Michigan State University was riddled with scandal and tragedy this year. Its football program bottomed out, with its head coach, Mel Tucker, fired over sexual misconduct allegations. They finished a dismal 4-8 this year. Back in February, there was a mass shooting event that left three students dead. The headlines coming out of this school have not been good, and last October was no exception.
It involves felonious activity, but no deaths or sexual harassment was involved. It’s more on the lighter side, though it’s another embarrassing incident for the university: one of its professors was a fugitive on the run.
No, I’m not kidding. Students digging into the past of Professor Brendan Doyle discovered something that didn’t pop up on a background check: the meth-related escapades that caused him to flee from law enforcement. Student investigators were the ones to expose their instructor, leading to Doyle’s arrest and termination from MSU (via Detroit News):
A Michigan State University instructor has been fired from the school amid reports authorities linked him to a suspected drug lab in another state three years ago.
The State News, MSU’s student newspaper, last month reported Brendan Doyle was suspended after students learned from news articles about the incident in Louisiana.
Doyle was arrested after meth lab remnants were discovered by a resident in Thibodaux, about 60 miles southwest of New Orleans, in March 2020, according to a press release from the Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office. Smoke was reportedly emitting from a bucket and trash bag under a bridge over a canal, officials wrote.
Doyle and another person, Julia Canto, were identified as suspects and arrest warrants were initiated, according to the release. However, the pair fled the state, officials said.
Nearly two months later, on May 18, 2020, agents took Doyle into custody after he returned home and was spotted packing a moving truck, authorities wrote.
Doyle was booked into the Lafourche Parish Correctional Complex and charged with creation or operation of a clandestine laboratory for the unlawful manufacture of a controlled dangerous substance. Doyle was released after posting $20,000, according to the release.
Brennan Matherne, the Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office public information officer, told The Detroit News on Tuesday: “In researching this issue, I have learned the records have been expunged, and we cannot comment further.”
The publication added Doyle was given a 180-day sentence—he served 90 days.
MSU ran a background check on Doyle; no red flags were found. While this is unsettling news—a teacher being involved in an alleged meth operation—it pales in comparison to the eruption of antisemitic and pro-terrorist activism being seen on our college campuses after the October 7 attacks committed by Hamas, who murdered 1,200-1,400 Israelis.
These are the people who radical Islamic terror groups will recruit to carry out attacks. It’s a national security issue that hopefully is being taken seriously, though given who is occupying the White House, I doubt it.