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Texas A&M Fires Its Deputy Chancellor, and He Pulls a Knife

September 22, 2011, 12:33 am

The Texas A&M University system fired Jay T. Kimbrough as its deputy chancellor on Thursday, and police officers were called to the system’s headquarters after he pulled out a pocketknife in the presence of the two university lawyers handling his dismissal, The Eagle, a local newspaper, reported. Mr. Kimbrough, a former chief of staff to Gov. Rick Perry, had served as the system’s interim chancellor until a few weeks ago, when John Sharp became chancellor. Mr. Sharp, who was not present during the dismissal, described Mr. Kimbrough’s departure as a reduction in force, saying the deputy chancellor’s position was no longer needed. Mr. Kimbrough told The Eagle that he was being “cynical and comical” when he pulled out his knife, and that he was surprised that anyone felt threatened. A police spokesman said he had cooperated with the officers who arrived. There were no arrests.

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  • ssaulvolk

    Ah, Texas. You gotta love it. Maybe this is the kind of thing Kimbrough’s former boss was talking about when he said that things would “get ugly” for the Fed chair should he decide to visit that great state. Why use words when you’ve got a (concealed and legal) weapon handy?

  • cdelance

    The really amazing thing is that we continue to take these people and their “ideas” seriously.

  • cwinton

    Given that this is Texas, the only surprise is that he pulled a knife rather than a gun.

  • 11262324

    “Cynical and comical”…….how about just plain stupid. Another example of Perry’s cronyism run amok.

  • manoflamancha

    Bit of over-reaction on the part of all parties, including this list of bloggers.

  • gordonmcd

    obviously you’ve never had a knife or gun pulled on you…I can tell you when personally experienced it’s neither “cynical or comical,” just threatening and inappropriate.

  • willynilly

    I wonder how many other Perry cronies are packing something dangerous up to and including moronic brains.  Look for Jay T. Kimbrough to be named U.S. Secretary of Education if Perry somehow is elected President. 

    WANTED: Research Specialists – A unique research experiment is currently underway.  Participants will be asked to go to public places or to meetings of public and private entities and in the process of the normal course of events, will suddenly pull out and open a pocket knife in full view of everyone present. The Specialist will then be required to record in writing the reaction of those who observed the experiment.  If there happens to be a negative reaction (not expected), the Specialist will offer the audience an explanation; i.e. he/she was only being “cynical and comical” sensing that the tenor of the meeting had to be changed to a lighter more relaxed mood. The Specialist will then express shock that anyone felt threatened.  The Speciaist will then record carefully and precisely all of the events that unfold immediately after the incident and for the next succeeding several weeks.  The purpose of this research project is to test the reaction of average americans, across the entire country, who are suddenly exposed to a major change in the conduct of a routine meeting.  The research organization shall not be responsible for providing bail money or fees and costs of legal council for participants who failed to carry out the project in accordance with its intended peaceful purpose.

  • yellow1

    Or you’ve never worked on a campus where a student/F+S person has pulled (or used) a weapon. Is it too much to assume that those involved with education follow the policies of educational institutions relative to weapons on campuses and facilities? Is this EVER an appropriate reaction when being told you are dismissed?

  • johnbarnes

    This appears to be the Chronicle’s Special Pulling Inappropriate Things Out In Public Issue.  http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/u-of-new-hampshire-bars-professor-who-exposed-himself-from-working-with-students/36497?sid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en

    Maybe it could be an annual, perhaps timed for the winter holidays or spring break?

    Interestingly, in both cases the defense is that he didn’t seem to try to use it on anyone.

  • 22108469

    I once had an administrator display a much larger weapon during a tense meeting, and he described how he would like to use it on another administrator. I did indeed feel that there was a “hostile workplace environment,” and the knife-wielding administrator later did do his impression of a volcano, which did prompt police involvement and rapid termination of employment. We were fortunate that no one was hurt because it turned out that there had been other, less public threats against particular individuals.

  • music_librarian

    Why is it that whenever one of these types gets called for crossing the line, whether verbally or otherwise, they always respond that it was “only a joke?”

  • dutchjohn

    Definitely a classic example of stupidity on the part of Mr. Kimbrough. However it does highlight a troubling trend in America.  No where in the article does it say that he injured anyone, attempted to injure anyone or even threatened them.  If he had, he would have been arrested and charged with any number of felonies and/or mis-demeaners.

    Case in point – A law abiding citizen in Las Vegas was shopping with his fiance.  While struggling to reach an item from a high shelf, he became frustruated and cursed few times.  As he reached for the item his shirt came up and his handgun became visible for a brief moment.  A shopper was alarmed and called 911 to report that a man was armed and swearing in the store. At no time was he aware of the phone call to police or the concerns of the other shopper.

