Crazy season is upon us. A UNC Asheville ‘women’s studies’ English professor was busted stealing political signs last week.

Dr. Amanda Wray is an associate professor in the English department of UNC Asheville who teaches a course on “Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies.”

Wray turned herself in to the Buncombe Sheriff’s office after a warrant was issued for her arrest in connection with stealing a political sign. Her female accomplice, however, has not yet been located.

Both WLOS and the Asheville Citizen-Times have articles about Wray’s misdemeanor dust-up.

WLOS quotes the man whose group put up the signs.

“My question is real simple. What is a 38-year-old woman with a Ph.D., that’s a college professor, doing out at 10 o’clock at night stealing political signs? What does that say to our young people? What does that say to the community about some of the people that are working down at our local university?” Summey asked.

According to state statute, Wray’s actions are “a Class 3 misdemeanor for a person to steal, deface, vandalize, or unlawfully remove a political sign that is lawfully placed under this section.”

The penalty that goes with a Class 3 misdemeanor in North Carolina is a maximum of 20 days in jail and a $200 fine.

A UNC Asheville spokesperson said that this matter was between the police and Wray. In other words, the staff there will likely be patting her on the back when she comes to work today.

Dr. Wray The Activist

First the obvious – yes, she’s a Democrat.

Second, she’s one of those Democrats.
What do I mean by that?

Here are some tidbits about Dr. Wray; emphasis added:

“Amanda Wray is an associate professor at University of North Carolina Asheville where she teaches writing, rhetoric, and women, gender, and sexuality studies courses in addition to serving as Director for The Key Center for Community Engaged Learning. She is an oral historian and activist who focuses her research on individual agency within the everyday to interrupt oppressions.” (Assay Journal)

Well, her “activism” was certainly ‘interrupted’.

Her “bio” at UNC-A:

I am interested in language practices, looking in particular at the ways in which words have social power (to construct and deconstruct). What you say has great potential to contribute to or to interrupt social norms, and students in my classes can expect conversation about everyday strategies for using language to address social oppressions. I consider writing an important tool for critical thinking and creativity, but also I see the ability to write effectively and appropriately for different situations to be a most valuable and marketable skill within and beyond the university. My research interests involve oral history, feminism, public scholarship, rhetorical practices of consciousness, visual rhetoric, professional writing, research methods, and creative nonfiction.

Rate my Professor has a profile on Wray with an overall quality of 3.7 and a difficulty rating of 3.5. Some excerpts, emphasis added is mine:

“Prof. Wray is super cool. She’s a bit of an activist, but she truly listens and makes you think critically about current and historic issues.”

“If you enjoy writing single-spaced papers go for it. There was too much writing and too much discussion on racism and feminism. Everyday you’re expected to read the assigned scholarly articles and explain or add to the class discussion. She’s big on activism and a stickler for grammar and writing.”

“Great prof, but if you take Lang 120 you WILL have to do a meme project and it will be cringey.”

Heh. “Cringey.”

Other signs put up by the “Angry Taxpayers” of Buncombe county were also vandalized.

Buncombe Sign Vandalized with Anarchist Symbol – Image via Mike Summey