Mine An Ener, a professor at Villanova University, delivered a baby suffering from Down syndrome in 2003. Six months later, the feminist prof slit her six-month-old's throat. Nearly a month later, Ener took her own life. Villanova University is now honoring this troubled woman.

Granting that a case such as Ener's is likely to evoke a range of emotional responses (sadness, horror, pity, anger, etc.), one response that's hard to understand is Villanova's decision to celebrate this murderer. After holding a symposium in her honor on "Charity" earlier this year, Villanova will be dedicating a section of their library to Ener tomorrow. On the invitations dedicating the Mine Ener Memorial in the library, there's no mention of Ms. Ener taking her own life or the life of her child. The initial invitations describe Ener as a "popular teacher and widely published specialist on the history of the modern Middle East." Practicing Catholics remaining at Villanova might recognize this as what St. Thomas called a sin of omission. Sick.

Even if we gave her the benefit of the doubt, and assumed she was seriously mentally ill or possessed by demons, under no circumstances should her life as a whole be honored. The people honoring her don't have access to an excuse like being possessed by demons or being seriously mental. They are just a bunch of jerks.

Craziness.

Liberals are crazy mo-fos. That's all I can say.

"Practicing Catholics left at Villanova . . ."

That statement of yours REMINDED me that Villanova was ever actually even considered a Catholic university! If I had started listing Catholic colleges in the U.S., I don't think I would have ever remembered on my own that it technically still is one.

This is insane, something maybe Ener would understand, huh?

But, I wonder, is there a proper way to remember somebody who may have had a long and distinguished career as a professor and colleague who suddenly (if in fact it was an abrupt change for her) goes nuts and does something heinous and commits suicide as well? I imagine that the only thing to do is to hold a memorial service for her where people can share the positive reflections and memories they have of her and then just let it go. I can't come up w/ any alternative where even her specific department could memorialize her justifiably.

Does Louis Althusser have an academic chair or library named after him? Probably.

This is one of the sickest stories I have read on Flynn Files! Who honors a murderer? This woman slit her infants throat and then commits suicide, and she is honored by the University where she worked? What does that show the students of Villanova? I hope a guy like Rollie Massimino has half the campus named after him then? That isn't likely though since he didn't kill himself or anyone else, so he probably just gets a trophy in the gym.

It's a damned shame (and I mean that literally) to see a major Catholic university forego actual piety for the sham secular variety. Man cannot serve two masters, indeed.

on a brighter note Villanova squares off against undefeated B.C. tonight at 7:30!

PS - Brian, there may not be any proper way to honor Ms. Ener's accomplishments in her field, given the sequel; but at the very least, the sequel should be at least mentioned instead of stuffed down the memory hole. Sort of ironic to honor the work of a historian by omitting a crucial item of the chronology, but there you have it.

I personally don't see the difference in hailing a woman that kills her baby because it's deformed or sick or impaired in some way, and hailing the woman that ecourages OTHER women to screen their babies and abort if necessary, so as to ensure they don't have any "undesirable" children.

Seriously, doesn't anyone remember what happened the last time we tried to create "perfect babies"? We got Khan Noonian Singh (the perfect, beardless Sikh)! You remember, the Eugenics Wars of the late 1990s? He was one bad dude..we don't need a repeat of that.

What I meant to say is that such women offering "encouragement" are hailed by the feminist movement on a daily basis.

Uh, oh . . . Star Trek references on FlynnFiles.

Homer, I'm a Star Trek fan myself. I know what you are talking about concerning Khan. I had forgotten about him. Anyway the last time someone tried to create perfect babies, in the real world, was Nazi Germany. At least if memory serves correctly, that was one of Hitler's goals to create a master race.

These far lefties support abortion and euthanasia. They support terrorists who would kill them, if given the chance. They oppose actions that would attempt to stop those terrorists who would try to kill them, if given the chance. Now this. They celebrate a woman who murdered her child and killed herself. It is as though leftists literally want to committ suicide!!

