Dive Brief:
- A faculty member accused of relating a priest to a toilet at a conference has been reprimanded by University of South Florida officials.
- During a behavioral psychology presentation, practicum coordinator Timothy Weil used a slide displaying a toilet on one side, a priest on the other, and an equal sign in the middle.
- Weil says his point was to show how people relate seemingly dissimilar things, but someone in the audience said, "They're both 'full of s---'" and a Catholic group later demanded action.
Dive Insight:
This is a controversy that could easily have been avoided. While academic freedom might extend to provocation and controversy, it's probably best to leave humor in presentations in good taste. As College of Behavioral and Community Sciences Dean Julianne Serovich said, "Put another way, the issue here is not academic freedom but rather given the potential universe of images you could have used for arbitrary associations, was it good judgment to present a slide with the following equation: Catholic priest = toilet?"
