Public security

Academic Stress and Aggression

Mainak Sarker, the man accused of fatally shooting University of California professor William Klug this week, had made a "kill list" of three. It included his reportedly estranged wife, who was found dead in Minnesota, and another professor, who was off campus and therefore unharmed.

Sarker seems to have been ruminating over some perceived injury from his association with Klug, whom he’d once considered a friend, and he’d begun to warn other students to steer clear of him. After killing Klug, Sarker committed suicide. 

When I was a graduate student, I heard about a similar incident. A frustrated graduate student killed his dissertation advisor. Back then, I understood that academic pressures can be intense, but I’d wondered why he’d thought this was a solution. He still wouldn’t get his Ph.D. and he’d now ruined his life. It had made no sense to me.