A University of Kansas professor is on leave after a video surfaced of him musing to a class about lining men who don’t want to vote for a female president up against a wall and executing them.
“It’s what frustrates me. 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,” the professor, whom the university later identified as Phillip Lowcock, complained in the clip.
“We can line all those guys up and shoot them. They clearly don’t understand the way the world works.”
Audibly sighing while prowling around the lecture hall, the man suddenly stopped in his tracks and appeared to realize he’d been caught on tape.
“Did I say that? Scratch that from the recording, I don’t want the dean hearing that I said that,” Lowcock, a lecturer in the Department of Health, Sport & Exercise Sciences, then quipped, though it’s not clear how sincere he was.
Footage of the moment quickly went viral and sparked widespread outrage, though the class had no audible reaction to the man’s comments.
The University of Kansas said in a statement Wednesday that it was “aware” of the video and said the instructor had “made an inappropriate reference to violence.”
“The instructor offers his sincerest apologies and deeply regrets the situation. 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,” KU added.
Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), an alum of the university’s medical school, demanded the prof be shown the door.
“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,” Marshall said in a statement.
“This promotion of political violence should be met with quick action by KU.”
Colleague Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), who holds undergraduate at law degrees from KU, said the comments were “disturbing an inappropriate.”
“There should never be a call for violence anytime or anywhere in the classroom,” Moran wrote on X.
“We must cool down the political rhetoric and be respectful and civil to each other, & that is especially true for someone charged with teaching our young people.”
Fears of political violence have been heightened over recent weeks in the wake of two assassination attempts against Donald Trump, the Republican nominee for president.