University Won't Rehire Prof. Who Said Otto Warmbier Got What He Deserved

WILMINGTON, DE — The University of Delaware won't rehire a professor who said a college student who died after being held by North Korea "got exactly what he deserved."

In a statement Sunday, the university said that the adjunct faculty member, Katherine Dettwyler, will not be rehired. She had last taught a course in the spring.

The anthropology professor had posted on her personal Facebook page that Otto Warmbier was "typical of a mindset of a lot of the young, white, rich, clueless males" she teaches.

A screenshot of Dettwyler's deleted Facebook post was captured by the website Campus Reform.

"His parents, ultimately, are to blame for his growing up thinking he could get away with whatever he wanted," Dettwyler wrote. "Maybe in the US, where young, white, rich, clueless white males get away with raping women. Not so much in North Korea."

The University of Delaware issued a statement responding to Dettwyler's comments, which she posted when she was not employed at the school, saying they do not reflect the position of the university.

Warmbier died earlier this month, shortly after his release from North Korea where he was detained for almost a year and a half. Warmbier had been released by North Korea, at which time his family learned that he was in a coma. Doctors said he was suffering from Unresponsive Wakefulness Syndrome, meaning he was awake but not showing signs of awareness.

The cause of the condition was an "extensive loss of brain tissue," meaning that his brain was deprived of oxygen at some point. One possible cause for this was cardiopulmonary arrest, however doctors said they could not speculate about what might have led to the condition.

Photo credit: Kim Kwang Hyon/Associated Press