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Subscribe to RSSColumbia University says it's reviewing a science class in which a professor stripped to his underwear and showed 9/11 video footage during a lecture on quantum mechanics.
The Frontiers of Science class on Monday morning with Professor Emlyn Hughes also included two other participants dressed in black, one of whom used a sword to destroy a stuffed animal.
Video of the event was posted to Bwog, the online home of Columbia's monthly undergraduate magazine.
It starts with the professor stripping with his back to the students as music plays and an image of a skull is projected on a screen. Later, two stuffed animals are placed on stools, one of which is stabbed by a person with a sword. In the background, a video shows the fall of the World Trade Center and an image of Osama bin Laden.
A female student watching Hughes could be heard repeating, "What is happening?" as the performance went on.
It ended with the professor returning to the stage.
"In order to learn quantum mechanics, you have to strip to your raw, erase all the garbage from your brain and start over again," Hughes said.
The professor didn't respond to an email from The Associated Press seeking comment.
In a statement, the university said, "Universities are committed to maintaining a climate of academic freedom, in which the faculty members are given the widest possible latitude in their teaching and scholarship. However, the freedoms traditionally accorded the faculty carry corresponding responsibilities."
It added, "While one must exercise caution in judging excerpts from a lecture or short presentations from an entire course outside of their full context, the appropriate academic administrators are currently reviewing the facts of this particular presentation in quantum mechanics."
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The first experiment he performs is how much hot air a douchebag can hold before it explodes.
Great way to open a class!! He had the attention of all the students, and although they missed the point of the message on the screen, they will understand it in time. I see NO problem here, and I have a daughter in college.
And I have two sons in college. But the point isn't the "racieness" of the action, it's the supposition by a professor or faculty at a reportedly "enlightened" university that my sons and your daughter are so stupid that a burlesque show is deemed necessary to get their minds around the concept of randomness. I know my kids aren't that stupid, and I bet your daughter isn't either, and I, for one, will not knowingly pay tuition for this crap!
People are paying for this? This must be a liberal education. Lol
George - is there any other kind of education? I thought they removed all the conservatives from education a couple decades ago - that's why we have the best education system in the world - bwahahahaha... and this is Columbia University - top dollar!!
I love the liberal comments on here praising the guy. They praise him and criticize the conservative by calling them names like uneducated / anti science / blah blah blah - you would think with all this wonderful education they could be more creative with their insults.
What they don't realize is that the majority of scientific breakthroughs throughout history were made by religious people in religious institutions... I can't wait to see what breaks though after this little show of intelligence.
The first stages of Alzheimer's can manifest in unusual ways.
Not much in the way of Charm, but it is a bit Color-ful. And high up there when it comes to Strange-ness.
Where was this guy when I did all my college courses? Keeping students off guard, and entertained is going to have more students in the classroom. I would have been wide awake through this one...
Sorry, but I am NOT all for teachers being creative and going outside of the box. These people are supposed to be people that young adults look up to. Is that what you want your child looking up to? Get real.....this person should be fired on the spot. I never attended classes when my children went through school, but I guess we need to in today's world where academics have become nothing short of insanity.
It's such a shame that this is making news. The students were not young impressionable children who might not be able to put the performance into context.
The violence of 9/11 is a part of our history. We can't just close our eyes to it; while I'm not sure I see a connection between the class and that event, worrying that somoeone might remember a loved one is no reason to hide from the truth. How many WW2 movies were made which depicted graphic violence; how many of our WW2 veterans saw those movies and had painful memories dredged up? How about Vietnam?
Humans are so ashamed of their own bodies that a professor stripping to his underwear becomes a crime. I recently read an article about a state that is trying to criminalize exposure of the nipple or areola. WHAT?
Leave this guy alone. Let him try and get his students attention -- maybe he'll open the mind of the next Einstein or Hawkings. Maybe he won't...but sometimes you have to be unusual to get unsual results.
WTF happened to WTC 7 on 9/11?
It was "pulled" by having charges set up in certain points of the building that when detonated, caused it to collapse into itself.
What do I win?
Some of the most narcissistic, underdeveloped people I ever worked with were college professors. Some were quite good, but given students are totally at their mercy, a bad professor is a nightmare and not good for education. As one of my friends said, when I asked him why he did not want to be a college professor: "I'm just not enough of an azzhole to be a professor!" Ah, so true in all too many cases.
However, I suspect we will find that this particular professor had some sort of breakdown that led up to this weird presentation.
Looks to me like that's an awesome class because it challenges you to think different and break conventions. People who can't deal should go take a boring history class.
I don't get it. he strips down to his underwear. Big fricken deal. We see Victoria Secret girls all the damn time in their underwear. What is the problem. His underwear to me are fricken shorts. Big fricken deal. Some people just want to jump on this and be negative. If anything, I would of ran and left the class, with all that is going on in schools. This would of been a sign to get out. Even though he did nothing wrong one bit.
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but this IS what passes for academics at the elite universities now. I was shocked into this reality by an article in Imprimis (out of Hillsdale, one of the few colleges that refuse federal funds),Nathan Harden wrote Man Sex, God and Yale and pointed out to us fuddy duddies that this type of teaching is the standard and that is why our leaders are so screwed up now, they have only gotten progressively worse since the early stretches of going outside of the social norms began in the 50's. Yes, he says that is why our presidents are terrible, regardless of party and our justices seem to be getting stupider and stupider.
I was lucky and naive to this as I only went to a JC and it was conservative and focused on the information.
....the students at Columbia need some entertainment for their $50,000 a year tuition payments...after all, he's a "professor" and that must mean he knows what he is doing.....right?.....lol..
Isn't this just another wanna be teacher. excuse me, (eye roll) "College professor" who likes to push the edgy envelope to attain self gratification? its his world and he thinks he can do as he pleases with no ramifications.. because HE is a COLLEGE professor.. IMO, just another azzhat.
Seems like a good teacher.
How about a lesson in Newtonian physics? How does a 47-story building (WTC 7) collapse into its own footprint without having any planes hitting it? It would be nice to have the Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth explain what really happened on that day.
This idiot is much more dangerous than any assault rifle! Crazy that we pay for our kids to attend collage when it is stocked with these loons!
indecent exposure!
Lets figure this out
Tuition at Columbia $24,000
Average course load of a general studies student- 12 credit hours
average course credit hours - 3
average contact hours (classroom) per 3 credit course- 50 hours
then that 1 hour class cost ((24000/12)*3)/50= $120
I can get Broadway tickets for cheaper than that and get a better show.
Guess i don't know any better cause I went to a state school.
Obviously a liberal.
I don't want that prof so much as catching my scent around my Jurassic Park paddock. I am what I eat.
The difference between Academia & Industry, is that Industry has to produce results, or your out of business.
Some of the dumbest and most arrogant people I have ever meet were Tenured College Professors. The whole Tenure Process should be thrown out.
This College Professor was making a statement. The WRONG STATEMENT, and was more interested in his EGO, then anything else.
Honestly, I'm kind of jumpy, so the minute I saw the skull I probably would have been pretty freaked out. As for showing something like the 9/11 tragedy....I think he should have warned his students ahead of time. I realize that might defeat the purpose of his lecture, but some people are more sensitive than others and probably were really upset.
And I'll say this: it's generally not shocking men to be half-naked because they have less to cover up. What if this teacher had been a woman? Personally I hope people will keep their clothes on, no matter what sex they are.
If my teacher started stripping in class, I'd be outta there.
He was auditioning for a reality show role.
And how much does an education at columbia U cost?