That time a professor called a speaker a 'fraud' mid-lecture

I was sitting in a sociology class at Community College of Denver two years ago. The invited speaker was a former BLM organizer. Professor stood up and yelled that she was 'taking money from white donors' right there in front of 80 students. Half the class walked out. I stayed and recorded the rest. Dean later suspended the professor for a semester. Has anyone else seen a faculty member straight up attack a guest speaker?

2 comments

2 Comments

elliot_grant3818d ago

Did you ever get the feeling that some professors have this weird hero complex where they think they're the only one who can see the truth? I had a similar thing happen during a community talk on housing policy. The guest was this guy who ran a non profit, and my poli sci professor just goes off on him about how his organization was "basically a slumlord front group." It was brutal, the guy just stood there stammering. The dean got involved later, but the professor never got suspended, just had to write some apology letter that probably didn't mean anything. Your mileage may vary, but that stuff sticks with you.

riverhill17d ago

Man, that apology letter thing gets me every time. Especially since the dean got involved, means it was serious, and still nothing really happened. Something like that, going after a nonprofit guy in public, that's not just being passionate, that's crossing a line. @elliot_grant38, I had a professor do something similar in a grad seminar once, just tore into a guest speaker over some minor disagreement in their data. The speaker looked so defeated and the professor just sat there with this smug look. It really does stick with you, makes you wonder who else they've done that to behind closed doors.