A Texas college professor is failing an entire class and accusing his students of cheating, acting disrespectfully, and spreading online rumors about himself and his wife.
Irwin Horwitz, a professor at Texas A&M Galveston, sent an email to the students in his Strategic Management class, informing them that he would be failing the entire class, and he was “completely disgusted” by their conduct:
“Since teaching this course, I have caught and seen cheating, been told to ‘chill out,’ ‘get out of my space,’ ‘go back and teach,’ [been] called a ‘fucking moron’ to my face, [had] one student cheat by signing in for another, one student not showing up but claiming they did, listened to many hurtful and untrue rumors about myself, my wife and other colleagues, been caught between fights between students and student groups, felt the need to have police protection in our class and another following it…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. It is thus for these reasons why I am officially walking away from this course. I am frankly and completely disgusted. 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 all are being awarded a failing grade.”
That being said, Texas A&M Galveston might not uphold the failing grades. Horwitz has walked away from the class, but the class will continue until the end of the semester, led by the department head. Dr. Patrick Louchouarn, the Vice President of Academic Affairs at the school, has said publicly that the grades will not be finalized until the class has concluded:
“None of them have failed until the end of the class, meaning the only reason a student would fail because he or she has not performed the expectations for that particular class.”
Horwitz calls his actions “tough love,” but anyone who has ever taken a course with a title like “Strategic Management” knows that this class is likely made up entirely of group projects. Even if the students are cheating, privileged brats, somewhere in that class, there is an exhausted Tracy Flick overachiever who needs to maintain that GPA to keep all her scholarships.
Horwitz’s breaking point was an email and failing grades, but it’s nothing compared to a pissed off Tracy Flick. Imagine the damage she could do with that button masher.
Source: KPRC