BY: ANNA KAMINSKI
Kansas Reflector
LAWRENCE — A lecturer at the University of Kansas was placed on administrative leave Wednesday after a video surfaced showing him addressing students saying men who refuse to vote for a woman president because they don’t think women are smart enough to be president should be shot.
The lecturer’s comments were posted on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, Wednesday morning and garnered more than 2 million views by afternoon. The video is a recording of a lecture from earlier this semester.
In it, the lecturer 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’s student newspaper, the University Daily Kansan, identified the lecturer based on online exchanges. A KU representative did not respond to a Kansas Reflector request to confirm the lecturer’s name.
KU issued a statement via X calling the comments an “inappropriate reference to violence,” and confirmed the lecturer 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.
U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall 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 the lecturer.
U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran 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.
A statement from the Kansas GOP chairman, Mike Brown, misidentified the lecturer in the video and condemned the rhetoric. “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.
Governor 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.”
Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach 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.”
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.
A similar incident occurred at KU more than a decade ago when a professor of journalism, David Guth, was placed on administrative leave after making comments critical of the National Rifle Association, according to 2013 reporting by the Lawrence Journal-World. Guth was not terminated, but he retired in 2019, according to his KU website and his personal résumé.