photo by: Contributed

The roof on Wescoe Hall has an 80-foot "KU" in this file photo from 2021.

A University of Kansas instructor is facing discipline by KU after a video shows him making comments in a classroom about lining up and shooting men because they believe a female isn’t smart enough to be president.

The video is of comments made by an unidentified KU instructor. The comments were made in an unidentified KU class earlier this semester. The video was posted on social media on Wednesday, and was drawing condemnation for its references to violence and the political process.

A KU spokeswoman said the university is investigating the matter.

“We are aware of a classroom video in which an instructor made an inappropriate reference to violence,” spokeswoman “The instructor is being placed on administrative leave, pending further investigation. 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 has an established process for situations like this and will follow that process.”

In the video, the man says: “What frustrates me is 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 them. They clearly don’t understand the way the world works.”

The instructor was aware that the class lecture was being filmed, which has become common as classes lectures are often made available online. Immediately after making the comment about shooting males, the instructor said: “Did I say that? Scratch that from the recording. I don’t want the deans hearing that I said that.”

The Journal-World has sought additional information from the university on the matter, including when the university became aware of the comments, and whether the individual currently is on administrative leave or simply has begun a process to be placed on leave.

The Journal-World also has asked the university for additional details about the instructor. Multiple sources have told the Journal-World that the individual is a lecturer at the university, rather than a professor. Sources also have told the Journal-World he teaches classes related to health.

This article will be updated.