As the son of an eccentric college teacher myself, there are few things I like better than a crazy professor story. In the past, we’ve covered everything from Northwestern’s infamous f*cksaw demonstration to the guy suing James Franco for being a bully. Today, we have a story out of Columbia (me and Franco’s grad school alma mater, in case I haven’t mentioned that 12 thousand times already), where physics teacher Emlyn Hughes “stripped down to his underwear in front of images of 9/11 and Hitler,” during his class for first-year undergrads (with video, below). Your move, Professor Franco.

As first-year students filed into the lecture hall for their Frontiers of Science class, all of the lights were off, except for two spotlights on stage where Hughes was sitting. With Lil Wayne’s “Drop It Like It’s Hot” playing in the background, Hughes stripped down to his underwear, then proceeded to change into a black T-shirt and pants. Afterwards, he sat down on the chair, hugging his knees in a fetal position.

Then, as a jumbled video that included footage of the planes crashing into the Twin Towers on 9/11 continued to play on the screen, two figures dressed in black came on stage with long swords. One of them proceeded to chop a stuffed animal in half on a stool.

The video on screen also showed footage of Osama Bin Laden and battles from World War II.

After the episode, students said that Hughes began teaching the rest of the lecture on quantum mechanics as though nothing had happened. He did, however, wear dark sunglasses and keep his hood up for the entire lecture. [ColumbiaSpectator]

I like to imagine that  Professor Hughes came up with this lesson plan only after a long soul-searching session in front of the bathroom mirror, in which he repeatedly slammed his palms on the counter, screaming “HOW CAN I REACH THESE KEEDS!”

After the music stopped, Hughes told the students, “In order to learn quantum mechanics, you have to strip to your raw, erase all the garbage from your brain, and start over again.” [HuffPo]

Ooohhh, I get it now. And who better to “erase all the garbage” than Hitler, right? Wait, let me start over…

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Remember A Beautiful Mind? That movie where Russell Crowe played a schizophrenic math professor who triumphantly overcame his paranoid delusions to bang Jennifer Connelly? Well, it turns out that the real-life version involves more meth, and more stripping butt naked during class and getting arrested. See, that’s the kind of schizophrenia most of us are used to. (Yes, I know A Beautiful Mind was already based on a true story, shut up).

A Michigan State University professor was taken into protective custody after students say he went on a naked rampage in the middle of class.
“My math teacher just stripped naked during class and was arrested! Go MSU!” one student wrote on Reddit, posting a blurry cell phone snap of a nude man sitting in the school hallway.
Students identified the professor on social media as John McCarthy, but the university wouldn’t confirm the man’s identity.
Police got a call Monday afternoon “about a man in the Michigan State University Engineering Building shouting in the hallway,” according to a statement posted on MSU’s website.
Students described the man as an “eccentric” mathematics professor who “smoked meth” and never seemed quite right.

So smoking meth is considered “eccentric.” God, I miss college.

“Halfway through class he started screaming at us, swearing left and right,” one student wrote on Reddit. “He then started slamming his hands on the window and pressing his face against it, still screaming. Eventually he walked out and down the hallway to the end, all while screaming. He then then came back into the classroom and took off his clothes, except for his socks.”

Those poor kids, damn teacher pulled a Richie Tenenbaum on them! Needle in the Haaaaaay….

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