Students of a strategic management class at Texas A&M Galveston got the scare of the semester when they received an email from their instructor Irwin Horwitz, saying they would all fail the class.

In the email to students, Houston News KPRC reported Horwitz said, “I have seen cheating, been told by students to ‘chill out,’ ‘get out of my space,’ ‘go back and teach,’ refuse to leave the room after being told to do so following inappropriate conduct, called a ‘f*****g moron’ several times by a student to my face…” Horwitz said students spread hurtful rumors about him, his wife and colleagues, and he felt the need for police protection in class.

Horwitz said it was apparent the students were unwilling to cooperate or perform at the academic level the course required.. 

“The report that all students in this class will be failed is not correct,” said Louchouarn, an associate provost with Texas A&M University at Galveston in a statement. “Each student will receive an individual grade based upon work completed during the semester.”

A department head will take over teaching the strategic management class; Horwitz was not removed from the class, but chose to leave it, officials said.

“I think it’s bad for the education system. Unless he has quantifiable test scores to show why he should fail them, he really just can’t fail an entire class on the basis of being insulted. You can’t expect every student who comes into a class to like what they’re learning. ” 

– Mack Cooper

“I think when teachers are failing students, I kind of put the blame on both of them… I don’t agree that he failed his whole class because I’m sure there were people in that class who were actually trying.”

– John Wilcox

“In his case he should have only failed the certain students who were causing problems. I’m sure there were some students who were doing very well in his class, and I don’t think they should have been punished on behalf of other people.  

– Rosa Martinez

“If you expect your students to be respectful, I think that’s something that needs to be established from the very beginning…If you don’t make that positive relationship early on, you’re not going to be able to form it later on.

– Ben Teurlay

Correction: May 6, 2015
In the print edition of the STAR, Ben Teurlay is referenced with the name Tourlay. The correct spelling is Teurlay.