Jose Medina/THE RIDER
The UTRGV political science faculty has issued a formal request for an apology from Luis H. Zayas, provost and senior vice president for Academic Affairs, following “offensive” remarks he made about the department over Zoom after a guest disrupted a panel discussion with a video of an alleged beheading.
On Oct. 20, the Political Science department hosted a panel discussion on the recent indictments facing former U.S. President Donald Trump on the Edinburg campus. The discussion was broadcast over Zoom.
Moments after political science Lecturer Maylin M. Hernandez finished a presentation, a video of an alleged beheading was displayed on screen by an attendee using the alias, “John Jeff.”
“This is not part of the agenda,” political science Lecturer Robert Velez, one of the panelists, said when the video appeared on the screen. “Did we get hacked or something?”
Faculty immediately responded to the virtual disruption by removing the culprit from the Zoom meeting. The culprit made multiple attempts to take over the meeting as host.
“Disgraceful, utterly disgraceful, what a freaking mess,” the provost said while the video played on the screen. “ … More of a reason why political science is a viper pit.”
Velez pulled the plug on the Zoom session and decided not to broadcast the panel discussion.
“We were running [the Zoom meeting] to connect with students who couldn’t be there in person,” political science Professor Nicholas Kiersey told The Rider during an Oct. 30 interview. “But also, we had opened it up, given the topical nature of what was being discussed, to the community.”
Kiersey said the meeting was interrupted by what he believes were impostor accounts.
“They began streaming ISIS beheading videos … showing what can only be described as pretty gross visual imagery of innocent people being beheaded,” he said.
Circumstantial evidence suggested complaints had been made before the event by individuals who were under the incorrect impression of the discussion being biased or against Trump, according to Kiersey.
“The people in the decision chain thought [the complaints] were concerning enough to appoint a uniformed UTRGV officer at the door of the event, which I had never seen at any political science event before,” Kiersey said.
In an Oct. 30 interview with The Rider, Assistant Chief of Police Esmeralda Guerra, said it is common to have a police presence during public speaking events at UTRGV.
Guerra also stressed the incident itself is not being considered a cyberattack as the event was open to multiple individuals who were allowed to share the link.
University Police is investigating a lead on the person who downloaded the video.
“We did obtain an [Internet Protocol] address with the assistance of the university’s [Information Technology] department,” she said. “But, we don’t have a name or a person that was totally responsible for this.”
The Rider asked Guerra if the person responsible for the disruption would face any legal repercussions.
“We are taking all necessary measures to conduct a thorough investigation … to determine if a crime occurred and if so, what crime did occur,” she replied. “So, right now, we are speaking to multiple people that were involved. … [We must] work through all the facts and then make a final determination whether a crime occurred or not.”
After Zayas made the comments, attendees speculated whether the provost was aware if he was muted or not.
The Rider asked Kiersey how the political science faculty interpreted his comments.
“They were seen as offensive,” he replied. “They were seen as basically undermining the legitimacy and standing of the faculty in front of the students of the university.”
The Rider requested an interview with Zayas on Oct. 30, but in an email sent Oct. 31 he declined, saying he was “unable to comment as this allegation is currently being investigated by the university.”
This reporter then asked Zayas via email who was leading the investigation. As of press time Friday, Zayas had not responded.
“If you’re working hard as a professor to teach students and you’re trying to build credibility with them as an expert in your field, it’s not exactly great to have the provost say something like that,” Kiersey said. “It’s discouraging and … I would say it was a demoralizing remark.”
The remark led to the Political Science department requesting a formal apology from Zayas, according to Kiersey. Political Science Associate Professor and Interim Chair Dongkyu Kim assigned two faculty members to write a draft of the letter requesting:
–an apology to the students and faculty present during the event
–that Zayas be part of an open dialogue with the Political Science faculty over the remark.
A draft was sent to the political science faculty on Oct. 26 and the final version to the provost the next day.
Kiersey said it is best to turn over a new page.
“The provost is within his rights to be horrified at the visual imagery … but what we felt was that the provost, the way he was reacting to it, was almost like he thought we had staged the videos, which we did not,” he said.
Kiersey said the end goal is for Zayas to clarify the impression he has of the Political Science department and build a stronger relationship between the two parties.
“We want to be friends with him,” he said. “We want to be able to work with him. We all share the same priority, which is teaching our students and giving them the best classroom experience we can give them.”
