A professor who told his class men who don’t vote for Kamala Harris could be lined up and shot is no longer an employee of the University of Kansas.
It was only on Wednesday that Professor Phillip Lowcock’s incendiary remark went viral on X, making international headlines and earning him an immediate suspension and a torrent of withering rebuke.
“UPDATE: I am glad to report that the professor who called for men to be ‘lined up and shot,’ declaring open season on people who don’t plan to vote for Kamala Harris, 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗼𝘆𝗲𝗲 𝗮𝘁 𝗞𝗨,” Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall posted on X Friday afternoon.
“Kansas professor Phil Lowcock is no longer at KU, according to official university response e-mails received from concerned alumni,” KCMO radio host Pete Mundo posted.
“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,” Lowcock told his class in the video. “We could line all those guys up and shoot them. They clearly don’t understand the way the world works.”
Raging condemnation of him and his shockingly violent imagery appears to have ended his tenure at the university.
“Oh my God. How is this even possible? How can imbeciles like this be allowed to teach? Fire this idiot for the love of God,” said one post under the video.
“A professor calling for men not voting for Harris to be shot? WTF!!,” wrote another. “This is a call to violence and this professor needs to be fired and investigated for election interference.”
“And the kids can’t say anything back because a guy like this would absolutely hold it against them,” another wrote. “These universities can say they’re for expressive dialogue, but they’re not. They’re for one ideology and zero dissenting opinions.”
KU’s reputation was clearly at stake – but Lowcock’s lightning-fast separation was nonetheless surprising for a university that has been embroiled in pro-liberal and anti-conservative incidents time and again in recent years. The controversies have included:
- A sorority punishing a member for posting conservative views
- An art project illustrating Chick-fil-A’s supposed impact on students
- A student body president’s “death to America” tweet
- A petition calling for abolishment of KU’s campus police department
- A video and class discussion tying capitalism to sexual violence
After putting Lowcock on administrative leave Wednesday, KU announced Friday his departure from the university.
“On Wednesday we became aware of a video that showed a KU instructor making a highly inappropriate comment in his classroom suggesting violence against individuals for their personal views,” the university’s statement read. “Upon learning of the video, we immediately met with the instructor and placed him on administrative leave.
“I am writing today to inform you that the instructor has left the university. We are working to identify a new instructor to assume responsibility for his classes, and we are working with the students impacted by this change.
“The instructor has apologized to me and other university leaders, and he deeply regrets the situation. He has explained to us that 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.
“The free expression of ideas is essential to the functioning of our university, and we fully support the academic freedom of our teachers as they engage in classroom instruction. Academic freedom, however, is not a license for suggestions of violence like we saw in the video. While we embrace our university’s role as a place for all kinds of dialogue, violent rhetoric is never acceptable.
“It’s no secret that higher education and, more broadly, our society continue to grapple with issues of free speech, care and respect for others, and civic engagement. The world is what we make of it. Please use this unfortunate event as an opportunity to reflect on these topics and the role each of us plays in our academic community.”
