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The 2020 curse of video conferencing has struck again after two Irish professors forgot to turn off their cameras while taunting students who had just given virtual presentations.
“I thought I would have to get a drill and start drilling my teeth, it was so painful to listen to,” said one of the tutors at the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology in the west of Ireland.
His colleague had his own scathing verdict on the students. “He couldn’t take many more anyway, he was exhausted.”
The unidentified teachers apparently believed that this was a private discussion and that the connection with the students had ended. In fact, some were still watching and at least one recorded the exchange.
It was posted on social media, prompting widespread criticism from professors and remorse from the university president, Orla Flynn. “I would like to wholeheartedly apologize to our students for the data breach that has caused such profound pain and dismay,” he said in a statement. “GMIT is known as a student-centered institute and some of the comments made by our staff do not reflect the values we aspire to.”
The incident reportedly occurred last week after business students completed online presentations. The teachers expressed their disdain when discussing the students’ work and the assignment of grades. “He’s sick, that boy … eventually I said I had to do something, and he still hasn’t stopped,” said one.
His colleague said that one student was “not too bad”, unlike a particular classmate who made him want to get his teeth drilled.
One wondered if another student had “something wrong with her,” an apparent reference to disability. “It’s funny, I was thinking that,” replied the other. “I was saying, before making a decision on voice and body language, she spoke so slowly … I thought I’d better check Access to see if she’s on the list somewhere for something.”
Students rated the exchange as shocking and insulting.
Failure to turn off computer cameras or mute audio has trapped others since the Covid-19 pandemic turned video meetings into a way of life.
A film director was heard criticizing the shoebox apartment of an auditioning actor. The New Yorker fired Jeffrey Toobin after the legal commentator allegedly masturbated during a Zoom work call. Luke “Ming” Flanagan, an Irish MEP, broke into a parliamentary discussion not knowing that everyone could see that he had no pants.
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