Professor Drops F-Word on Conservative Student

Conservative 23 year-old Christopher Lyle, a student at Brookdale Community College in New Jersey, has been having issues with his sociology professor Howard Finkelstein all semester, he says. He told NJ.com that the professor routinely tells him to “shut up,” criticized him for exercising his second amendment right to own a gun, and has told him that his worldview is “the reason America is not great.”

According to NJ.com, fellow student Joey Smith “doesn’t always agree with Lyle’s views, but doesn’t think a teacher should ask for a student’s personal views only to rip them, he said.”

“He is basically just lecturing this one student for the whole period,” Smith, 26, said. “We are sitting there and he is speaking directly to Chris, going back and forth about personal thoughts.”

So, he decided to take a video to show his friends why he hates the class (caution: language).

The next day, Lyle was removed from the classroom because he is a gun owner and the school was concerned he might hurt someone over the incident.”It is in the best interest of all members of our community for the college to do its due diligence when a student or employee mentions firearms during the process of an investigation,” the college said. “The matter concerning the student’s statements about firearms has been investigated and the incident is closed.”

Lyle considered not returning to the class, but decided he would not back down, according to NJ.com.

“I have to stand up for myself and my beliefs,” he said. “I pay money to learn. I don’t pay money to get lectured on my beliefs.”

Colleges are less interested in being places of learning all the time and more interested in being places of conformity. While I’d like to think something will happen to this teacher, I tend to doubt it. A slap on the wrist is the most one can hope for.