This post/blurb is inaccurate. First of all, contrary to what the subject line of this thread says, Villanova is not honoring this woman. Not one cent of Villanova's money is going to pay for this woman's memorial. The money is being provided by her friends and former colleagues.

Second, the lady literally was nuts. She suffered from post-partum depression (sp?) and did not know what she was doing. The same group that is paying for her memorial also is donating money in her honor to groups that study and work to combat post-partum depression.

In the words of the PRESIDENT OF THE VILLANOVA ANTI-ABORTION GROUP: "those who oppose it [the memorial], oppose it out of ignorance. People who thought that way soon changed their mind when they found out just how sick of a woman she was at the end. This woman is being honored for her life and not her tragic ending."

As the conservative student said, it is important to note what is being honored. The memorial does not endorse or condone baby-killing or suicide. Rather, the memorial honors one woman and her legacy as a friend, teacher and colleague. It is meant to remember her for the good times she brought to peoples lives. It is not a referendum on her life, her actions or her last few months on this planet.

What is the substance of this memorial some of you are so incensed about? It consists of a few new tables, lamps and an oriental rug. Near those items is a plaque bearing the woman's name and reading "Scholar, Teacher, Mentor, Friend."

Look, Reader, this memorial does indeed constitute the university honoring her: something that is honoring her is being made a permanent part of a major campus building. It makes no difference where the money is coming from, and I don't care what some sentimental kid in charge of the prolife group says.

Secondly, I don't know if this lady was nuts or possessed or what, but given the severe darkness of her last major actions in the world, her life as a whole should not be honored, but mourned. Who we honor matters, it has effects on us, and what we decide to overlook in people is significant, too. Her actions are too much to overlook in an honest review of her life. If Hitler had been a really fine man for the first half of his life, the latter half would still make him an inappropriate object for honor.

Think of Judas: maybe he's not in hell. There are reasons for us to reserve judgment even in his case, let alone in this women's case. Nonetheless, it would be seriously screwed up to name a church after him.

Her friends and colleagues are honoring her. They organized the ceremony, they purchased the chairs, they bought the plaque and wrote its inscription, they donated money in her name and they asked Villanova for permission to place the items in the library. All Villanova has done is said that items may be placed in the library. It is not like Villanova organized this, funded this, or put the wheels in motion. At most Villanova has been indifferent. To state otherwise is inaccurate.

Everyone agrees with you that her life as a whole should be mourned. This is a talented person who brought joy to many people, who inspired students to learn and who was a respected and appreciated colleague. People who cherished this woman are now mourning her tragic life, and honoring her memory, with a plaque, a table and a few chairs. Such a memorial is not inconsistent with your statement that her life should be mourned.

On the one hand, your comparison to Hitler fails. Hitler plotted for years, setting out his ambitions in a book. His killings were cold-blooded and calculated. In contrast, this lady was suffering from a disease and was unable to control her actions. She was unstable and was suffering from accute depression when she committed her crimes. So to compare the two would seem to be a bad comparison.

On the other hand, you may have unwittingly stumbled upon something. There are statues and busts of Hitler in Germany. Indeed, there are whole museums devoted to him. The point is to remember the past so that the future does not repeat itself. That is one reason why the lady at Villanova is being memorialized. Her students and colleagues do not ever want something like this to happen again, so they are memorializing her to make people aware of the evils of post-partum depression. They hope that this awareness will spur others to donate money to fight the disease, so that nothing like this occurs again. So perhaps your comparison to Hitler is a good one.

As for reserving judgment, I agree with you. I am not a student at Villanova, I never had the lady as a teacher, and I did not work with her as a colleague. If some people feel highly enough about her to want to put a plaque with her name on a library wall, as a way of remembering her life and as a way of increasing awareness of a noxious disease, who am I to judge?

With regards to naming a church after Judas, I do not think that has occurred. Nor has a church, or a building, or a library or a room, or anything been named after this woman. All that has happened is that Villanova has allowed a few of her friends, former students and colleagues to put a plaque with her name on a wall.

Reader, No matter were the darn money comes from , VU will have a part of a major campus building "dedicated" to a women; this clearly constitutes the university honoring her. That just seems as clear as day.

