Bruce Harreld is no stranger to controversy. The University of Iowa’s new president has faced criticism for an inaccurate résumé and a limited background in the academy, and is now under fire for joking that professors without lesson plans should be shot. Harreld’s comment was made at a Staff Council meeting earlier this month, although the president says he’s made the remark, which he characterized as “off-the-cuff,” before. Harreld, in an email exchange with a university employee, apologized for the remark. The day after the Dec. 9 meeting, librarian Lisa Gardinier emailed Harreld to say his statement that “there was ‘one way’ to prepare lessons and any instructor who goes into a class without having done so ‘should be shot’” was “horrifying and unacceptable” and “irresponsible and unprofessional.”

December 16, 2015 ・ From Inside Higher Ed