KU professor leaves university amid viral lecture comments
LAWRENCE, Kan. (KCTV) - A University of Kansas professor has left the school after a viral lecture video surfaced earlier this week regarding suggestions of political violence.
KU Provost & Executive Vice Chancellor Barbara A. Bichelmeyer said Dr. Phil Lowcock, a lecturer in the Department of Health, Sport & Exercise Sciences, has left the university. Lowcock was placed on istrative leave on Wednesday after a video surfaced of one of his classes.
In the video, Lowcock is heard critiquing how some people might approach the election.
“There are going to be some males in our society that will refuse to vote for a potential female president because they don’t think females are smart enough to be president,” Lowcock said in the video. “We could line all those guys up and shoot them. They clearly don’t understand the way the world works.”
Lowcock then appeared to regret his words and followed:
“Did I say that? Scratch that from the recording. I don’t want the deans hearing that I said that.”
KU announced in a statement Friday that Lowcock was no longer working for KU and said the school is “working to identify a new instructor to assume the responsibility for his classes, and we are working with the students impacted by this change.”
Bichelmeyer called Lowcock’s comments “highly inappropriate.”
READ MORE: KU instructor on video: Men who think women aren’t smart enough to be president should be shot
“The instructor has apologized to me and other university leaders,” she said. “He has explained to us that his intent was to emphasize his advocacy for women’s rights and equality, and he recognizes he did a very poor job of doing so.”
She continued: “The free expression of ideas is essential to the functioning of our university, and we fully the academic freedom of our teachers as they engage in classroom instruction. Academic freedom, however, is not a license for suggestions of violence like we saw in the video. While we embrace our university’s role as a place for all kinds of dialogue, violent rhetoric is never acceptable.”
On Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) released a statement calling for the teacher’s termination:
“The University of Kansas must fire this professor immediately. Anyone who says that people who don’t vote for Kamala Harris should be ‘lined up and shot’ are completely deranged and shouldn’t be around students nor in academia. This promotion of political violence should be met with quick action by KU.”
Bichelmeyer said she hopes the incident allows for “an opportunity to reflect on” the topics of free speech, care and respect for others in civic engagement.
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