30 years later, former student remembers being held hostage at USC

As Pat Bowman walked through the University of South Carolina’s campus Friday, he recalled the memories he made as a student as well as being held hostage by a disgruntled professor in the president’s office more than 30 years ago.

Bowman, now 52 and living in Rockville, Md., was back at his alma mater with his 17-year-old daughter, Bridgid, touring the campus a day after a murder-suicide claimed the life of USC professor Raja Fayad in the Arnold School of Public Health building. The incident was the first on-campus shooting to have occurred in three decades at the school.

The last time there was a shooting, a single shot ended a hostage situation in which Bowman said he was at the center of because he was “in the wrong place, at the wrong time.”

On April 18, 1984, Bowman was a 21-year-old student intern working for then-university President James Holderman in the Osborne Administration Building. The building is on the Horseshoe, in the heart of campus.

Bowman was working as a receptionist that day, taking calls while Holderman and other university officials were away, in a meeting.

“Nobody was there, so it was really odd,” Bowman said. “I don’t know if that would ever happen now unless it was after hours.”

Bowman said at around 1 p.m., a man in a suit and carrying a briefcase entered the office and asked Bowman if he could speak to Holderman.

“I told him he wasn’t in the office, and I asked if I could take a message. He turned around and said, ‘I’ll come back later,’” Bowman said. “Then he turns around, pulls out a gun, and says, ‘Get up.’”

The man in the suit was 37-year-old Philip Zeltner, a former assistant philosophy professor from Brooklyn who, although he had won the school’s Amoco Teacher of the Year Award in 1976, was denied tenure in 1981 for the third time and had to leave the university.

Bowman said Zeltner ordered him into Holderman’s office to use the phone to notify campus security that if anyone attempted to enter the building to rescue Bowman, he would kill him. Zeltner then handcuffed Bowman to a chair as law enforcement began to respond.

Zeltner was demanding that Holderman write a letter reinstating him as a tenured professor, although Bowman said it seemed Zeltner wasn’t sure how the situation was going to be resolved.

“He said all along that he didn’t want to push the envelope,” Bowman said. “He just wanted this letter that said he would be reinstated. I don’t think he really thought out what the conclusion was going to be.”

While the two waited for the letter, Bowman said Zeltner became less agitated and began asking him where he was from, what major he was studying and how he got to South Carolina. Zeltner even mentioned how he and his wife would visit Washington, D.C., in the spring to see the cherry blossoms.

“I was sitting there like, ‘Really dude? Really? This is what you’re talking about?” Bowman said. “But, it was conversational. At that point, I didn’t feel threatened at all. I didn’t think my life was in danger.”

The letter was read to Zeltner over the phone by Holderman and WIS-TV personality Joe Pinner. But Bowman said his captor then quickly became agitated as police negotiators urged him to not shoot Bowman. That was when Bowman said he did begin to fear for his life.

“After they read the letter, I got a little nervous because he started pacing back and forth,” Bowman said. “Then, he said he knows how it’s all going to end.”

Bowman said Zeltner pointed the gun at Bowman’s head. Bowman bowed his head and waited. Ten to 15 seconds later, Bowman opened his eyes to see the barrel of the gun still pointed at him.

“He was a little baffled, because he asked me what was wrong and said, you’re going to walk out of here in a minute,” Bowman said. “So, I asked him if he could do me a favor and not put the gun at my head anymore.

“He said OK, and put the gun down.”

Shortly after that, Zeltner asked that his attorney come into the room to replace Bowman. After Zeltner’s attorney was handcuffed to the chair, Bowman walked out the front of the building to be greeted by South Carolina Law Enforcement Division agents, SWAT teams and snipers.

Roughly 30 minutes later, Zeltner’s attorney left the building, and Zeltner shot himself in Holderman’s office. According to Bowman, Zeltner left a bag of 30 silver dollars on Holderman’s desk – a symbol of the university’s betrayal of his tenure, as Jesus was betrayed by Judas.

Bowman said he has since let the incident go and doesn’t think about the hostage situation that could have turned out much worse for him.

“If Holderman was there, I think the same thing would have happened that happened yesterday,” Bowman said. “(Zeltner) would have killed Holderman and then killed himself. I don’t think he was ever planning on leaving.”

Bowman said he came back to Columbia often for football games while his son was a student at USC. And Bowman said he isn’t worried about having his daughter attend the school.

“I would totally say it’s a product of chance, and I continue to come to the university and support the university,” Bowman said. “Stuff happens everywhere, and I don’t feel threatened having her here.”

And, if nothing else, Bowman said, his experiences always make for a really good bar story.

This story was originally published February 7, 2015 at 6:01 PM with the headline "30 years later, former student remembers being held hostage at USC."