August 14, 2008
A Professor's Mooning Is Captured on YouTube
As reported today in The Chronicle, a debate coach for Fort Hays State University, in Kansas, is under review by the institution after he swore at officials and mooned judges at a tournament earlier this year. Someone was there filming the event — apparently for archival purposes — and footage of the incident is now on YouTube.
The YouTube clip focuses on the chaotic scene in which the coach, William Shanahan III, got into a shouting match with a judge — and at one point briefly dropped his pants — during the national tournament of the Cross Examination Debate Association. Mr. Shanahan, who is barefoot and wearing short pants with his shirttail out, is seen running across the front of the room and gesturing with his head and hands before briefly dropping his pants.
Footage of the full debate, in which the argument began in a more calm fashion, is also online.
A few years ago — before YouTube existed — the incident would probably have been simply a local affair. But this footage has now been watched by more than 100,000 people online. These days, with so many college events being recorded and a hunger by Internet users for quirky footage, such incidents are bound to wind up finding an international audience online. And now the professor’s university is getting angry calls from alumni and others demanding that it fire the professor for his behavior, and the university is investigating the incident.
Posted on Thursday August 14, 2008 | Permalink |Comments
Commenting is closed for this article.
Previous: Networking, but Not Intimidating, Graduate Students
Next: Stanford U. Lists Course on iPhone Programming for the Fall
This is clearly a warning to all coaches and professors. We must never be carried away by our tempers.
— AOO Aug 14, 03:11 PM #
Seeeee yaaaaaaa!! Better change his name and start sending out the ol resume.
— Centropi Aug 14, 03:21 PM #
Both of the professors involved in this melee behaved inappropriately.
— sk8er Aug 14, 03:25 PM #
“ … a warning to all coaches and professors”? I would have said it was a warning to all sensible adults: act like a buffoon in a professional setting, and sooner or later you’ll be known as a buffoon in any setting. I can’t imagine Ft Hays State retaining this yo-yo, and I certainly can’t imagine any reputable institution hiring his “services.” Forget the professional resume or CV — fire up the fast food job applications.
— PDamian1072 Aug 14, 03:42 PM #
The Courage to Teach to the Moon…
— xol Aug 14, 03:52 PM #
1) I didn’t realize people stilled mooned any more.
2) SHE brought race into the discussion, bringing up that he was white.
Some people can ONLY see race, and she apparently is one of them. Given that, I can understand why the FHS team would want her off the judges table.
— Dave Aug 14, 04:11 PM #
What wonderful role models for rational intellectual discourse! No wonder they gravitated to the debate team.
— Noodles Aug 14, 04:56 PM #
Debate, hockey, it’s all the same.
— Kyle David Aug 14, 04:59 PM #
The transparency brought provincial activities by online video is both amusing and edifying. Go YouTube!
— Jeff McNeill Aug 14, 05:19 PM #
The cussing was more offensive than the mooning. Anyone who speaks that way in front of students deserves a one-way ticket out of town.
— Donttasemebro Aug 14, 05:25 PM #
Funny, it wasn’t till Bob Knight (allegedly) choked a kid that folks called for his resignation. Although perhaps an unprofessional one, it’s just a butt people, assault. Mooning will never fall out of fashion, Dave; it’s fun. But rarely do you see a Full Blazer brandished in argumentative retort….I wonder if FHSU will now require all professors to undergo non-mooning anger-management training a la Iowa’s new s-h policy?
— Bonnie Aug 14, 05:25 PM #
Leaving aside issues of who’s at fault or why, it looks to me like Reid-Brinkley’s language and decorum are little better than Shanahan’s, if less histrionic. They’re both over the top. Is she being investigated as well?
— Dave M Aug 14, 05:37 PM #
Are you kidding me that this judge is a professor. Only in America!
— art edmonds Aug 14, 07:15 PM #
I should hope that BOTH coaches lose their jobs. Her behavior was equally inappropriate and offensive.
— amac Aug 14, 07:35 PM #
Why is the FHS professor the one being singled out here? Reid-Brinkley is just as much in the wrong here, but guaranteed that her race and gender protect her.
— Dr. Dave Aug 14, 07:36 PM #
Only in America? “art,” what is your experience with faculty members in Nigeria, Iran, and Tobago, for example? None? Then why do you claim crazy and odd behavior is unique to the U. S.?
Yes, only in America do academics take every opportunity to bash — rather than constructively criticize — their country. Note that I was careful to say every opportunity.
— June Dania Quayle Aug 14, 07:52 PM #
Just saw the short post here, but this is so immature, unprofessional, and lame. Didn’t I see Emory and Vanderbilt listed? Embarrassing for all.
— Amazed Aug 14, 11:18 PM #
Both profs wildly out of line. But the real shock will come if you look at the full “debate” clip or google other CEDA debate. It’s deliberately not “debate” as we know it, but a violent stream of anger and invective, indistinguishable from the shouting match the profs got into. Yet it’s an established Southern and Western genre, apparently! Why? Debate should be light, not heat.
— George Leonard Aug 15, 01:07 AM #
Those professors were both out of line, no question about it. But that “debate” is what has me scratching my head. Both students sounded like a cross between a maniacal tent preacher and a rapper. That’s how we debate now?
— Georgai teacher Aug 15, 07:10 AM #
I thought debate was for teaching rhetoric and civil discourse. You know this is going to be politicized.
These people need to go sit in the corner with a tall, pointy cap on and think about what they’ve done.
— figment Aug 15, 07:40 AM #
I kind of liked the guy sitting at the table, smack in the middle of the ruckus, who just puts his head on the table. He knows that you can never get a faculty member to change their mind or stand down from a statement made. Pretty pathetic but quite representative, perhaps, of just what lies under the surface in higher education.
