The Paper Trail

Yale Considers Workplace Safety Push

September 30, 2009 RSS Feed Print

Tragedy brought the Yale University campus to a halt when graduate student Annie Le was brutally murdered in a Yale lab facility. An investigation resulted in the arrest of Raymond Clark, a lab technician in the same lab, and it prompted new concerns about workplace violence.

Well, during the hubbub surrounding Le's murder and the ensuing investigation, Yale University police arrested a retired Yale employee, John Petrini, when he came to campus with a rifle and a butcher knife. According to the Yale Daily News, officials believe the man's actions were related to a dispute Petrini had with Yale human resources.

So, with two significant incidents in the same month, Yale is taking action, the Daily News reports. The university published a short article in its human resources newsletter asking for suggestions on carrying out a workplace-safety campaign on campus. The campaign will aim to ensure that workplace safety remains a priority, the report says.

"It's an unfortunate occurrence that both [incidents] happened in the same time frame," Yale's Director of Human Resources and Administration Communications Hellen Hom told the Daily News. "The combination of the two just brings to light the need for more awareness."

Searching for a college? Get our complete rankings of America's Best Colleges.

Tags:: Connecticut,; Yale University,; colleges

« Previous Post Next Post »

Reader Comments Read all comments (10)

Add Your Thoughts Comment Name State Email

Please enter the two words below into the text field underneath the image.

Your comment will be posted immediately, unless it is spam or contains profanity. For more information, please see our Comments FAQ.

is good

Michael Jordan Shoes of AL 5:17AM October 05, 2009

Ours is one of the most violent nations in the Western world - domestic violence, workplace violence - researchers' unspeakable violence against defenseless animals, violent crimes and especially - war making which leads to millions of lives lost or damaged. If we are not actively promoting PEACE IN ALL FRONTS of our national life and working hard to eradicate the injustices and inequities in our society we are actually allowing all that violence to persist and fester.
As a poet puts it:
As a single leaf turns not yellow but with the silent knowledge of the whole tree,
So the wrong-doer cannot do wrong without the hidden will of you all.
The murdered is not unaccountable for his own murder,
And the robbed is not blameless in being robbed.
The righteous is not innocent of the deeds of the wicked,
And the white-handed is not clean in the doings of the felon.
Yea, the guilty is oftentimes the victim of the injured,
And still more often the condemned is the burden-bearer for the guiltless and unblamed.
You cannot separate the just from the unjust and the good from the wicked;
For they stand together before the face of the sun even as the black thread and the white are woven together.
And when the black thread breaks, the weaver shall look into the whole cloth, and he shall examine the loom also.
Kahlil Gibran
The Prophet, On Crime and Punishment

Diaz-Sprague of OH 10:12PM October 04, 2009

I totally welcome pro-active approaches to address bullying and harassment in the work place. I know that a lot of women are subjected to relentless abuse because of their perceived lack of attractiveness or unwanted advances at the other extreme. I doubt though whether legislation or seminars would be the whole answer. Look at how history is taught at school contributing to prejudice against minorities. Look at how the media and entertainment and fashion industry sideline minorities and projecting an unrealistic image of women or men. Or how older and disabled people are treated by society in general. People are always screaming about "political correctioness" gone mad. The reality is on some levels, we are going backwards. I did not receive any discrimination when I studied in the US in the 70s; but my Chinese friends in the US now tell me racial attacks are on the rise. The same in England. As for Annie, she and her colleagues obviously did not have any where to go to complain about Clark's "anger" and "officiousness." She recieved a text from him on the day she died about "cleanliness of rat cages." His whole family controlled the lab and probably stuck together and became "unassailable." How about the difficultly of sacking union member? That should go into part of the legislative change too.

Helen Li 5:36AM October 03, 2009

Yale Considers Workplace Safety Push

Related Articles

Reader Comments Read all comments (10)

The Paper Trail

AMERICA'S BEST COLLEGES

Editor's Picks