113 Comments
He undresses
If you think Frontiers of Science is a boring, useless class, think again—the Core’s most infamous class went wild today.
According to our reports, the first class of the physics unit was running a bit late when the lights went out. When they came back on, professor Emlyn Hughes was in the spotlight.
Then Snoop Dogg’s Lil Wayne’s “Drop It Like It’s Hot” started playing in some sort of weird combination with deadmau5, Billy Joel, and Die Antwoord (UPDATE: we’re pretty sure this is what was playing) and he started to undress and put on a hoodie and sunglasses. After that, he curled up into a fetal position in his chair as images of 9/11, terrorists, and Nazi Germany started playing on the projector.
Finally, the show was interrupted by ninjas who appeared and smashed puppets onstage.
But none of this was as offensive as the fact that he proceeded to display a Big Bang Theory clip in a “Science” class.
We shit you not. And it makes no sense to us either.
Here’s the video:
FroSci Gone Wild from Bwog on Vimeo.
Update, 2/19 4:30 pm: The University has finally released a statement saying that “appropriate academic administrators” are “reviewing the facts of this particular presentation.”
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113 Comments
@SEAS '13 I’d eat my SEAS beanie to have a lecture like this.
@ResearcherCERN I know Prof. Hughes personally and as a researcher.
He has been a great mentor to many people I know, and
he is always worried about trying to reach the students
in a class that clearly seems to have people with quite
widespread backgrounds.
This whole performance does not achieve that goal, unfortunately,
in my opinion. But in this blog (and wherever else it has been reported)
it is taken completely out of context, and gives the impression
that Prof. Hughes is some sort of nut, which he is definitely
not. This is a bit unfortunate, and I hope that any action is
taken (and comments posted) in view of the full picture and
considering the person and the intentions behind this.
@NoWOW You guys pay for this shit? You can see this kind of talentless stupid crap at any fucking hipster dig in most cities any day of the week! Fucking paint a bird on it already! Enjoy your memories when your waiting tables as a debt slave later on trying to pay of that student loan. You can get all nostalgic and tell everyone how YOU WERE THERE….
@anonymouse *you’re
@foolish freshman You’ll soon learn with FroSci that is EXACTLY what you’re paying for.
@CC '16 I honestly don’t see what the outrage is (I was right in the front row) and think it’s completely idiotic for people to say “Oh this class is such a joke it’s not a real science class”, “So that’s what we’re wasting our money on?” or “oh he should get fired”. People get offended too easily. He proceeded to teach the rest of the class without antics and is an extremely knowledgeable professor. So he stripped to his boxers and had a couple people impale a cat piñata. SO WHAT. He’s not mentally disturbed, he’s not making a huge, sweeping statement about the quality of science classes and I HOPE he’s not made to apologize. He wanted to start class off with a bang. And he did. Get over it.
@CC '16 And also, it’s not a “waste of money” if I actually absorb and learn what he’s teaching me, no matter his methods. So if he has to stand in his boxers every lecture for me to completely understand quantum physics, so be it because I’ll tell you what I’m NOT paying for: a class that I come out of completely unenlightened by.
@Anonymous You confused a 15 yr old weezy for Snoop but try to pull off a Die Antwoord reference. Dumb.
@Anonymous yes this is a capital offense
@John My question would be how a person could reach the point of being qualified to take a course in quantum mechanics (never mind teaching it) without coming to the realization that steel-framed skyscrapers don’t “collapse”.
@b educate yourself. watch the discovery channel’s anatomy of the collapse. do be such a know it all conspiracy theorist
@John Putting common sense aside, I’m not sure how a program on the Discovery Channel could be more informative than, say, a Web site reflecting the views of over 1,700 professional architects and engineers, but if you point me in right direction I’ll be happy to educate myself.
@John Found it: Your reference is to a TV special featuring the long-discreted “pancake theory” explicitly rejected by the National Institute of Standards and Technology in 2004. My next question would be: Why would the Discovery Channel involve itself in actively promoting such a piece of unscientific nonsense?
