Professor Attempts to Flunk His Entire Business Class

Not only did his students lack academic know-how, they were rude, dishonest and disrespectful. Those are the claims of Texas A&M professor Irwin Horwitz, who said that’s what drove him to fail his entire strategic management class.

According to Inside Higher Ed, after Horwitz reached his breaking point, he sent a scathing email to his students, notifying them that he was failing all 40 students in the class. The email reads:

None of you, in my opinion, given the behavior in this class, deserve to pass, or graduate to become an Aggie, as you do not in any way embody the honor that the university holds graduates should have within their personal character. It is thus for these reasons why I am officially walking away from this course. I am frankly and completely disgusted. You all lack the honor and maturity to live up to the standards that Texas A&M holds, and the competence and/or desire to do the quality work necessary to pass the course just on a grade level. … I will no longer be teaching the course, and all are being awarded a failing grade.

Ouch.

Not surprisingly, the students protested Horwitz’s move. University officials said they’re investigating Horwitz’s allegations against his students but won’t issue across-the-board F’s, IHE said.

“No student who passes the class academically will be failed. That is the only right thing to do,” a university spokesman told IHE.

According to The Washington Post, Horwitz, who has been teaching college-level courses for more than 20 years, said the students in his class lacked even the basic skills to sell Kool-Aid.

“This is the senior graduating culminating course that they have to take before they walk out of school with a degree in their hand,” he told the Post. “They need to be qualified to run a Kool-Aid stand.”

Horwitz said the behavior of the students was disgraceful. His email to the class stated:

Since teaching this course, I have caught and seen cheating, been told to ‘chill out,’ ‘get out of my space,’ ‘go back and teach,’ [been] called a ‘[expletive] moron’ to my face, [had] one student cheat by signing in for another, one student not showing up but claiming they did, listened to many hurtful and untrue rumors about myself and others, been caught between fights between students….

If Horwitz’s claims are accurate, it’s no wonder he threw in the towel.

What do you think of Horwitz’s response to his students’ alleged behavior? Do you think the university should have upheld his across-the-board failing grades? Share your comments below or on our Facebook page.