UTRGV concludes investigation on political science lecturer

PHOTO BY STEVEN HUGHES UTRGV has concluded its investigation of an incident regarding political science Lecturer Michael DeLor, who made controversial comments via livestream toward students in his U.S. public policy class in September, according to Patrick Gonzales, associate vice president for University Marketing and Communications.

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UTRGV has concluded its investigation of an incident regarding a political science lecturer who made controversial comments via livestream toward students in his U.S. public policy class in September, a university official said.

The class incident was recorded and shared on social media on Sept. 24.

“If you don’t like public policy in this kind of a system, then drop the class,” political science Lecturer Michael DeLor said in the video. “If you think communism is great, move to Venezuela, move to Cuba, move to North Korea. They have that kind of system there you’re looking for where you’ll be starved to death and shot. Don’t make dumb comments.”

As reported by Student Media on Sept. 25, screenshots from DeLor’s Twitter account, @SafelyAnnonym, which is no longer active, also circulated on social media, prompting students to raise their concerns. The account was confirmed to be DeLor’s by Patrick Gonzales, associate vice president for University Marketing and Communications.

Some of the screenshots show the Twitter account stating, “Liberal women are ugly, mean, and most of them smell,” and “Democrats support pedophilia. They are sick bastards who need serious psychiatric help.”

Student Media attempted to interview DeLor for comment on Wednesday and when the video first started to circulate in September but was unsuccessful.

“My view of this professor has changed,” said Leo Moody-Garza, a political science senior who was in the live stream class when DeLor’s comments were made toward him. “You know, as a result of everything that happened publicly, his Twitter was publicly outed and his Twitter was pretty disgusting. So he’s definitely much more of a zealot ideologue than I would have hoped for from somebody who is teaching me.”

According to Gonzales, the university concluded the investigation and came to a decision during the week of Oct. 19.

“The incident was investigated and upon the conclusion of the investigation, an appropriate action was determined and taken with the faculty member,” Gonzales said. “It’s also important to note that all students who filed a formal complaint have also received a response regarding the conclusion of the investigation.”

Asked if he could share the decision with the public, Political Science Department Chair Clyde Barrow replied, “I can’t get into the substantive final result of all of this because it’s confidential personnel action and I’m prohibited by state law from conveying that information. All I can really tell you is that we have filed the established university process for investigating these types of incidents. A report has been completed and a final decision has been made.”

Asked if he had spoken to DeLor about the incident, Barrow replied, “I have spoken to him, I have prepared a report and any student who filed a complaint against him over that incident should have been notified in writing by now as to the outcome of that investigation and review.”

DeLor is still teaching at UTRGV, according to Gonzales.

“The format of the class has changed,” Moody-Garza said. “We don’t have in-person live streaming sessions anymore. He just records his lecture, uploads it and we all absorb it when we can and take the tests. It’s just interesting to me that he hasn’t softened his rhetoric at all. You can still tell that, at least from a public policy perspective, he still views ideas on the left of the political spectrum as wrong. It’s very rare that you’ll see him give any kind of fair credit to anybody who’s a progressive. I think he’s much more problematic than I initially gave him credit for.”

Moody-Garza said the incident allowed him to see his lecturer’s true colors that day.

“So that day he kind of took his mask off and you saw how he really feels about these things that are happening, and that are actually happening in our country, and, you know, to know that he’s out there trying to spread misinformation in a classroom setting is disturbing,” he said.

Moody-Garza said the incident happened on a Wednesday and by the weekend everything was made public.

“So that Monday, we didn’t really have a class,” he said. “He just addressed the class and you know, expressed his apologies to me personally, which I appreciated, and to the class which I thought was appropriate for the situation. I don’t think it was enough that he should be off the hook, but that was the only time he had addressed it. He hasn’t really addressed it in his lectures.”

Gonzales said UTRGV has a process in place to handle situations such as this one.

“We encourage students if they feel like they are being mistreated in the classroom setting, whether it’s from a fellow student or a faculty member, that they report it right away to the university through a Vaqueros Report It, or directly through our … Office of Institutional Equity and Diversity, that they report any type of, you know, discrimination or equity issues with the appropriate offices and trust the process.”

—Alejandra Yañez, Verilu Infante and Victor G. Ramirez contributed to this report.