Unruly Aggies or Academic Distemper? Texas A & M Professor Flunks Entire Management Class

Texas A&M Galveston professor Irwin Horwitz has become an instant legend among academics around the country (particularly with most of us starting the grading period) by flunking his entire management class after saying that he hit the “breaking point.” The university responded however by replacing Horwitz as the course instructor. He has become the academic equivalent of JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater.

The situation became so bad in Horwitz’s class that the school posted “security guards” during the class to protect him. He said that the students verbally abused him and even spread vicious rumors on the Internet. The students recently received an email informing them of his decision. He declared “Enough was enough . . . Yesterday I reached the breaking point.” Horwitz hardly creates a positive image of Texas A & M: “I was dealing with cheating, dealing with individuals swearing at me both in and out of class, it got to the point that the school had to put security guards at that class and another class.”

The problem is that he cannot flunk the class, according to the university’s vice president of academic affairs, Dr. Patrick Louchouarn: “None of them have failed until the end of the class, meaning the only reason a student would fail is because he or she has not performed the expectations for that particular class.”

According to his university website bio, Horwitz is an Instructional Associate Professor, Department of Maritime Administration (2014). He has a B.S. from Loyola University of Chicago (1987); a M.S. from Loyola University of Chicago (1991); a M.B.A. from University of Illinois (1991); and a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota (2003).

Source: CBS