GALVESTON, Texas – A professor at Texas A&M Galveston failed an entire class, and he outlined his reasons in a fiery email sent to those students.
But the university won't quite be backing up the professor's actions.
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In the email professor Irwin Horwitz sent to his students, he called them a disgrace to the school. He said he will no longer be teaching the course and will be giving everyone in the class a failing grade.
After what he calls a semester of disrespect, backstabbing, lying, and cheating, Horwitz had all he could take.
"Yesterday I reached the breaking point," he said.
He sent a lengthy email to his Strategic Management class explaining that they would all be failing the course. He said the students proved to be incompetent and lack the maturity level to enter the workforce.
"It became apparent that they couldn't do some of the most simple and basic things they should have been able to do," said Horwitz.
In the email he cited examples of students cheating, telling him to "chill out," and inappropriate conduct. He said students spread untrue rumors about him online, and he said at one point he even felt the need to have police protection in class.
"I was dealing with cheating, dealing with individuals swearing at me both in and out of class, it got to the point that the school had to put security guards at that class and another class," said Horowitz.
Some students said they were shocked to get the email. John Shaw is a senior and worried this would mess up the job he has lined up when he graduates in May.
"Just ridiculous, I had never had a problem in the class. I thought I had done pretty well, done pretty well on the first test and then I get an email saying I am going to get an F in the class, it was overwhelming," Shaw said.
Horwitz said in the 20 years he has been a professor, he has never dealt with a class as disgraceful as this one.
"This class is unique. I have never failed a class, it is very rare that I fail students, sometimes learning incorporates tough love," says Horwitz.
Dr. Patrick Louchouarn, the vice president of Academic affairs at the university made it very clear that although they respect Horwtiz, his failing grades won't stick.
"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," Louchouran said.
The department head will take over the class until the end of the semester, according to school officials.