School leaders at the University of Kansas appear to have no plans for keeping students safe against violent threats from staff.
Phillip Lowcock, a faculty member of the university’s Department of Health, Sport and Exercise Science, was placed on administrative leave this week after video surfaced of him suggesting male opponents to Vice President Kamala Harris be lined up and shot.
“[If you think] guys are smarter than girls, you got some serious problems,” Lowcock told a crowded lecture hall. “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.”
“We can line all those guys up and shoot them,” the instructor added. “They clearly don’t understand the way the world works.”
“Did I say that? Scratch that from the recording,” Lowcock continued. “I don’t want the deans hearing that I said that.”
Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., shared the “disturbing” clip online Wednesday and demanded the university “fire this professor immediately” in a statement.
“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 press release. “This promotion of political violence should be met with quick action by KU.”
The university said in a school statement the school is “aware of a classroom video in which an instructor made an inappropriate reference to violence.”
“The instructor is being placed on administrative leave, pending further investigation,” the school said. “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.”
The school went on to disable online comments on the university’s post to X, and did not respond to The Federalist’s inquiries related to how officials plan to keep students safe.
Republicans are meanwhile competing to reclaim the White House this November with a nominee who survived two assassination attempts and a cascade of criminal litigation lodged against him to thwart a return to the Oval Office. On Saturday, former President Donald Trump returned to the Butler, Pennsylvania, fairgrounds where a would-be assassin’s bullet grazed his right ear and killed a supporter named Corey Comperatore.