Sunday, April 14, 2013

Chinese Professor Arrested After Oral Dispute with Administrator

Lei Wu, an assistant professor at University of Houston-Clear City, was arrested after an oral dispute with Sharon White, program chair and associate professor.

Dr. Wu graduate from Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) with a B.S. in Computer Science in 1994.

According to news report, the two had a work-related dispute, during which Dr. Wu said, '.. not good for either. There would be blood..' Dr. White interpreted the word 'blood' as a threat. However, without further information on context, it's very hard to link the word 'blood' to blood as blood in a body. In English, the word 'blood' has been used casually to refer to damage and cost on money, reputation, etc. You may read 'Motorola was bleeding ..' or 'the senate meeting last week was bloody. There was no winner out of the fiercy blaming on each other..' It may also mean anxiety, for example, 'this waste of time got my blood up'.

In 2010, a HUST alumnus Dr. Lishan Wang shot his colleague Vajinder Toor at Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center in New York.

Dr. White recorded the conversation. It is not clear whether Dr. Wu was aware of the recording. In Texas, recording needs 'one-party consent' only (Texas Penal Code, §16.02).

One commentator KateMullet posted at a highered news site: "If we're going to charge him for saying that, we need to charge a lot of elected reps and politicians and others. It is a common expression. An eye raising one. But a common expression, nevertheless."

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