A graduate student has been fired after leading his class of University of Virginia undergraduates on a field trip outside the law.

Justin Gifford, who was named teaching assistant of the year by the university’s Seven Society in 2002, was relieved of his duties Monday, a week and a half after his detective-fiction class was charged with trespassing at the abandoned Blue Ridge Hospital. —Kate Andrews —Trespassing UVa teacher is terminated (Daily Progress)

I somehow missed this story when it first came out…I’m at my parents’ apartment (in Oakton, Virginia, not far from where I grew up) and my mother just brought me a clipping from the longer Washington Post article, but since WashPo requires registration and the articles expire, I blogged the local Charlottesville paper instead.

I remember signing up to take a detective fiction class at U.Va. (this was 15 or more years ago). It was a popular course, with far too many people hoping to sign up for it than there were open slots… the instuctor gave us a scavenger hunt as a way of winnowing out those who were less devoted.

I think there was another class that I needed to take right after the first meeting of the detective course, so I didn’t rush off and start scavenging, so I didn’t end up in the course.