Texas A&M Professor Fails An Entire Class: Irwin Horwitz Stuns Students Via Critical Email

A Texas A&M professor failed his entire class after accusing them of cheating. Irwin Horwitz apparently had reached a breaking point with his strategic management class, so he threatened to give every student in the class a failing grade.

According to Inside Higher Ed, Horwitz sent the students in his class an email saying that he had seen cheating and thought the class was rude and disruptive. His email indicated that he had heard them spread rumors about him and that he’d been called rude things to his face.

The Texas A&M professor said he’d fail the entire class as a result, because he didn’t think any of them “in any way embody the honor that the university holds graduates should have within their personal character.” He said he was disgusted and felt they all lacked maturity and honor.

Reports indicate that Horwitz sent an email to the university’s senior administrators the same day he emailed the class to let the administrators know what he had said to the students. He apparently added that the students affected would now be the university’s problem, not his. The university has already said that the failing grades will be corrected.

While the students as a whole will not be subjected to the failing grades, there is an investigation into the allegations Horwitz made. Any students who did demonstrate inappropriate behavior will face disciplinary actions.

Horwitz reportedly said that in his 20 years of teaching, though he is new to the Galveston campus job, this is the worst class he’s ever taught. He indicates that he had complained to administrators, but felt that he was left with no choice but to fail everybody at the end of the term.

According to Chron, a department head will take over the class now that the Texas A&M professor failed the entire class. Horwitz indicated to KPRC that he had hit a breaking point and had even reached a point while teaching the class where he felt he needed protection from the police during class times.

Naturally, many of the students affected were upset by the professor’s email, some noting that as far as they knew, they had been doing fine in the class. While Horwitz exclaimed that none of them deserved to pass or graduate, the university clearly feels that the email was going too far. The university has made its fair share of headlines over the years, but the Texas A&M professor failing his entire class may well take the cake.

[Image via Public Domain Photos]