Prof Acquitted of Battery; Prosecutors Claimed He Closed Laptop on Student’s Finger
A professor accused of shutting a student’s laptop on her finger has been acquitted of battery.
Georgia jurors acquitted Frank Rybicki earlier this month, report Inside Higher Ed and the Spectator. He is an assistant professor of mass media at Valdosta State University in Georgia.
Rybicki admits he shut the laptop but disputes the student’s claim that her finger was ensnared. He told Inside Higher Ed that he shut the laptop because the student wasn’t using it for course work. The issue, he says, is the right of a professor to set classroom standards when a student is surfing the Internet.
A student who testified on behalf of Rybicki, Ed Hooper, told the Spectator “there was tons of support” for Rybicki during the trial.
Valdosta suspended Rybicki after the incident, but will put him back in the classroom this fall—for this academic year only, Inside Higher Ed says. The next academic year, the university informed Rybicki, his teaching contract won’t be renewed.