@John …and why would any member of the Columbia community take such a thing at face value?
@John So much for “undressing everything and starting new”. Long live the emperor and his new clothes!
@Darrell this is what happens when communist professors are allowed to teach in our schools of lower learning. maybe they should be giving them a piss test before each class. Someone in this video has a cocaine problem.
@Ezekiel Hornblower, Phd. Any ideas how I could find a copy of this video in China? I live behind the Great Chinese Firewall, and the instant url is blocked here. I’d love to show a copy to my kids here. Thanks!
@Hmm... If Vimeo’s not working, try Mediaite: http://www.mediaite.com/online/columbia-professor-strips-down-to-underwear-shows-911-footage-during-bizarre-physics-lecture/
@Ezekiel Hornblower, Phd. Thanks for your help, Hmm. Alas, Mediaite is blocked too. U folks don’t know how good u got it, livin’ in the free cyber-world.
Oh well, at least the beer is cheap. :)
@Tor use it
@Anonymous If OMA somehow finds a way to get involved in this…..
@Anonymous so these are the joke science classes they take in CC? grade inflation anyone?
@nilay kumar aww, is someone sad because they don’t get good grades? boo hoo
@nick herbert No amount of contrived classical weirdness
Can approach the twisted marvel of quantum reality
Which Nature displays effortlessly
In the depths of Her tiniest phenomena.
@yes but oh the torment bred in the lecture halls
the grinding scream of stress
the stroke that hits the vein
the exam no one can pass, the grief,
the course no one can bear
but there is a cure, and it’s not Adderall, no,
not answers from others but from them,
their bloody strife. we sing to you,
dark gods beneath the earth
now hear, you blissful powers underground –
answer the text, send help (answers to problem set plz)
bless the undergrads, give them vacation now
@But seriously though Where’d he get a sword from?
@But seriously though Where’d he get a sword from?
@Angered Person This is a terrible case of Vertical Video Syndrome. Bwog, you need rehabilitation immediately. These symptoms can be contagious when exposed to such a large audience.
@Former SEAS I always wondered whether CC was as fun as it looked. Now I know.
@Karim Wow. So let me get this straight, nobody raised their hands after all of that to ask what the fuck just happened? Y’all just sat in complete bafflement for the next hour?
@brg Kids these days. They could learn a thing or three from you.
@gay Is he hot? I didn’t get a good look at that bod.
@Anonymous I’m more offended that the girls in the video and the author thought that was Snoop Dogg’s “Drop it Like Its Hot.”
@GS '1X Damn I love not having to take FroSci
or LitHum
or CC
@Will.I.Am There is no doubt in my mind that this is somehow related to the illuminati.
@Anonymous It’s funny, my instinctual inclination was to assume the girl saying “What’s happening?” was from barnard
@Story of the core “How is this relevant to anything?”
@Truth Read Allan Bloom you stupid sack of shit
@Really? Really! For an educated ( supposedly) person, you haven’t mastered the fine art of tact. Must you use the “f” word in every sentence? Can you respond without insult? What a hater!
@CC '12 Oh, Columbia, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
@Jesse Pinkman FUCK YEAH, SCIENCE!
@anon Terrorists should have executed Schrodinger’s cat in the middle of the show. Would have been a better connection with quantum mechanics…
Or maybe the Physics section is done and they are now going over the history of hallucinogenic drugs (would explain the sunglasses, actually).
@Anonymous I’m pretty sure that one girl said “Hi Saddam” at 3:49. Is the audio not matched to the video, or do some Columbia students really not know what Joseph Stalin looks like.
@Anonymous ?
@Anon What I don’t understand is how no one else has commented yet on the two girls’ reactions to the video (aside from misidentifying the song)–what the fuck. Who are these girls, and why are they allowing idiots into our school? If my professor started showing that shit in one of my lectures, I’d shut the fuck up and pay attention (even if only to make sure that my life wasn’t in danger). My major problem with that video was them, not anything on that stage or screen. I hope they’re ashamed that a large percentage of their student body heard them portray themselves like asinine children.
