Kansas professor leaves school over backlash to video calling to shoot men who won't vote for Harris

A University of Kansas (KU) professor is no longer employed at the school as of Friday, after a video of him claiming men that do not vote for Vice President Kamala Harris because of her gender should be "lined up" and "shot," went viral, according to local reports.

The professor, who made the comments during a rant in a class earlier this school year, was previously placed on administrative leave amid an internal probe. A video of the incident began circulating Wednesday on social media.

The school's Provost & Executive Vice Chancellor Barbara A. Bichelmeyer confirmed the professor's departure to KCTV. He has been identified as Phil Lowcock, a lecturer in the Department of Health, Sport & Exercise Sciences.

“The instructor has apologized to me and other university leaders,” Bichelmeyer said. “He has explained to us that 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 free expression of ideas is essential to the functioning of our university, and we fully support the academic freedom of our teachers as they engage in classroom instruction," she continued. "Academic freedom, however, is not a license for suggestions of violence like we saw in the video. While we embrace our university’s role as a place for all kinds of dialogue, violent rhetoric is never acceptable.”

Lowcock claimed that he was frustrated that there were men who believed men are smarter than women and would choose not to vote for a female candidate, like Harris, because of her gender.

If you think "guys are smarter than girls, you've got some serious problems," Lowcock says in the video. "That's what frustrates me. 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."

Kansas GOP Sen. Roger Marshall, who has led the calls for Lowcock's firing, confirmed the news in a post to X.

"I am glad to report that the professor who called for men to be 'lined up and shot,' declaring open season on people who don’t plan to vote for Kamala Harris, is no longer an employee at KU," he wrote.

Misty Severi is an evening news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage