Video of KU professor’s remark leads university to place him on leave

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (WDAF) — A University of Kansas professor was placed on administrative leave after a viral video posted to X Wednesday morning showed him making unnerving remarks regarding men who won’t vote for women based on their intelligence.

The post, which has already garnered over 2 million views in less than seven hours, shows the professor speaking in a university lecture hall.

In the video, you can hear him say, “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.”

He continued, “We could line all those guys up and shoot them. They clearly don’t understand the way the world works.”

The professor then attempted to retract his statement, saying, “Did I say that? Scratch that from the recordings. I don’t want the deans hearing that I said that.”

Although the video has only recently gone viral, the university issued a public statement on the platform , saying that it had been recorded earlier this semester and the professor has been placed on administrative leave.

KU 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 university said it also has an “established process” for these situations and that the case is under investigation.

Since it was posted , many viewers and listeners have not only raised concerns regarding the institution’s administration but also confusion about the context of the lesson.

After zooming into the bottom-right corner of the video, a potential lesson plan can be seen on the screen. It is titled “Sleep Cycles.” The content appears to discuss the differences between the amount of sleep men and women get.

Although it has not been confirmed nor denied if the content on the slide was a part of the professor’s lesson plan, it has led some to question how and why the lecture turned political.

Notable public officials and politicians have also expressed their perspectives on the professor’s claims.

One comment, in particular, came from Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall , who said the video was “disturbing” and that the professor is “deranged” and “shouldn’t be around students or academia.”

KU has not released any statements or information regarding the investigations since its original post on X.

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