Today is the day that an IUP student will hear if he will be allowed to return to class or if he will miss spring graduation because he will not be able to return to class.
Lake Ingle, a senior who is majoring in Religious Studies, is at the center of a hearing of the IUP Academic Integrity Board, after he was told to leave a class taught by Dr. Alison Downie on February 28th for allegedly “disrespectful” classroom behavior, including speaking out of turn, and “angry outbursts” following the showing of a video of a trans-gender speaker discussing the reality of white male privilege and sexism.
In an interview with the website “The Daily Caller”, Ingle said he was only protesting “the use of anecdotal evidence to start a discussion and trying to reference the material or the speaker’s account as if they were facts.” After he was told to leave, he received a note saying he could return to class if he wrote an apology to the teacher, made a verbal apology to the class, and then sit in silence as the professor and any students who wished to speak talked about how his behaviors made them feel.
When he refused to sign the sanctions, a letter from Provost Timothy Moreland was sent, saying that he would face a hearing of the Academic Integrity Board, which was held March 9th. Today, Ingle will find out if he will be allowed to come back to the class, which is required for him to graduate. If he is not able to return to class, he will not graduate on time, and it could also jeopardize some of his grant money.
