A substitute professor at the University of Guelph is under fire for his statements during lecture, but while the situation is grim, one student's response will warm your heart. The incident happened during a Monday night anthropology class where professor Edward Hedican was filling in for the actual professor of the course.
During the lecture, a student challenged one of the topics the professor was covering, and in response, Hedican claimed that the student was disrupting the class and asking if he carried on like that in his other lectures. The student defended himself, apologizing and saying he didn't mean to be offensive or disruptive and that he had a severe anxiety disorder.
Classmates present during the lecture say that Dr. Hedican had no patience for the student and basically insinuated that his opinion was not welcome. As well other students in the class claim that Hedican referred to the student's educational assistant as his "handler" and told the assistant that the student needed to be "controlled." After both the student and his assistant left the room, Hedican told the class he liked to single out "disruptive people" to serve as a lesson to others.
In response to this one student actually stood up and criticized the professor in front of the class, saying that he was being disrespectful and ignorant to the student. The speech got a standing ovation not just in the lecture hall but also on social media, the posted video of the speech going viral. It's worth noting that many of the people at the lecture ended up walking out as a protest.
This girl really made Guelph proud today by standing up to our sub prof for degrading and disrespecting a special need student
#ugogirl❤️💛 pic.twitter.com/dD9aFkCz2x
Since then the University of Guelph has released an official statement noting that Dr. Hedican has been put on leave as of now. The actual professor of the class has also reached out to the class as well as the affected parties via email.
