Former students of the University of Nevada Las Vegas shooter are speaking out about their disturbing experiences studying under him at another college — with one alleging he made sexual comments about her clothes during class.
Kristin Marshburn, 28, said while she was studying at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina, in Fall 2016, Anthony Polito made a strange remark while sitting in the front row of her business class.
“He said to me that if I wore low-cut shirts this semester, I would definitely get an A,” Marshburn told NBC News Tuesday.
“I remember their faces were just shocked.”
The former student said her “bold comments” surprised her because the class was small and mostly made up of men.
Kristin Marshburn was a former student of UNLV shooter Anthony Polito when he taught at East Carolina University. Kristin Lea Marshburn / Facebook
“They look sad to me,” he said of other students in Polito’s supply chain management course.
Disturbed by his professor’s insipid comments, Marshburn immediately reported the incident to the dean of the business school.
Polito never returned to class after she reported him, Marshburn shared.
In January 2017, Polito resigned as an associate professor at ECU after working at the school since 2001, the university told NBC News.
Marshburn shared that Polito never returned to class after she reported him. Kristin Lea Marshburn / Facebook
It is unclear whether Polito left the post because of his comments about Marshburn, who was then in his junior year.
Marshburn praised ECU for the way they handled his complaint against Polito.
“East Carolina did an incredible job of making me feel safe, heard, trusted,” he told the outlet.
Polito taught as a professor at ECU from 2001 to early 2017. Facebook/East Carolina University
Marshburn decided to come forward with her account of her former professor’s inappropriate comments to tell other women that they should speak up if they feel mistreated by someone in a position of power.
“It’s not appropriate for our professors, or anyone, to make sexual comments, or about anything we wear, the way we look,” Marshburn said.
Marshburn is the second woman to accuse Polito — who targeted and killed three faculty members at UNLV on Dec. 6. — makes them feel uncomfortable being students.
Anthony Polito, 67, was the gunman who had applied for a college professor position at UNLV before going on a targeted shooting rampage. Anthony Polito / Linkedin
On Thursday, a second woman revealed that he made unwanted contact via email and text to her for nearly a semester and would buy her gifts in an attempt to pursue her.
“I feel victimized,” Polito’s former student, who asked to remain anonymous, told NBC News on Thursday.
The 32-year-old Durham, North Carolina, woman said she used to see Polito as a mentor until he invited her to Las Vegas during her senior year in 2012.
Law enforcement officers head to the UNLV campus after reports of an active shooter in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Dec. 6, 2023. via REUTERS
“I think that’s when I was like, ‘I have to cut this guy off because he’s got the wrong idea,'” the woman told the outlet.
“It’s very strange.”
The former student never reported the professor to any school official because he was a well-respected member of the campus.
Police officers stand guard near the scene outside Frank and Estella Beam Hall, where UNLV’s Lee School of Business is located, the morning after a shooting left three people dead at the University of Nevada. Getty Images
Another former student of Polito described him as an eccentric professor but very likeable while studying under him.
Josh Bryant, 32, who took two of Polito’s supply chain management classes in 2011, said he would wear fancy suspenders and cufflinks in class and often smoke Virginia Slims cigarettes.
Bryant shared he often spoke with his former professor after class and enjoyed their dialogue but saw Polito as a narcissist obsessed with being idolized for his intellectual ability.
“He was immersed in his own aura,” Bryant told the outlet.
The weapon used by Polito in the UNLV campus shooting. AP
“I could see how his need and desire to be smarter than his peers could quickly escalate to an unstable situation.”
On Polito’s personal website, the mass shooter-turned-professor labeled himself “Dr. 160IQ” and proud to be a member of Mensa — a high-IQ society that requires hopeful members to first score in the top 2% of standardized tests before being accepted, according to NBC News.
A Mensa spokesperson told the outlet that Polito joined in 1980, but his membership expired this year after failing to pay dues.
Following the shooting at UNLV last Wednesday, police shared that Politio, 67, was in the midst of financial difficulties when he went on a targeted rampage.
“We know he applied numerous times for jobs with several Nevada institutions of higher learning and was turned down each time,” Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Kevin McMahill said during a press conference Thursday.
“We also know the suspect is struggling financially, as evidenced when we served a search warrant on his apartment. There is an eviction notice taped to the front door.”
Categories: Trending
Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