How come everything is an disease? How come the most heinous actions, when done by civilized people, always must have some cause in their brain instead of in their will?

Amen, short.

It was not terribly long ago that suicides were denied Christian burial. This represents quite a departure from that position. Being a Catholic instutution, the University has the bare minimum responsibilty for stating the final events of her life in any memorial to her work.

Unfortunatly, the article that Dan Flynn linked from the Villanovan does not mention post-partum depression in any way. The library section of the U of Villanova website does not mention the event or Ms. Ener at all, much less her disorder. (This isn't exactly "increasing awareness of a noxious disease.")

I searched the U of Villanova website for "Mine An Ener" and found these articles:

1. No mention of post-partum depression.
2. No, not here either. However, the item directly below Ener's obit says that the History Department organized the memorial fund that established that lounge/study area. Forgive me for thus discounting the theory that the University had nothing to do with this.
3. Speaking of the History Department, their news page mentions the event but gives utterly no details.

There is, however, this item, noting that Ener's Fall '03 History class has been cancelled as of the date of her arrest. I find it more affecting even than the obituary.

Nobody here is judging Ms. Ener, but the University's actions are fair game for discussion.

By the way - the Hitler museum comparison isn't really apt. I daresay that none of the exhibits of him are memorials, as is this one of Ms. Ener.

Short: Villanova is not honoring this woman. Villanova is allowing others to honor her on its premises. Think about this distinction for a few minutes. Eventually you should understand.

I never said "everything is an [sic] disease."
In fact, I made a distinction (I know you are uncomfortable with those) between people like Hitler who kill in cold blood and people like the Villanova professor who go crazy and cannot control their actions. Re-read my post. Also purchase a few reading comprehension workbooks. You probably will benefit from reading them and going over some drills.

Nightfly: the plaque is most certainly increasing awareness about a noxious disease. I, for one, had no idea what post partum depression was before I heard about this plaque. All the hullaboo made me curious, so I went to several websites and now I can give you a workable definition of the disease. Similarly, there will be many students at Villanova who now know nothing about postpartum depression, but will be stimulated to think about the disease due to the plaque.

You attempt to make a new point: that the history department and the university are one and the same. I do not know where you went to school, but at the institutions I have attended it has been typical for particular departments within the university to be at war with the university itself. For example, sometimes one department will want to bring in a speaker, but the university will refuse to pay for the speaker. Other times a department will want to hire a new professor, but the university will not have money to hire the new professor. The point is that just because the history department wants something or does something does not, ipso facto, mean that the university is doing something. Remember: the subject line that I objected to read "Villanova honors murderer," not "Villanova history department honors murderer." Please note the difference between those two sentences.

At least two people are judging Ms. Ener. The moderator is--he called her a "murderer." And Short is--he implied that she was not crazy and that she must be held responsible for her actions. I'm not judging her worth as a human being and you evidently are not judging her either. So I'm on board with you on that one.

Of course, the Hitler comparison is less-than-perfect. Note that I did not make the comparison in the first place, but only piggy-backed on something Short had said. My point was and is that it can be valuable to remember people who committed vile deeds, if only to cause people to think about what happened in the past, and to try to make the future better. This point is valid in the case of the Hitler bust and the Ener plaque. It is useful for students to think about Hitler so that they can spot demagogues in the future. It is useful for students to think about Ener so that they can understand the horrors of postpartum depression--a disease so powerful that it evidently spurred a successful professor to take her own life and her child's life.

You are right that the university's actions may be questioned. Perhaps the university should not allow the lady's friends to put up the plaque? Maybe the university should fire all members of the history department that want to honor the woman? Perhaps the university should publicly rebuke the woman so as to appease the right-wingers? All that is obviously open to debate. As far as my opinion goes, I say: just let the lady's friends put up the plaque, and let the poor woman rest in peace!

Reader,

Didn't the History Dept put this up in the library? They didn't put up a plaque in their faculty lounge. So how is that not Villanova approving of and allowing the memorial? Do you work for the university in a pr capacity as you seemed determined to protect the administration from criticism of their actions?

