Unprofessional professor - more info post 31, 144.

[Sharnita]

Didn't OP mention that the prof made the comments during another student's presentation?

This is correct.

I thought so.  I had originally wondered about the different levels of foramality as a possible explanation but the fact that he did it during another student's presentation is what established that he set that norm for formal presentations for me.

[Winterlight]

I think if Deena chooses to report his unprofessional behavior, that's fine. However, she needs to leave her attempted joke and the aftermath out of it. She's only going to make herself look equally unprofessional and whiny.

Also, she should not have made that comment in a formal presentation. Gallows humor is fine in its place, but that place is not during a talk you're giving.

I think to leave her part out would not only be unfair but would come dangerously  cLose to lying. Because he was chastising her because of her poor behavior not for some made up reason

I agree - and it would be rather short-sighted on her part, to leave the "nutjob" crack and thus her own role out.  She's documented her own blunder there, and rest assured that if she decides to brass this one out and demand satisfaction for having been slighted and reprimanded by the professor, she should bear in mind that she memorialized her faux pas in writing in an attempt to clear herself, and documenting that she still did not understand why she was wrong - when in fact, her error has been pointed out.

I think Deena should just move on, and in more than one respect.

I took the "if she chooses to report" bit to mean, if she chooses to report the professors inappropriate jokes, not his chastisement.

Yes, that's what I meant. Sorry it was unclear.

[DavidH]

I think the professor's remarks were also unprofessional, but that doesn't make hers any less unprofessional.  Think about how the complaint would read and I can't find a way to word it that comes off looking reasonable.

Dear Dept Chair,

I have an issue with Prof. Plum that I'd like to bring to your attention.  I referred to patients with severe mental illnesses as "nutjobs" in class during a presentation and he called me out on it in class.  I think it was inappropriate and he should have waited until after class to do so.  When I wrote an email to him later telling him that I would need to miss class because of a health concern and reiterating my apology for using the inappropriate term in class not only did he not tell me he hoped everything was okay, but he also further reprimanded me for using the term.  I consider this highly unprofessional behavior. 

In fact, this is part of a pattern of his.  Previously in class he referred to "hysterical women" and made derogatory concerns about southerners.  For example, when a student presented on women's health research in class, he made jokes about women being "hormonal".  The first time he made the joke we all laughed as it seemed he was being sarcastic/satirical, but then he proceeded to interrupt her presentation to make the same type of joke two more times, which got less funny and more uncomfortable each time. Also, he has referred to negative stereotypes of people in the southern U.S. before, such as that they have names like "Billy Bob," are uneducated, all carry around shotguns, etc.