It’s a story of growing disenchantment and the ever-present threat of losing your job.
A professor at University of California, Berkeley, says he has been “put on notice” for the past year after a video of him berating a female student in the sociology Department surfaced online.
“I am being placed on leave, I am being asked to go into the hospital, I have been called into the office of the dean of the department and told that I need to leave the university,” said Michael J. Pappas, a senior lecturer at UC Berkeley’s Department of Sociology, in an interview with The Next, a campus news blog.
“That was a shock to me.
The university has taken me off campus and they are saying, ‘we don’t like what you have to say, we don’t want you here.'”
The incident began in January when Pappis made a video about his “disrespectful” behavior towards a female graduate student.
The video has been viewed more than 1.3 million times.
The video sparked outrage and a campuswide uproar.
UC Berkeley officials have said Papphas’ comments were inappropriate and the university will be taking action against him.
The university’s disciplinary process is extremely sensitive, and is determined in part by the circumstances of each case, said UC Berkeley Dean of Students Thomas Roth, who also chairs the department.
“I’m not saying that the university is not committed to a process that will lead to the expulsion of those responsible for these actions,” he said.
“But it’s an incredibly complex process and we’re not there yet.”
In the video, Pappes appears to be yelling at a student who is sitting at a computer in the room with him.
Pipps then grabs a microphone and starts to berate the student.
“That was not a pleasant experience for me,” Papps says in the video.
“And I’m going to be honest, I think it was just one of those things where I just wanted to be able to say something.
I was frustrated that I didn’t feel I had to be a total dick, and I was not angry at her,” he says.
In the days following the incident, Pippes was asked to leave campus for several days, according to an email from UC Berkeley spokesperson Nicole DeCecco to The Next.
Pppas, who has been employed by the university for six years, was also told to change his name from “Michael Pappa” to “Mike.”
“We want to ensure that students are safe in the University community,” DeCeecco wrote.
“This action is not an end to any ongoing investigations or complaints.”
Pappas says he had been asked to move out of his office because of the video and to change classes.
“In my position as a professor, I do not have to change any of my courses,” he told The Next in an email.
“And when I do, it will be because I want to be at a more comfortable level, so that I am not working on anything that might interfere with my teaching.”
Pipps said he has “never felt so intimidated” as in recent weeks.
“If you can’t handle a video like that, I don’t know what can.”
In a statement released on Monday, Pppases mother, Sarah, said that her son was “extremely upset and disappointed” and that he would be “totally devastated” if he was fired.
“He is not alone.
His story is not unique,” she wrote.”
This incident, as many others, are the tip of a very ugly iceberg.
It is not isolated to the University of UC Berkeley, but the way that campus culture has changed, and continues to change, in recent years.”
Poppas’ actions have prompted other professors across the country to speak out against him, including professors at the University at Buffalo, Northwestern University, University of North Carolina and University of Massachusetts.
A recent report by the Institute of Education Sciences found that just 1.8 percent of professors across college campuses have experienced sexual harassment in the past four years.
“It’s not just the word ‘harassment’ that needs to be understood,” said Mark Pincus, president of the Association of American Colleges and Universities.
“It’s the whole culture that allows people to feel free to harass women.
It’s the entire culture that encourages people to talk about it in a way that they would not have had the courage to talk openly about it.
That’s why there are so many women who have been sexually harassed.”