I don't think Short (or Flynn, Nightfly, or I) would have been too terribly perturbed if the history department had hosted some sort of conference in memory of Ener where colleagues and her students could present papers on her contributions to her field and her impact in the classroom. Most likely some such conference would include remembrances of her entire life, including discussion of her apparent insanity and sad end. That seems a natural way to grieve for a lost friend and colleague irregardless of the brutality she inflicted on her child and self. Heck, they could even produce a festschrift volume of the event. What we all have found to be too much is that the university/library/history department/housing authority/whomever have memorialized her, presumably permanently---as in for all time---with a plaque and space in the library which is an honor which seems, on balance, to be grossly innappropriate. About the only other ways to honor an academic that I can think of that would be higher than a memorial plaque and space in the library would be naming a building on campus after them or (probably even better) endowing a departmental chair in their name. None of these methods of honoring her would be appropriate in my view given what she did.

As for promoting post-partum depression awareness, who cares. That is irrelevant to the issue of whether it is appropriate to honor her in the first place.

I'm going to have to go with Brian instead of Reader on University approval.

I think I have to agree to disagree with Reader about the actual plaque. Did it actually mention post-partum depression? Nothing else about this event has, that I've seen. The NEWS item about Ms. Ener mentioned it, and it was the "hullaballo" (great word) that led you to research. This leads me to conclude that they've done more awareness-raising than anything the University permitted. (You've probably done more than that plaque as well, Reader, based on the conversation here!)

I also dispute that post-partum depression automatically means insanity, any more than a migraine headache is a lobotomy, or a torn ligament a paraplegic. Being clinically depressed may lead one to do dreadful things while one still understands that they are dreadful; one may simply not care how bad they are, or figure that it's all they deserve in their profound despair.

That's exactly WHY we can't judge Ms. Ener's soul - either that she's condemned NOR that she's perfectly blameless. She was depressed, but she only MAY have been insane. I leave that to God, who's smarter than me. But I do think it's remiss to fail to mention the actual event and its contributing factors in any memorial in her honor. I seem to have support, there:

"My point was and is that it can be valuable to remember people who committed vile deeds, if only to cause people to think about what happened in the past, and to try to make the future better. This point is valid in the case of the Hitler bust and the Ener plaque."

The Hitler bust is of course the opposite of the Ener plaque - hopefully nobody's doing that to praise Hitler's memory, at least outside of Palestine. (I hate Illinois Nazis!...)

I'm also glad that we can all agree that killing a six-month old, and then oneself, is vile. Judging that action still leaves Ms. Ener's culpability for it in dispute, so I don't think there's a contradiction there. Even if individually we'd forgive Ener for her actions, that presupposes that there is something to forgive - a wrong to be admitted, a need for mercy.

I notice that the police at least thought so, since they did not charge her with first-degree murder. I think that Dan did also, since he called her a troubled woman and said that her case evoked sadness, horror, and pity along with anger.

PS - Brian's right about this, at least as far as I go: "I don't think Short (or Flynn, Nightfly, or I) would have been too terribly perturbed if the history department had hosted some sort of conference in memory of Ener where colleagues and her students could present papers on her contributions to her field and her impact in the classroom. Most likely some such conference would include remembrances of her entire life, including discussion of her apparent insanity and sad end." Maybe they still can.

I seem to find no reference to a father of any kind in the media. Coincidence?? Radical feminazis.

I am outraged at the fact that Villanova could recognize this monster with a memorial service and a dedication of a section of their library. This lady maybe acknowledged for her accomplishments as a teacher, but she will always be remembered for killing her child in cold malice. I think it is ridiculous that the school does not acknowledge what she has done.

The problem with the plaque is it does not mention her disease at all... it lists her as friend, mentor, etc, but NEVER mother either.

Ah... words from one who has seen, and knows. Thanks, J.

Brian: the plaque is not in the history department lounge for several reasons. First, former students donated money for the plaque (at least some of whom were not history majors). Second, the idea was to put the plaque in an area where lots of people would see it. Third, does Villanova even have a history department lounge?

