What do ya think? "Mentally Ill" Villanova professor slits her Down Syndrome baby's neck, then commits suicide...

[NFS4]

Villanova professor who killed baby to be honored in library

JENNIFER KAY

Associated Press

VILLANOVA, Pa. - Mine Ener's colleagues and former students at Villanova University are dedicating a memorial student lounge in her name, an honor critics at the Roman Catholic school call inappropriate for a professor who killed her baby daughter while in the throes of postpartum depression.

Ener, who committed suicide in a Minnesota jail less than a month after killing her baby, taught at the suburban Philadelphia university's Center for Arab and Islamic Studies. The deaths shocked faculty and students preparing to return for the fall 2003 semester.

Villanova spokeswoman Barbara K. Clement said Ener's friends simply want to honor her work as a dedicated scholar and enthusiastic mentor, and hope to raise awareness about postpartum depression.

"She loved that baby very, very, very much. It was a disease. We have to focus on the fact that she was a wonderful teacher and researcher," Clement said.

But some students say such a memorial is out of place at a university whose mission statement upholds "the sacredness of each person."

In response to an e-mail invitation sent to students about the memorial, 21-year-old Villanova senior Jeanne Marie Hoffman circulated a statement to friends and local media voicing her opposition.

Hoffman, editor of the university's conservative student paper, said no formal protest has been organized for the dedication, though some students plan to gather and pray together in separate locations.

"It was a sad and tragic situation. She was depressed, but she did murder her daughter," Hoffman said Wednesday. "It isn't the kind of thing you want to remember on a Catholic campus."

Ener was taking medication for postpartum depression when she visited her parents in St. Paul, Minn., in August 2003. She brought along her 6-month-old daughter, Raya, who was born with Down syndrome and at one point needed to be fed through a tube.

Ener, 38, told police she fatally slit the infant's throat because she wanted to give the baby relief. Less than a month later, Ener put a trash bag over her head and committed suicide in prison.

The memorial was funded by donations from Ener's friends, family and colleagues.

New tables, lamps and an oriental rug - a nod to Ener's area of study - will be dedicated to her memory Thursday in a corner of the student lounge. A plaque already hanging on the wall lists Ener's department, her years at Villanova and an epitaph: "Scholar, Teacher, Mentor, Friend."

Michael Nataro, president of the campus anti-abortion group, is among the students Ener mentored, and among those who will be there for the dedication.

"Those who oppose it, oppose it out of ignorance," said Nataro, 21. "People who thought that way soon changed their mind when they found out just how sick of a woman she was at the end. This woman is being honored for her life and not her tragic ending."

http://www.twincities.com/mld/...s/news/10684241.htm?1c

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Hmm. That memorial needs something else. Something different. What's the word I'm looking for?

Ah, yes.

Fire.

- M4H

 

[AnyMal]

wtf???????

 

[notfred]

Everything I can think of to say in this thread has "flamewar" written all over it.

 

[Wallydraigle]

I'm all for a memorial. They could make a diorama with a wax figure of the woman slashing a wax baby's neck. They should make it all bloody and stuff. They could give her a serrated knife and have her saw halfway through the spinal collumn. I'm not into the heaven and hell scene, but they could make the next scene with her on fire and her skin all peeling off and stuff. Maybe some maggots, a pitchfork or two, nothing too dramatic. That seems like a fitting memorial.

 

[NFS4]

Originally posted by: Wallydraigle
I'm all for a memorial. They could make a diorama with a wax figure of the woman slashing a wax baby's neck. They should make it all bloody and stuff. They could give her a serrated knife and have her saw halfway through the spinal collumn. I'm not into the heaven and hell scene, but they could make the next scene with her on fire and her skin all peeling off and stuff. Maybe some maggots, a pitchfork or two, nothing too dramatic. That seems like a fitting memorial.

SOMEONE HIRE THIS MAN!!!!!!!

 

[FlyLice]

These kooky college profs should all slit their own throats (but leave their children alone).

 

[Kelvrick]

Well, iono how I feel about it. What happened was really bad, and yet what do we know of her life? Maybe she was a really good teacher/person before she became mentally ill. If the school feels that her actions while she was mentally healthy constitutes a memorial, why should we be apposed to it, as they are the ones who knew her personally.

