On Tuesday, October 5th, Professor John Gonsler of Morningside University shared how his life story lead to a job as a Criminal Justice professor.
Gonsler opened with some basic information about himself. He was a correctional officer and police officer before earning a master’s degree in Criminal Justice at Michigan State University. He is now working towards a PhD in Criminal Justice at Indiana University.
Once he finished his master’s degree from MSU, Gonsler found himself on the search for a teaching job. Gonsler was not looking for just any teaching job though, he was looking for a school with a Criminal Justice department. After finding only two schools with Criminal Justice programs, Gonsler mentioned he chose Morningside because, “I felt like they wanted me here.”
Though he’s only been teaching at Morningside for three semester, Gonsler has enjoyed his time here and describes the students as “a little nutty.”
Before even thinking about being a teacher Gonsler spent two and a half combined years as a public law enforcement officer and a correctional officer.
Gonsler noted that he left his two year stint in law enforcement because of the politics surrounding the job and the high corruption at his station, adding the Police Sargent was “dirtier than a pig’s dick.”
Gonsler then moved on to be a correctional officer. In just his six months as a correctional officer, Gonsler says he collected many “interesting” stories. Gonsler told various stories ranging from gross to insane and mentioned the various drugs and weapons he confiscated while working, including a prison shive with his name written on. When asked if that scared him, Gonsler replied “I’m from Flint [Michigan], people have tried to kill me before”.
After being asked about himself, Gonsler talked about his band, his collection of tattoos, and the the time he was pen pals with the Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski.
While on the subject of his tattoos, Gonsler removed the button up he was wearing to reveal a white tank top and two sleeves of tattoos. The sleeve on his left arm included a tattoo of Colonel Sanders with the words “Chicken Before Chicks” inscribed under the picture, Gosler said this was his favorite tattoo.
When describing his pen pals relationship with the Unabomber, Gonsler mentioned that Kaczynski did not answer many of his questions, but instead mostly raved about the need to over throw big tech companies. Gonsler ended his Unabomber story with a simple statement, “five letters signed ‘Sincerely yours, Ted Kaczynski’ in some of the neatest hand writing I’ve ever seen.”
Once the speech had concluded, Payton Miller, a student in the Principles of Journalism class, said, “I thought it was interesting to see a teacher who was relatable and wanted to be an equal with the students.” about Gosler and his speaking style.
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