Professor of Criminology. (July 2025)

1. Please tell us about your experience with grad students in your department?

My experience with grad students in my department has become quite limited so I mostly work with graduate students at other universities and undergraduates. Local grad students stopped working with me in any capacity because I developed a reputation for being a “conservative” or “cop-shop criminologist.” This reputation began when I did not sign the department’s “defund the police” statement. Since we also have critical criminologists on the faculty, which I am not, my work—which is generally apolitical—was reframed as conservative and technocratic. When I tried to offer a graduate course on criminology, only two students signed up, one from outside of the department, and the course was cancelled. 

2. What about bringing in more grad students?

For reasons I do not fully understand, my department’s admissions committee has not admitted students who wanted to work with me. I’ve also heard that students who expressed interest in working with me have been discouraged from doing so. One student defied the advice and sought me out, which is how I learned about this advice circulating. 

3. You mentioned other interesting features of the incoming cohort. What was that?

As is the case in many sociology and criminology departments, our grad student population skews female. At one faculty meeting, a male colleague on the admissions committee noted that we had something like only two male applicants (out of maybe 20). No one else thought that was noteworthy. Inclusion and diversity indeed.