photo by: Screenshot via Twitter

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

Story updated at 4:58 p.m. Oct. 9:

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 Phillip Lowcock, a lecturer in the Department of Health, Sport & Exercise Science, KU confirmed on Wednesday. The comments were made in a department class Lowcock was teaching earlier this semester.

The video was posted on social media on Wednesday. A KU spokeswoman said the university became aware of Lowcock’s comments on Wednesday morning and has placed Lowcock — who also is an employee of Kansas Athletics — on administrative leave while it investigates the matter.

“We are aware of a classroom video in which an instructor made an inappropriate reference to violence,” spokeswoman Erinn Barcomb-Peterson said. “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.”

The video drew condemnation for its references to violence and the political process, with one of Kansas’ senators calling for KU to immediately fire Lowcock. However, one of the country’s leading free speech groups came out in defense of Lowcock, and said his firing over an “off-handed joke” would be an “erosion of the First Amendment.”

In the video, the instructor 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.”

Lowcock was aware that the class lecture was being filmed, which has become common as class 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 video has brought denouncements from politicians and others. U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., commented on social media and sent out a press release demanding that KU immediately fire the instructor.

“The University of Kansas must fire this professor immediately,” Marshall said in a statement to media outlets. “Anyone who says that people who don’t vote for Kamala Harris should be ‘lined up and shot’ are completely deranged and shouldn’t be around students nor in academia. This promotion of political violence should be met with quick action by KU.”

Under KU’s Faculty Code of Rights, Responsibilities and Conduct, there would be several hurdles to an immediate firing of any faculty member. A lecturer position is a non-tenured position at the university. While non-tenured employees can have their positions nonrenewed easier than a tenured faculty position, KU’s code does give a lecturer rights of appeal related to any disciplinary action. The code states that no sanctions — which include everything from terminations to suspensions to censures — can be imposed against a faculty member without first giving the faculty member a chance to hear the allegations and appeal any sanctions to one of two KU boards that hear such matters. That process could take 60 days or more, but Lowcock’s status of being placed on administrative leave could keep him out of the classroom — but not off the payroll — while the matter is being reviewed.

As for whether the comments made in the classroom are a fireable offense, the KU code doesn’t specifically address the situation. The code does say that faculty members shall refrain from engaging in behavior that “violates commonly accepted standards of professional ethics.” However, the code also states that all faculty members are afforded a large amount of academic freedom in how they conduct their classes.

Academic freedom has different definitions, but a widely accepted one is from the American Association of University Professors. That association describes academic freedom as a balancing act.

“Faculty members are entitled to freedom in the classroom in discussing their subject, but they should be careful not to introduce into their teaching controversial matters which are unrelated to their subject, or to persistently introduce material which has no relation to the subject,” the association said on its website. “This doesn’t mean teachers should avoid all controversial materials. As long as the material stimulates debate and learning that is germane to the subject matter, it is protected by freedom in the classroom.”

A leader with FIRE — the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression — on Wednesday afternoon came to Lowcock’s defense, and called on KU to return him to the classroom immediately.

“The viral video shows an instructor making an off-handed joke — not communicating a serious intent to commit unlawful violence,” Graham Piro, program officer for FIRE, told the Journal-World in a statement. “That’s protected speech, and people advocating that the instructor be punished for his expression are advocating for the erosion of the First Amendment.”

Kansas’ senior senator, Republican Jerry Moran, also denounced the incident, but stopped short of calling for the teacher’s dismissal.

“This is disturbing and inappropriate,” Moran said on social media. “There should never be a call for violence anytime or anywhere in the classroom. We must cool down the political rhetoric and be respectful and civil to each other, and that is especially true for someone charged with teaching our young people.”

Details about Lowcock were sparse on his KU staff listing page. However, information on the website of KU Athletics listed Lowcock, who holds a doctorate, as having worked for Kansas Athletics for 19 years and having served as the primary academic adviser for the baseball team. Another listing online identified Lowcock as the director of international student-athlete support for KU and said that he had been a Kansas resident for almost 50 years.

Lowcock didn’t return a phone message from the Journal-World on his home phone on Wednesday.