A UCF professor was suspended Friday after publishing an online video mocking a formal complaint made by one of his own students, according to a video posted to a YouTube channel.
Kollbe Ahn, an assistant professor in the UCF Department of Chemistry, references an allegation made by a current student in his organic chemistry course to the department regarding his teaching methods. Ahn publicly addressed the student’s complaint through a YouTube video titled “Kollbe’s Anger Translator.”
The video, posted to the “
In the opening of the 3-minute video, Ahn introduces his ‘anger translator,’ who quickly jumps into a profanity laced rant.
“Professor Kollbe has been falsely accused for not teaching chemistry in his chemistry class, and he hired his anger translator,” a lab member serving as the translator says in the video.
“Oh, hell no. You mother-f*****s must of forgot that snitches get stitches,” the anger translator yells toward the camera. Don’t make me come to your house and smack your mother.”
The video continues with Ahn explaining that the student who emailed the department about his teaching methods also included a video of one of his “special seminars” as evidence of his lack of teaching.
It is not known what special seminar the student was referencing, but a special seminar video is also a posted on the YouTube channel.
Ahn described the special seminar video as a “misrepresentation of information” to his teaching in the course, and the translator followed with a more aggressive translation of Ahn’s words.
“Don’t make me lawyer up mother f*****s. I will come
Three days after the translator video published, Ahn took to YouTube again to share news of his suspension with students.
“I thought it was a satire of a situation, a funny video like ‘Saturday Night Live’ but UCF did not see it that way,” Ahn said in a response video posted to the channel Friday.
A petition titled “Reverse the Unjust Suspension of Dr.Ahn From the University of Central Florida” was created Friday on Change.org in support of reinstatement for Ahn.
“The video was addressing a student in the class that accused him of not teaching organic chemistry and reported him to the department of Chemistry,” the description on Change.org reads. “It turned out to be a misunderstanding as the class had a special seminar scheduled for the day and Organic Chemistry material was in fact being taught on all other days.”
According to Change.org, the petition was created by Anna Seo on the same day Ahn posted his response video.
The description later reads, “Dr. Ahn was exercising his freedom of speech OUTSIDE of his class and the class believes his suspension is unjust to him and every student in that class.”
In a statement to Knight News, a university official said that Dr. Ahn is on paid administrative leave pending an investigation into a student complaint.
This story has been updated to include a statement by UCF. Check back with Knight News for updates.