    Police showed up armed and ready. They met the man at the door as he was leaving the store with his fiance – again totally unaware of the problem.  At no point did he threaten the police or the public. The police challenged him based on the information from the 911 call. In the confusion to communicate that he was legally armed, he was shot and killed by police.

    A law abiding citizen, innocent of any wrong doing, never having threatened anyone, is dead because someone overreacted and called the police. An innocent man was killed in front of his family all because someone was uncomfortable.

    Again, I agreee wholeheartedly that Mr. Kimbrough was irresponsible and utterly stupid to bring out a weapon of any kind in the middle of a termination meeting.  We have friends and colleagues who have witnessed horrible killings on their campuses.  A bit of caution is warranted. however over-reaction can be just as dangerous.

  • szgoldberg

    I hope this incident gets much wider publicity.  Others than readers of the Chronicle and the local paper, “The Eagle,” need to know about the people, their attitudes towards “humor” and weapons, with whom we are dealing.

  • goxewu

    The minor revelation here is that Gov. Perry’s buddy is a bit of a nutjob. The major revelation (if it can be called a revelation at all) is that Gov. Perry put his buddy in a $300,000 do-nothing job on the public tab as a favor to him. 

  • greeneyeshade

    How many Hispanics reading this headline breathed a sigh of relief that Kimbrough probably wasn’t one of them?

  • wassall

    Doesn’t Texas have a permit-to-carry law for knives?

  • tahorn

    @szgoldberg:  Well tweet it out.

  • archman

    Yes, unfortunately Perry needs lots of money for his big political campaigns. The people that feed him the cash often expect kickbacks in return. Perry is VERY GOOD at taking care of his major financial contributor, which is no small piece of his fantastic success in politics.

  • rick1952

    The case you describe is, indeed, tragic.  It highlights the issue that law enforcement has raised numerous times when advocates for concealed carry claim that there is little or no risk posed by this practice.  Police have no way of knowing, nor do innocent civilians, that an armed person carrying a concealed weapon who is not a law enforcement officer is not a dangerous person.  If the individual had not been armed, it is highly unlikely that the law enforcement officers who responded would have had to make a split second decision about the use of deadly force.

    Your claim that the tragedy resulted from a citizen who over-reacted is, from my perspective, “Monday morning quarter-backing.”  In the moment, how could that citizen know whether or not that individual was not a danger to others?  The citizen did the prudent thing – notify law enforcement and let them address the situation. The mistake may seem clear in hindsight but I doubt it was clear-cut in the moment. The same is true for the law enforcement officers who responded – in hindsight, it is clear they made a mistake but in the moment, it is unlikely they could discern that the individual was just an exasperated shopper who just happened to be carrying a concealed weapon.

    The idea that anyone should be able to carry a firearm anytime and anywhere is as much the reason for this tragedy as any other factor that might be cited.

    As I have noted previously, I grew up in urban neighborhoods in which gun violence was an unfortunate reality and a member of my family was the victim of a gun homicide, so I am familiar with the threat posed by armed criminals. But most places I go to are not places in which a gun is a necessary tool for self-protection, including campus, church and the grocery store.

  • http://www.facebook.com/eric.angevine Eric Angevine

    Sometimes, a man’s just got to whittle to calm his nerves.

  • jbfjbf

    Kimbrough must not be a native of Texas.  Down here we pull a shot gun, not a sissy pocket knife. 

  • jffoster

    “Hullabaloo, flip blade, flip blade,
    Hullabaloo, flip blade, flip blade.”

  • nocalls

    Somebody in Texas has a pocket knife?  Yawn. If lawyers can be believed, now he can’t sue them for wrongful termination.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_PCFEHE5XLOX2QTY2IH5O2PO7QQ Cool

    This is a pocket knife, not a weapon. Good grief. I use one to clean my finger nails in church. It is really funny to read the reactions here. This is a non-story. The Chronicle is having another slow day.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_3PB7GTITTIGVWXCCDKZ3QV2A5I Dan

    News reports say Kimbrough mentioned, something to the effect, that he has the knife for things like cutting up a watermelon when needed. That’s got to be a BIG knife. Surprised anyone felt threatened when he pulled it out? Hmmmm.

  • dopefein

    Can you hear that? That is the sound of Perry’s campaign rapidly imploding.  His performance in the last debate was comical, and now his cronies are losing their plum positions.  His clout is eroding, and he has no one to blame but himself.  Let’s hope this trend continues; the guy is a twit.

  • raza_khan

    Okay…. what was he doing with the pocket knife on campus? I am sure that there must be some policy against carrying such “tools” on campus…. or does Texas not see this as an issue?

    Raza

    __________________________

    Dr. Raza Khan

    Chemistry faculty

    Dr.Raza.Khan@gmail.com

  • rsgassle

    Another argument for gun control.

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