Strong Hall at the University of Kansas on August 22, 2020. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)
LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas placed a lecturer on administrative leave Wednesday after a video surfaced of him suggesting men who refuse to vote for a woman president solely because she is a woman should be shot.
A KU spokeswoman identified the lecturer as Phillip Lowcock who is a faculty member in KU’s department of health, sport and exercise sciences. His comments during a lecture earlier this semester were posted on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, Wednesday morning, and garnered more than 2 million views by afternoon.
In it, Lowcock says the following:
“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 could line all those guys up and shoot ‘em. They clearly don’t understand the way the world works.”
He continued: “Did I say that? Scratch that from the recording. I don’t want the deans hearing that I said that.”
KU issued a statement via X calling the comments an “inappropriate reference to violence,” and confirmed Lowcock was placed on administrative leave.
“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 statement said.
Ned Ryun, a conservative pundit and activist and son of former Republican U.S. Rep. Jim Ryun of Kansas, initially posted the 32-second video on X , tagging Kansas’ current U.S. Senators.
U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall from Kansas, also a Republican, wrote Wednesday afternoon in a post on X, “This guy shouldn’t be within 100 yards of a university and I am calling for his swift termination.”
The senator also called for KU to fire Lowcock.
National free speech group the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, or FIRE, defended Lowcock and requested KU to refrain from punishing him.
“The First Amendment protects professors who tell brief, off-topic jokes in the classroom,” a statement from FIRE said. “It also protects hyperbole. In order to constitute a true threat, a speaker must communicate a serious intent to commit an act of unlawful violence against a specific individual or a group of individuals.”
FIRE called Lowcock’s comments an “off-handed joke” rather than a serious intention to commit violence, which is protected speech, the statement said.
A statement from the Kansas GOP chairman, Mike Brown, misidentified Lowcock as former KU journalism professor David Guth, who the university also placed on leave more than a decade ago when he made comments critical of the National Rifle Association, according to 2013 reporting by the Lawrence Journal-World . Guth retired in 2019, according to his KU website and personal résumé.
Brown mistakenly attributed Lowcock’s comments in the video posted to X to Guth, calling him “radical” and “deranged” and “teaching vile and toxic hate.”
Brown also condemned the rhetoric in the video. “Every legislature should examine their funding of programs that allow extremism like this to persist, and every parent should seek institutions aligned with their core values,” Brown said.
The Republican Party later issued a correction acknowledging the false attribution, and added that both Lowcock and Guth “have worked for the University of Kansas, and both their comments are vile.”
Democratic Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly said in a statement that violent rhetoric is unacceptable.
“We must strive to make our classrooms a place where diverse viewpoints are respectfully discussed, and politics is not weaponized to make our students feel unsafe or demonized for having differing opinions,” she said. “I appreciate the university’s swift action to address this matter.”
Republican U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran from Kansas called the video “disturbing and inappropriate” in a post on X . He condemned calls for violence in classrooms and emphasized mitigating political rhetoric and valuing respect and civility.
Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, a Republican, made a post on X criticizing the Kansas Board of Regents. He wrote:
“KS Regents: We educate leaders, build communities, and make discoveries that change the world.
KU prof: Some males in our society will refuse to vote for a female prez, because they don’t think females are smart enough to be Prez. We could line all those guys up and shoot them.”
KU’s faculty code of rights, responsibilities and conduct states that faculty members retain the legal rights and privileges of citizens. They have “the right to academic freedom and the right to freedom of inquiry, expression, and assembly.”
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