‘Has she got something wrong with her?’ Irish lecturers are overheard giving some VERY frank feedback on student presentations after forgetting to disconnect from video call
- Lecturers at Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology insulted business students
- The two women were heard sharing frank assessments of students in a video call
- GMIT apologised yesterday for ‘the data breach that has caused such deep hurt’
Two Irish lecturers have been overheard insulting their students after they forgot to disconnect from a video call before grading them.
Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology was yesterday forced to apologise after the lecturers were heard sharing frank assessments of students in the call last week.
Business students at the university who had just made online presentations could hear the lecturers discuss their work and allocate marks as their feeds remained live.
Footage shared on social media shows the two women rudely review the students’ presentations, with one saying she wanted to ‘start drilling’ her teeth out.
The pair even questioned whether one girl who had spoken slowly throughout her presentation was disabled, saying: ‘Has she got something wrong with her?’
Two lecturers from Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology in Ireland were overheard insulting student presentations after forgetting to disconnect from a video call
In the video, one of the lecturers starts the conversation by mentioning three students she wanted to talk about.
She says: ‘I thought that f***ing [named student] would never [stop talking], and he is sick that lad and I didn’t like to.
‘Eventually I said I have to do something, and he still didn’t stop.’
The other one says: ‘I couldn’t take much more of them anyway, I was exhausted.
‘[Named student] wasn’t too bad, I found him interesting. But I thought the other fella [named student], I thought I’d have to get a drill and start drilling my teeth out.’
At the end of the video, one of the lecturers says: ‘Has [named student] something wrong with her?’
Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (pictured) in Ireland yesterday apologised after the lecturers were heard joking about students’ disabilities in the call last week
Referring to the college’s disability access office, which would offer support to students with disabilities, the other lecturer joked the girl might be ‘on the list’.
She says: ‘It’s funny, I was thinking, before I make a [marking] decision here on communication, voice and body language. I felt she was so slow speaking…
‘I said I’d better check with access to see if she is on the list someplace for something.’
The video caused outrage on social media from students and parents alike, with some calling for the lecturers to be sacked.
A student, 19, said: ‘As a student with multiple disabilities I am extremely upset with the video footage from GMIT.
‘I already struggle with presentations and turning on my mic and camera in class, and knowing there are lecturers who think it’s acceptable to speak about students like that has made my anxiety about this worse.
‘The lecturers involved should be ashamed and should lose their jobs.’
Another wrote: ‘Absolutely shocked to hear that one of the GMIT lecturers involved in those shocking videos were still allowed to lecture today [Monday] as if nothing ever happened.
‘It’s a lot more than just a “data breach”.
‘It’s a complete violation of people’s confidence and their privacy, a complete lack of respect for us as GMIT students to say awful things like that so casually over a Teams meeting. Absolutely disgusted with it all.’
The video caused outrage on social media from students and parents alike, with some calling for the lecturers to be sacked
Solicitor Patrick McKee said he was appalled the lecturers and said he would be happy to assist students in taking legal action against them.
He said: ‘Appalling behaviour by these lecturers. It will cost GMIT and, for the record, I’d be only too happy to assist these students should they wish to bring the full force of data protection legislation to bear on them.’
GMIT president Dr Orla Flynn said: ‘I would like to wholeheartedly apologise to our students for the data breach that has caused such deep hurt and dismay.
‘GMIT is known as a student-centred institute and some of the comments made by our staff do not reflect the values to which we aspire.
‘We are taking the breaches of GMIT policies and data protection legislation very seriously.’
GMIT Students’ Union president Victor O’Loughlin said the incident is being investigated by the student body.