Lecturer emails diatribe to students after many failed to watch online class

A Victoria University of Wellington lecturer has retracted an emotionally charged email in which he claimed students had “lied” and “cheated” after many failed to watch his queer criminology lecture online.

Lecturer Ti Lamusse told his Criminology 316 students they had shown “profound academic dishonesty and demonstrated disrespect for your teaching staff and the people whose lives you could have learned about if you had bothered to do so”.

The line, “I am ashamed of you as a cohort of students,” was formatted in bold.

Lamusse said he was “in tears” after seeing fewer than a third of his students had watched the lecture on Monday, September 12, which took him “three weeks to prepare”. Lamusse told his students that if he had acted in the same way, he would be deeply ashamed of himself, and his whānau would be ashamed of him.

READ MORE:
* Frustrations over face-to-face lecture ban at some New Zealand Universities
* Uni apologises after student told to ‘drop out’ because she works full-time
* Uni students told to switch off laptops, smartphones during lectures
* University lecture theatres could become redundant as technology takes over

“I also worry what it means to graduate with a degree in criminology, if you’re able to lie and cheat your way into passing. The thought of many of you using your degree to find work at the NZ Police, Ministry of Justice or Department of Corrections fills me with dread.

“If you don’t engage, in even a basic way, with your course content, I am deeply concerned for the social harm you may cause,” the criminological theory lecturer said.

One of Lamusse’s students, who wished to remain anonymous for fear their grades might suffer, claimed Lamusse was confronted about the appropriateness of the email and “then had an eight-minute argument with a student in our lecture” that was recorded.

The student who complained to Stuff said course lectures were uploaded on Monday nights, and a discussion on its content would take place the following morning. The student said this didn’t leave much time to revise the content, particularly when students had work and other study commitments.

“Ti also uploads 70-plus PowerPoint slides for each lecture, and then in the lectures recites the PowerPoint slides word-for-word. Because of this, many students, including me, do not feel the need to watch the lectures, as they can get the same information from reading the PowerPoint slides,” the complainant explained.

A request to interview Lamusse on September 15 was refused by the university. However, in a statement, the university said it was “aware” of the email.

“The university does not condone the approach taken by this lecturer, which is not in keeping with our institution’s values of respect, responsibility, fairness, integrity, and empathy.

“Resolution processes are under way with this staff member and the students involved,” the statement said.

The university would not be drawn on whether disciplinary action was a feature of the resolution process.

A day after the controversial email was sent, Lamusse sent another email to his students “unreservedly” apologising, saying its content was “inappropriate, hurtful, frightening and should never have been sent”.

Lamusse said he wanted to acknowledge the student who challenged him on the email.

“You showed bravery and sense, and I should have listened to you. I am sorry … I wrote the email from a place of pain. This is not an excuse. It is never a good idea to make big decisions like that email when we are hurting.

“The last thing I wanted to do was hurt you, my students, and that’s what I did,” Lamusse said.

In 2016, Lamusse was one of four people arrested after they chained themselves to the Hamilton Department of Corrections office over the treatment of a transgender prisoner.