An Ohio State professor has been suspended for allegedly attacking a reporter. The reporter was on campus trying to confront the university's former president about student loan debt. That's when things reportedly got physical.
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Luke Perez, an assistant Professor in the Salmon P. Chase Center for Civics, Culture, and Society, allegedly attacked two freelance reporters on February 9. The Ohio State professor allegedly grabbed the man's phone before tackling the journalist to the floor.
The encounter was caught on camera and shared to Instagram by DJ Byrnes. Byrnes, who runs The Rooster, claims that the journalist, identified as Michael Neuman, was on campus about student loan debt.
"I didn't touch you motherf-ker, who the f-k are you," Neuman questioned the professor after being attacked. Perez then left the scene after the journalist threatened to call the police.
"That's a lawsuit for sure," Neuman said. "Are you f-king kidding me. He hits like a b---h too. Sucker punching me, and he can't knock me out? What a b---h."
Ohio State Professor Suspsended
After the incident, Ohio State placed Perez on paid administrator leave. Meanwhile, campus police are investigating the incident. Meanwhile, Byrnes believes the professor was out of line. "I thought we were in a bastion of free speech only to end up with a guy physically assaulted," Byrnes told the outlet. "There's no other way to describe it other than assault. It was bizarre."
Since the alleged assault, the journalist has lawyered up.
"My client wants Perez prosecuted and terminated," Neuman's lawyer, Rocky Ratliff, told WSYX. "This is not the actions of an admirable professor or someone who's professional. If the roles were reversed, he definitely would already be in jail."
After the incident, Ohio State's American Association of University Professors chapter released a statement. They condemned the alleged assault.
"Based on what we know now, this incident is a vivid illustration of a larger problem - the way the Chase Center and other so-called 'intellectual diversity' centers have been forcibly and unnecessarily imposed on Ohio's universities," the chapter said in a statement to the Columbus Dispatch.
"Unfortunately, this assault — and the embarrassing actions around it — make it clear these centers aren't really about encouraging civil discourse and intellectual diversity. AAUP-OSU is in favor of free speech for everyone on campus, not just for the ideas that politicians want to promote."
