Higher Education: Ivy League Prof Strips Down to Underwear and Plays Footage of 9/11, Hitler on First Day of Quantum Physics Course

On the first day of his quantum physics course at Columbia University, an Ivy League institution, professor Emlyn Hughes figured it best to strip down to his underwear to change outfits in front of his class and play footage of the 9/11 attacks, Adolf Hitler, North Korea and Saddam Hussein.

The "Frontiers of Science" course is reportedly one of Columbia University's core classes. Watch the video taken by someone in the classroom (Warning: Music in clip contains explicit language):

As Gawker points out, the Columbia University gossip blog "Bwog" provides some insider information:

According to our reports, the first class of the physics unit was running a bit late when the lights went out. When they came back on, professor Emlyn Hughes was in the spotlight.

[...] and he started to undress and put on a hoodie and sunglasses. After that, he curled up into a fetal position in his chair as images of 9/11, Nazi Germany, and North Korea started playing on the projector.

And just when students thought it couldn't get any more strange, ninjas appeared and smashed puppets onstage with what looks like a samurai sword. The entire scene occurred while Lil' Wayne's "Drop It Like It's Hot" played in the background.

While the majority of the song is literally too explicit to include, here's a very small taste of some of the lyrics (WARNING: Explicit language):

First I need you to bend both knees, wobble that a** right

Then pop that p****, to the left one time, the right two times

Show a ni**** something, put it on a ni**** mind, come on, come on

Now twerk it b**ch, ain't no need to hold in it, what you working with

You want a hot boy, is it worth it b**ch?

Then break a ni**** off, let me hurt you b**ch, let me hurt you b**ch

If you want to hear the entire song that was played for students at Columbia University, you can listen to the song on YouTube. But again, we stress that the song is extremely graphic and profane.

"In order to learn quantum mechanics, you have to strip to your raw, erase all the garbage from your brain and start over again," the professor says after the presentation. "Quantum mechanics -- nothing you have learned in your life up to now has in any way helped prepared you for this. Because everything you do in your everyday life is totally opposite of what you are going to learn in quantum mechanics."

Keep in mind, it costs about $22,000 a semester to attend Columbia. While the crazy antics displayed by Hughes were clearly entertaining to some of the students, some of the parents who are footing the bill so their kids can get a quality education are probably not as thrilled with this particular "lesson."

​UPDATE:

On radio Tuesday, Glenn Beck offered a unique take on the incident -- on he admitted his regular listeners might not expect from him.

After a quick primer on quantum mechanic -- which he admitted might be hard to grasp -- Beck said he thought the professor was trying to make a point on day one:

So I said that I believe this guy is either insane or because I know what quantum mechanics is, it sounds like the ramblings of the insane.  What he's doing is he's doing his speech completely undressed.  He's only wearing boxer shorts and he's doing it because somewhere he's giving a boring lecture.  He's doing all of these things that don't seem to make any sense at all because somewhere in the universe he does make sense.  So he's either nuts or he is trying to engage and make a point right away that what you're about to see makes no sense.  And he's trying to demonstrate quantum mechanics on day number one.  Listen to what he says that nobody seems to pick up on now at the end of his rant.

He continued:

 I think, and this will come as a surprise.  If you don't really read the story or if you don't understand quantum mechanics ‑‑ and I barely do ‑‑ I can't believe I'm depending a professor that is stripped down to his underwear at an Ivy League university but I believe this guy may be genius in his approach.  Trying to get people to understand the insane in today's world with the way colleges are now and the way college students are now, this may have been the best approach to get their attention.  I completely ‑‑ and I can't believe I'm saying this because I don't support very many people on college campuses in their teachings, especially when they're in their underpants.  But from what I know and what I think happened here, I think the guy's a genius and I think based on what I know, I support him.  This is a teacher or a professor that is thinking out of the box, which exactly you have to do.  But he is thinking out of the box and I think he's remarkable.  And brave.  Because somebody looking in from the outside, they're not going to understand it.

Confused? Watch Beck explain it below:

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(H/T: Gawker)