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NYU Prof. Clarifies School Policy on Urinating on Desks
By
Ben Yakas
Published Feb 22, 2010
Modified Feb 22, 2010
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Feb 22, 2010
Modified Feb 22, 2010
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NYU students love swilling the glass of controversy, whether they're going on food stamps, bugging Jude Law or paying tuition with part-time porn work. But this time they've gone too far, and one professor will not stand by idly!
Scott Galloway, professor at NYU's Stern School of Business and founder of redenvelope.com, has a reputation as a no-nonsense instructor who takes things personally. So when one misguided student wandered into his lecture an hour late at the start of the semester, sampling three classes in one night, the professor asked him to leave. The student sent an email to "discuss the matter," and Galloway proceeded to rip him a new one:
You state that, having not taken my class, it would be impossible to know our policy of not allowing people to walk in an hour late. Most risk analysis offers that in the face of substantial uncertainty, you opt for the more conservative path or hedge your bet (e.g., do not show up an hour late until you know the professor has an explicit policy for tolerating disrespectful behavior, check with the TA before class, etc.). I hope the lottery winner that is your recently crowned Monday evening Professor is teaching Judgement and Decision Making or Critical Thinking.
In addition, your logic effectively means you cannot be held accountable for any code of conduct before taking a class. For the record, we also have no stated policy against bursting into show tunes in the middle of class, urinating on desks or taking that revolutionary hair removal system for a spin.
You can read the whole email exchange here, should you want to familiarize yourself with NYU's strict etiquette guidelines.
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Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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