A University of Kansas educator who suggested that anyone opposing a female president because of her sex should be shot has quit, the school said in a memo.

University of Kansas Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Barbara Bichelmeyer told university staff that Phillip Lowcock left his position as a lecturer while on administrative leave. Lowcock’s departure followed the emergence of a classroom recording that captured his remarks.

“Upon learning of the video, we immediately met with the instructor and placed him on administrative leave,” Bichelmeyer wrote. “I am writing today to inform you that the instructor has left the university.”

Lowcock said people who use a candidate’s sex as a reason for opposition “clearly” don’t understand how the world works.

“There are going to be some males in our society that will refuse to vote for a potential female president because they don’t think females are smart enough to be president. We can line all those guys up and shoot ’em,” he told students.

Lowcock then asked whether he said that, adding, “Scratch that from the recording.”

“I don’t want the deans hearing that I said that,” he noted.

Bichelmeyer called his comments “highly inappropriate.”

“The free expression of ideas is essential to the functioning of our university, and we fully support the academic freedom of our teachers as they engage in classroom instruction. Academic freedom, however, is not a license for suggestions of violence like we saw in the video,” she wrote.

“While we embrace our university’s role as a place for all kinds of dialogue, violent rhetoric is never acceptable,” Bichelmeyer continued.

Lowcock apologized to her and other university officials and “deeply regrets” the “situation,” Bichelmeyer said. The lecturer explained to the school that he was trying to emphasize his “advocacy” for women’s rights and equality but recognized he did a “very poor job” of doing so, according to the memo.

“It’s no secret that higher education and, more broadly, our society continue to grapple with issues of free speech, care and respect for others, and civic engagement,” Bichelmeyer wrote.

“The world is what we make of it. Please use this unfortunate event as an opportunity to reflect on these topics and the role each of us plays in our academic community,” she concluded.

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly posted on social media that she appreciated the university’s “swift action.”

“While healthy political discourse is paramount to our democratic society, violent rhetoric is never acceptable,” Kelly wrote on X. “We must strive to make our classrooms a place where diverse viewpoints are respectfully discussed, and politics is not weaponized to make our students feel unsafe or demonized for having differing opinions.”

Have a news tip? Contact Ray Lewis at rjlewis@sbgtv.com or at x.com/rayjlewis.