@questionmark http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8UyWmcCQYk
@Amy “Yeah, um…. is this gonna be on the exam?”
@Anonamoose Bwog, this is not Snoop Dogg. It’s Lil Wayne and Mannie Fresh. Come on.
@Bwog Back that azz up.
@engineer who took his class i feel that he will be fired for this…
@Academic Politics Can you say tenure?
@nilay kumar FYI : I’m a sophomore; I work for Hughes lol
So I emailed Emlyn: “So I heard frontiers of science was pretty interesting today! What did I miss?!”
and he replies: “Nothing. All just exaggerations :-)”
@Anonymous @nilay kumar: I hope he fires you for posting private emails on the internet.
@Also he wore the sunglasses with his hood up for the entire lecture. The whole time.
@Anonymous just to clarify..this guy is a brilliant professor and works at CERN…so like its not that he isn’t intelligent. he’s obviously trying to make a statement about something. i’ll be interested to see what the school’s response is.
@Anonymous You guys, science can be fun!
Let’s do a back-of-the-envelope calculation for how high the attendance for next week will be relative to this week.
@Annonymous I am appalled. Given the sensitivity of guns and violence in our country right now, this was offensive and scary. It was awfully reminiscent of James Holmes movie theater shooting and I would have been very afraid if I had been there. His skit was designed to elicit fear. Pulling out what appears to be a gun after sitting there watching disturbing images is very poor judgement and he is lucky he wasn’t tackled by someone thinking he had lost his mind and that he was going to hurt someone. He probably needs a mental health evaluation before being allowed to teach again.
@you have stirred me to poetry i hear america crying.
i hear america crying.
but not any children crying.
because we never let anything
bad happen to them, thank god.
see-saws are too dangerous,
the Internet is too mean.
Every issue is a mental health issue.
I hear america crying.
Your right to free speech
only extends up to my
right not to be uncomfortable
with anything..
I hear america crying.
@thepoet Odd that my role as poet has been usurped from me by quite a clever poet/poetess themselves.
Therefore, in lieu of having to compose a vitriolic poem, I will only say “fuck you” and “grow a sense of humour.”
@Bob Nobody has the right to not be offended.
You do have the right to close your eyes, close your ears, turn the channel, or walk away.
@brg The only similarity between microphones and guns is their phallic imagery as used in hip hip and rap.
@Sherry J. Wolf Let’s start the call for Hughes to step down! Join me in checking his privilege!
@cruisin' UWS No more vertical videos, please. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bt9zSfinwFA
@CC '16 Of all the days to skip FroSci, I chose today…
@EMLYN HUGHES IS THE BEST PROFESSOR EVAR!!!!!
@Anonymous This is a great work of art! A very inspiring move on behalf of the prof. I don’t think he was exploiting 9/11 for shock value. In a sense he was letting his own demons out–things which he has to leave behind in order to engage in physics. Wonderful demonstration, wish I could’ve been there.
@Anonymous Stripping naked and showing videos of 9/11, Nazis, and terrorists is a “great work of art”? You need to go get your head examined..
@YUMMERS the only work of art there was his body. I apologize in advance if you’re unable to book office hours with him. He’ll be doing a personal striptease for me.
@Is this a joke? “In a sense he was letting his own demons out–things which he has to leave behind in order to engage in physics”
He had to leave behind 9/11 and that morning’s pants in order to “engage” in physics? I’m all for catharsis and therapeutic experiences, but really?!
@Jealous Senior THIS IS LITERALLY THE BEST THING EVER TO HAPPEN IN FRONTIERS EVER.