— rec Aug 15, 08:31 AM #
Seems the context in which this childishness occurred should be examined. If the context is equally childish, perhaps this style of “debate” competition should be banned, or at least boycotted. TIME OUT!
Or are we just teaching hate speech and threatening behavior to our students?
Time for the children who participated in this to grow up a little?
— Mervyn Emrys Aug 15, 08:59 AM #
The judge should be disciplined as well.
— Cicero Aug 15, 09:13 AM #
FHSU is a public institution, supported by taxes. How can any FHSU official go to the public and ask for continued support when something like this occurs? This is not what the public deserves from higher education. Perhaps those involved have some serious mental health issues; if so, they should be addressed. Otherwise, those involved do not deserve to work in higher education.
— Carl Aug 15, 09:49 AM #
A university should be a place of order and discipline, the stairway to higher civilization. I say let the caveman loose in the northern cascades; he’s not prepared for academe.
— Iberian Aug 15, 10:40 AM #
I just wrote a code of classroom conduct into my French 101 syllabus this year. It’s a little preachy so maybe I’ll just show this video as an effective counter-example.
— Melior Aug 15, 10:49 AM #
Wow, debate coaches remain as high-strung and crazy as ever. This was more than being carried away by his temper. Professsors (or professionals in any arena, really) simply cannot behave like this without there being some consequence.
— babylawyer Aug 15, 11:21 AM #
I found the language more offensive than the bare behind. The gesturing and angry tones were so extreme, I thought body blows would be next. Both should be disciplined. I think the audience learned an unforgettable object lesson on the importance of keeping emotions in check.
— wm Aug 15, 11:35 AM #
Wow! I watched the ‘debate’ and agree with Georgia Teacher #19’s comment about the nature of the debate. I really could not understand some of what they said because they spoke so quickly.
I also cannot imagine taking a debate team to any competition without reminding myself about civility. Both the judge with the hyphenated name and the Fort Hays coach lacked civility and they demonstrated the worst possible behavior for their students. I am trying to imagine facing those students on campus, knowing that I’d lost my cool and had given in to the part of my brain that seems to make us do stupid things on occasion. What a disaster. And what a terrible lesson for every student in that room.
And…who would ever take students to any major event such as this debate dressed as the Fort Hays coach was attired. Everyone seemed to be dressed casually and perhaps that’s the culture of debating events. Oh my, I think that I am getting old when I think that a leader or teacher should set a better example for students. The students from Fort Hays actually looked better than their coach. Sorry for this last little comment but there is just something strange about appearing at a professional event dressed for a picnic.
— Ann Aug 15, 11:48 AM #
Jeeez.
I agree with the view that BOTH faculty involved in this debacle are responsible for the outcome, and as such BOTH should be required to sit calmly in front of their students and explain in rational tones the justification for their juvenile behavior. The mooning is what distinguished the Fort Hays faculty (and it was so fast it wouldn’t have counted when I went to school!), but the invective carried on ad nauseum by both was far more damaging.
I confess to not having any experience with cross examination debate, but I get the impression that it has degraded from what surely must have at one time been a civil, structured, and measured format into one that has allowed/encouraged the participants to try to jam as much rhetoric into as little time as humanly possible. The behavior of the faculty involved seems to sustain that in some way.
And finally, Ann (#29), with respect to attire (or the lack thereof) and all that it implies – I’m with you. I still believe that humans, especially students, rise to the level of the decorum that surrounds them.
— Mr. Civility Aug 15, 01:37 PM #
Resolved: I will never complain about my plumber again.
— Green Eyeshade Aug 15, 03:43 PM #
I see the bad moon arising.
I see trouble on the way.
I see earthquakes and lightnin.
I see bad times today.
— Clearance Clearwater Aug 15, 03:48 PM #
But who won the debate?
— Rusty Aug 15, 04:46 PM #
Neither the Pittsburgh prof’s foul language, nor the Fort Hays prof’s foul posterior are appropriate in a learning environment. They are atrocious models of the behavior they purport to teach.
— Debate Doc Aug 15, 05:47 PM #
Yes, in this setting the language is used confrontationally and aggressively; however, I am also somewhat disturbed by some of the posts here concerning the language. I do not fear profanity nor should, I believe, any other professor. Let’s leave those childish, moralizing fears about “bad” words in our childhood and not bring that type of morality into the classroom.
— Master of Prose Aug 15, 06:08 PM #
The grossly inappropriate behavior of faculty that we see in this video represents the moral failings of two individuals.
More egregious are the several CEDA “debates” that may be viewed at the same website linked to the “full debate” referenced in the Chronicle story. The style of all the debaters (including those from the USMA!) is so shrill, so loud, so rapid as to constitute an assault on the listener. Such “debaters” show fundamental disrespect to all who enclunter their ranting. This is, apparently, the insitutionally sanctioned style of CEDA debates.
I went to the CEDA website and was relieved to see that my University is not listed as a member of this organization.
When I was a high school debater in the distant past, we aimed to form clear arguments buttressed by evidence presented with as much eloquence as we could muster. Things sure have changed.
Is there anyone associated with CEDA who can perhaps place any of this in context?
— perplexed Aug 15, 08:01 PM #
I visited Debate Central and, having read some of the articles I found there, it appears the incomprehensible speed at which debaters deliver their points is recognized as a valid (and winning) debate method. Looks like the ranters have taken over the world of debate. No surprise there, I guess.
— Georgia teacher Aug 16, 08:35 AM #
If this is the debate team, I want to see the football team!! Come on teachers! But I guess it proves the saying, “If you can’t be a good example, you will have to be a horrible warning.”
— LynDeckard Aug 16, 02:04 PM #