Tuesday, April 28, 2015

None shall pass: Texas prof flunks entire class, then quits mid-semester


A professor threw a Texas-sized tantrum flunking his entire class mid-semester and quitting after complaining that students mocked, threatened and ridiculed him, but the school said the failing grades won't all stand.
"I am frankly and completely disgusted,"Texas A&M Galveston, Professor Irwin Horwitz told his business management students in a blast e-mail, according to Inside Higher Ed. "You all lack the honor and maturity to live up to the standards that Texas A&M holds, and the competence and/or desire to do the quality work necessary to pass the course just on a grade level.
"I will no longer be teaching the course, and [you] all are being awarded a failing grade."
Horwitz said students had cheated, told him to "chill out," called him a "[expletive] moron" and spread false rumors about him. He told KPRC news he even felt unsafe in the classroom at times.
"None of you, in my opinion, given the behavior in this class, deserve to pass, or graduate to become an Aggie, as you do not in any way embody the honor that the university holds graduates should have within their personal character," he wrote to the students.
Horwitz has taught at Texas A&M since 1994 and has won recognition for both research and teaching. He told Inside Higher Ed that he had rarely failed students throughout his teaching career, but had never come across as terrible a class as his spring 2015 management course.
University officials told KPRC that the grades will be reassessed and the department head will take over Horwitz's class for the remainder of the semester. Some students needed the required course to graduate with business degrees in May.
A spokesman for the university told the education publication that "all accusations made by the professor about the students' behavior in class are also being investigated and disciplinary action will be taken" against students found to have behaved inappropriately. The spokesman said that one cheating allegation has already been investigated and the student cleared.
"No student who passes the class academically will be failed," the spokesman said. "That is the only right thing to do."

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