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University professor shuts down homophobic student, gets the love of the internet

Picture: J Michael Scarborough/Wikimedia Commons
Picture: J Michael Scarborough/Wikimedia Commons

An assistant professor publicly shamed one of his homophobic students for calling him a 'faggot'. The internet was most pleased with the exchange.

Eric Mendenhall, a specialist in genomics and epigenetics at the University of Alabama in Huntsville spotted a tweet from a new student which he believed was about him.

My Genetics teacher is a faggot.

Mendenhall gave a cheery retort.

Picture: @e mendenhall/Twitter

I don't condone use of that term, & it has no bearing on my ability to teach you genetics @g_ake68. See you Thursday

Mendenhall also posted a screenshot of the original tweet. Mendenhall explains he only saw the rude tweet, because the student had just followed him on Twitter moments earlier. Sounds like a promising intellect...

The student, @g_ake68, appears to have deleted their account.

Picture: @e mendenhall/Twitter

I'll take that bet. Everything was public, no expectation of privacy. Like garbage in an open trash can right?

The original tweet from Mendenhall has been shared thousands of times, and again and again on Facebook and other social media sites.

When one person contacted Mendenhall on Twitter, blaming the student's parents for his bigotry, the professor responded:

Picture: @e mendenhall/Twitter

each generation shedding some of the hate and bigotry of their parents generation is a key part of being human

— Eric Mendenhall

He also said this incident was an outlier in his time as a teacher.

Picture: @e mendenhall/Twitter

Thankfully, virtually all students @UAHuntsville have been wonderful last 3 yrs. @naomiattar @UAHWaddell

HT: Pink News

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