September 28, 2006

Baked Professor Is Burned on Blog, Canned by College

Until earlier today, viewers of BoingBoing, a popular blog, could watch a video clip of a giggling business-school lecturer acting goofy in class, under the heading “apparently-baked biz school prof who was soon fired.”

The professor, Howard J. Hall, a lecturer at the University of Florida’s Warrington College of Business, appears in a video still on the site brandishing his middle finger. The video was available through links to the college’s Web site. Next to the photo, the poster wrote: “It appears from the content of this video that this University of Florida professor—whom everyone has to take in the business school—got REALLY REALLY REALLY HIGH before one of his classes.”

The poster goes on to say, “He does ramble, but he’s far more entertaining than any of the business school professors I ever sat through.”

By late today, the spectacle on BoingBoing was no longer available because the video had been removed from the college’s Web site, where it had been offered as part of a classroom-video service. Copies of the video are probably still somewhere out in cyberspace, however.

William A. McCullough, senior associate dean at the college, said Mr. Hall had been relieved of his teaching duties, pending a review of his employment status. Mr. McCullough said he had received a half-dozen calls so far from “the curious public,” adding that there are some “unfortunate things” going on with Mr. Hall. “This is a human problem, not an institutional problem,” said Mr. McCullough. “This man has problems.”

Mr. Hall could not be reached for comment today.

Comments

1. The video available here: http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1710596

   — Zach    Sep 29, 06:06 PM    #

2. The professor seems to be delivering a history lesson. His mannerisms are strange but I would not be able to say that he is under the influence of any substances conclusively from the video. I know tonnes of rambly profs. I assume the middle finger is a reference to outlaw bowmen who would brandish their middle fingers to demonstrate that they had not yet been caught by the King. The punishment for these bowmen if caught was to have their middle finger removed so they could not fire a longbow properly. The fact that administration would actually take disciplinary actions against a professor based on a bootlegged internet video is disgusting. Now, there may be more to the backside of this story, but then even so it seems silly to make this the final straw. I also wonder about the legality of filming someone without their knowledge and then making the content of that film public. Anyway, I hope that Dr. Hall will at least attempt a defense of himself but more likely he will be so shocked by the allegations that he will simply resign himself to his fate and accept the unfair judgements of colleagues and students. Terrible.

   — Tristan    Sep 30, 02:03 PM    #

3. I just graduated from the University of Florida, and though I never had this class, I know it is common practice to record lectures and post the videos online for the students who do not attend class. This is usually meant to compensate for a lack of available seating for the vast number of students enrolled in the course. Since I know nothing about the professor, I cannot comment on that issue. I just wanted to correct the previous poster that the professor most definitely knew about and approved the recording of his lecture.

   — Anonymous    Sep 30, 03:44 PM    #

4. if u read the article, it says the video was from the university website, as part of a class room video service, i think the asscoiate dean is right, its not an institutional problem its a personal one, and think its enlightening that a professor would partake before a class. contrary to popular beliefs among our government, theres alot worse things out there then marijuana

   — Zero    Sep 30, 06:54 PM    #

5. I had Prof Hall for management 4 years ago and, yeah, he is messed up on something during this lecture. He got on tangents a lot, but never acted like this. Wow. And Management at UF is an online class. Every lecture is recorded and replayed for over a thousand students taking the class.

   — Joe    Oct 2, 12:18 PM    #

6. Yeah the key is MANAGEMENT CLASS. I’ve never had a management professor just bust out with History in the middle of the lecture for an extended period of a time like that. I can see why the university would be upset, but from a student standpoint it’s hilarious.

   — Adam    Oct 5, 01:52 PM    #

7. I had Dr. Hall for management and must say that he was one of my favorite professors. I had suspicions that he was a hippy, but he was still an excellent professor who was inspired to make a difference through education.

   — Cory    Oct 11, 05:34 PM    #

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