@Reason I think we have not given enough weight to the possibility that he actually WANTS to draw criticism for FroSci and get it cancelled. maybe its a stretch because he’s taught (and teaches) the class, but not all faculty members are fans.
assuming he is at least moderately intelligent, how could he think that this would go over well? it seems like he purposely chose things that were offensive–there are many other ways to seem ‘cool’ or shock students into being interested– but showing 9/11 videos and undressing on stage? he could not have simply been trying to make a point to the students.
if you thought to yourself “hmm how can I get fired today”? a sure fired way would be to STRIP AND SHOW VIDEOS OF TERRORISTS AND NAZIS.
@Doubtful given that his wife is one of the faculty members who design the curriculum of the course
@Or Maybe this is exactly what he wanted to communicate to his students: that like quantum mechanics, it’s possible to describe what’s going on, but no one can explain why it happens.
@Heh I only wish he did that in Physics 1401…
@lazy college senior not sure what the point of this was, but I’m digging that Snoop mix
@lazier i know, right? anybody got a link?
@Anonymous Not a Snoop mix, but instead an old Manny Fresh/Lil’ Wayne song of the same name.
@Willing to bet Hughes did this to force Columbia to put freshman science out of its misery.
@Julius SEASar This isn’t real science. Real science requires endless note taking and at least 4 chapters of material per lecture.
@Welcome to the 21st century Track comments exists, Sherry
@It's not really her it’s a satire, fuck nut.
@Welcome to the 21st century Oh I know, there’s just a limit to the number of “funny” statuses you can post without someone realizing that this is apparently the best thing you have to do with your time…
@Anonymous not to bright…but very angry
@A real scientist BAZINGA!
@Ahem “None of this was as offensive as the fact that he proceeded to display a Big Bang Theory clip in a ‘Science’ class.”
Thank you, Bwog.
@wtf I would be legit scared for my life if I was there
@Anonymous Can we have an anonymous poll to see how many people actually thought (even for an instant) that they were in danger of suffering physical harm?
Because I know I am a paranoid fuck before I’ve had my morning coffee, but I can’t have been the only one…
@Sherry J. Wolf This is offensive and sexist. How does hosting a stripper help students learn science? My advice to you, drop out now and join me at occupy. Shameful.
@Seriously @Sherry J. Wolf: Just shut up
@Sherry J. Wolf How dare you down-vote me. You must be racists. This is why we need re-education camps.
@Honestly I cannot tell if this is sarcasm or not. Really hoping it is
@Meta I cannot tell if this is sarcasm or not. Really hoping it is
@Anonymous *9-11 footage on screen*
Girl: this is literally the taliban!
@Anonymous typical emlyn
@Artur Video has been fixed, we’ll get a Vimeo version up shortly
@Artur Vimeo is up!
@9/11 too soon.
@I wish this had happened in my quantum class.... I had a quantum class this morning, and mine was NOT this exciting. Please tell me someone can get a working link to this video posted, so everyone who has to suffer through the mathematical explanation for particle in a box can live vicariously through the freshpeople who got to witness this.
@Anonymous If you feel troubled by particle-in-a-box problems, then I worry for you.
@Anonymous by “troubled” I mean bored ;)
@cc 15 get a video of this!!
@Da fuq
@Bravo Couldn’t have put it better myself
@his explanation “To understand quantum mechanics, you have to undress everything, start new, and forget all the bad stuff.”
@Ivana Hughes better keep her hubby in check
@YUMMERS Ivana, somebody out there is eyeing your hubby ;)
@CC 14 Dying to see a video of this.
@Anonymous A desperate attempt to dress up a disastrous course in cool…
@NO. MORE. FROSCI Very strongly believe the course should be eradicated immediately.
@Looked at my calendar to see if it was April fools already.
@I weep for my Core Sing, goddess, the anger of Columbia’s Core Curriculum
and its devastation, which put pains thousandfold upon the students,
hurled in their multitudes to the lecture hall strong students
of literature, but gave their bodies to be the delicate feasting
of physicists, of all scientists, and the will of Helfland was accomplished
since that time when first there stood only Lit Hum
Columbia’s true son, the lord of classes, and also brilliant CC
@Homer You’re so fucking hilarious.
@I Wish I could like this a hundred times over