 

[Wallydraigle]

Originally posted by: Kelvrick
Well, iono how I feel about it. What happened was really bad, and yet what do we know of her life? Maybe she was a really good teacher/person before she became mentally ill. If the school feels that her actions while she was mentally healthy constitutes a memorial, why should we be apposed to it, as they are the ones who knew her personally.

Because she slashed her baby daughter's neck with a fvcking knife?

 

[Toastedlightly]

Step 1: Become a professor
Step 2: Do something stupid and killmyself
Stet 3: ...
Step 4: Profit.

 

[mwtgg]

The murder/suicide is disgusting and the fact that Villanova (a Roman Catholic college no less) is immortalizing a baby killer is equally repulsive.

And yet, the hypocrisy is just stunning, when DuPont was convicted of murdering the Olympic wrestler, Villanova took his family name off their area and named it "The Pavillion" [it used to be the "DuPont Pavillion"], but yet this woman gets a section in the library named after her. WHAT?

 

[Xionide]

Originally posted by: notfred
Everything I can think of to say in this thread has "flamewar" written all over it.

Was the baby a gay christian?

 

[Yossarian]

I'm not excusing or condoning her actions but post partem depression is real and can be very serious.

 

[NightCrawler]

A very sad story.

 

[aidanjm]

Women don't kill their baby, and then suicide, unless something is seriously wrong. This woman had a mental illness. It amazes me that people are SO regretful that this retarded infant was killed, but completely blow off the fact that this accomplished professor - who by all accounts was a conscientious and talented teacher - has killed herself.

 

[aidanjm]

Originally posted by: mwtgg
The murder/suicide is disgusting and the fact that Villanova (a Roman Catholic college no less) is immortalizing a baby killer is equally repulsive.

What's disgusting to me is your ignorance and lack of empathy.

 

[GoingUp]

No, you dont honor people who damn near cut off their kids heads.

 

[mwtgg]

Originally posted by: aidanjm

Originally posted by: mwtgg
The murder/suicide is disgusting and the fact that Villanova (a Roman Catholic college no less) is immortalizing a baby killer is equally repulsive.

What's disgusting to me is your ignorance and lack of empathy.

I can't empathize with a baby killer, sorry I am not as 'open' as you.

 

[NFS4]

Originally posted by: aidanjm
Women don't kill their baby, and then suicide, unless something is seriously wrong. This woman had a mental illness. It amazes me that people are SO regretful that this retarded infant was killed, but completely blow off the fact that this accomplished professor - who by all accounts was a conscientious and talented teacher - has killed herself.

So if the baby had been "normal" would you still feel the same way? Or is this baby disposable because it had Downs?

 

[mwtgg]

Originally posted by: aidanjm
Women don't kill their baby, and then suicide, unless something is seriously wrong. This woman had a mental illness. It amazes me that people are SO regretful that this retarded infant was killed, but completely blow off the fact that this accomplished professor - who by all accounts was a conscientious and talented teacher - has killed herself.

What about all the great things that Hitler did? Why is he only remembered for the atrocities he commited?

 

[no0b]

The memorial should focus on the seriousness of post pardon depression.

Or have no memorial at all.

O and Wrong Forum

 

[NFS4]

Originally posted by: no0b
The memorial should focus on the seriousness of post pardon depression.

Or have no memorial at all.

O and Wrong Forum

Why is it the wrong forum? Is the post about the radio station downing Asians in the wrong forum too? This isn't politics

 

[jagec]

6 billion people on earth says that post-partum depression isn't a valid excuse to kill your child.

 

[mwtgg]

Originally posted by: jagec
6 billion people on earth says that post-partum depression isn't a valid excuse to kill your child.

Depression or not, I just do not think that Villanova should memorialize her. I don't care if she was the greatest teacher in the history of the world. She killed her baby.

Like I said, what about Hitler? What about the great things he did? Should be just throw it all away because he just happened to kill millions of people? Where's his memorial?

 

[aidanjm]

Originally posted by: jagec
6 billion people on earth says that post-partum depression isn't a valid excuse to kill your child.

it's not an "excuse" it is a reason or explanation.

I personally don't think killing an infant is as serious or significant a crime (from a human moral persepctive) as killing an older child or adult.