A conference actually would have been a good way to honor her. But what is the difference between putting up a plaque calling someone a "teacher, mentor, friend" and reading a series of papers describing someone as a "teacher, mentor, friend"?

Nightfly: the plaque does not have to mention post-partum depression in order to raise awareness about the disease. Again, I have been inspired to learn more about the disease due to the plaque, and the same will likely be true in the case of other people.

Further, it would be stupid to mention the disease explicitly on her plaque. Should the inscription be changed to read: "teacher, friend, mentor, post-partum depression-sufferer, baby killer"? That sounds more like a condemnation. The point was to honor this woman, not to castigate her post-mortem.

At the end of the day, a group of people wanted to honor this woman. Villanova was either going to let them honor her, or it was going to tell the people to get lost. Villanova allowed the people to honor the woman by placing a plaque, some chairs, a table and a rug in the library. As a legal matter, Villanova is fine. Villanova is a private institution and it can choose to keep items in its library or to remove them. Obviously some people are offended by this tribute to a former professor. I say: get over it. The lady was hard-working, she was a well- liked and respected professor and the tribute consists of a harmless plaque and some furniture. The outrage and animosity about the tribute is startling.

After people die, we should try to think about the wonderful things they did while they were on this earth--rather than emphasizing the bad things. For instance, most of the United States founders owned slaves--which many of us object to morally--yet we honor the founders for their contributions to America. In a similar vein, despite her flaws, the Villanova group wants to honor the woman for her contributions to the school. What's the fuss about?

I trhink this thread is pretty much burned out but I will just responde to reader's question addresses specifically to me.

The diff btwn honoring her through a conference or symposium (and even a book of such an event) and a display in the library is that one is a one time deal, which if recorded can be revisited in context, and the other is a presumably permanent fixture/installation in an important campus gathering point. Both may comment on Ener as "teacher, mentor, friend," but one does so in the specific context of her gruesome end and the other does so in what will quickly become a ahistorical uncontextualized display.

Future Villanova students far removed from Ener will be in the library and wonder, who is this Ener woman? The answer will come, maybe in whispered undertones, "she is the historian who butchered her own baby like livestock and then killed herself! Her ghost is said to roam the halls late at night!"

My point is the ending of people's lives often make the manner in which one decides to memorialize them tricky or a question of reserve and prudence. It is tragic that that happens but isn't shocking. This can be a physical thing, such as a gory accident which necessitates a "closed casket" wake and funeral service. Or it can be like Ener's case where one must be careful about what message one sends the living while remembering and mourning for the dead.

Recall, for example that Nixon did not get a full state funeral with his body lying in state at the Capitol in the manner Reagan had. Now, this was by HIS request I believe, in that I think it is automatically an option for all presidents, but even so he probably recognized that b/c of the unfortunate ending to his presidency it would be best to have a dignified small service of rememberance for him. At Nixon's funeral, President Clinton in fact gave an excellent eulogy in which he tried to lay to rest decades old animosities between Democrat and Republican over Watergate and he even made the point you sort of make Reader. Clinton told us that at the time of Nixon's death it was finally high time to take the measure of the man based on the whole of his career rather than its end. Sage advice, and a critical means of being charitable to the dead as well as just to the living. But all accounts given of this plaque at Villanova give no indication that the entirety of this woman's life is being taken into account at all when deciding how to honor her but instead her life has been whitewashed by ignoring its end.

Some here have suggested that Villanova generally promotes a Left-of-center philosophy. This is not true, at least when I graduated from there in the 80s. I recall it being among the more conservative on the spectrum of Catholic colleges and universities in the country. Compared to Georgetown or Boston College, its was practically BYU and I suspect it still is.

I want readers to know that Villanova was and is a fine school with a strong Catholic tradition and a wonderful and supportive community. But this was a very stoopid decision on the part of some university administrators (duh) and I'm inclined to withhold further contributions until its fixed. The school doesn't need this kind of buzz.