpqua Community College shooting last October because that’s when I really started thinking about students and guns. After Umpqua, colleagues and others specifically asked me if I felt safe on the campus and I had to think about that question. Our college’s “shelter-in-place” drills — in which whole buildings practice for an active-shooter situation — have not made me feel safe. I also did not feel safe during a visit to the campus police station where I was offered a free gun-safety lock…

So what do I do? Do I write her a recommendation because I originally said yes? Do I say no and explain myself? Do I ignore her email?