Professor in China apologizes for smoking in class for ‘inspiration’

Image: en.cuc.edu.cn

One professor in China received flak when he was discovered smoking during his lectures and coaxing his students to try it out for its “inspirational” effect.

Wang Meng is a media lecturer at the Communication University of China in Beijing. His smoking inside classrooms was captured on video and circulated recently on Chinese micro-blogging site Weibo. One of his students has shared to Pear Video via The South China Morning Post on Dec. 11 that Wang “simply had to smoke during class and claimed that it gave him inspiration or something.”

Following criticism, Wang took to Weibo last Dec. 10 and issued an apology as he expressed remorse for his actions.

“It is wrong to smoke in public places, and it is even worse that I was smoking in a classroom,” Wang was quoted as saying. “I did not care about students’ feelings, and did not consider the possible impact of second-hand smoke on my students.”

Apart from apologizing, he also vowed to quit smoking, a pledge that garnered sympathy from some of his students.

Meanwhile, the university issued a statement on Weibo the same day, denouncing the professor for violating the city’s laws and the code of ethics expected of  an educator. He was also offered to resign from the university.

“The classroom is a sacred place,” the statement said. “Wang’s conduct violates Beijing’s smoking control laws and a teacher’s code of ethics.”  Cody Cepeda /ra

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