A white professor allegedly called campus security on a Black student outside her office as the student listened to a lecture on her laptop at the University of Dallas.
A video is circulating on TikTok of associate professor of history and Chair of the Department of History at the university Susan Hanssen, recording the student while she was seated at a table listening to a lecture. Hanssen was seemingly upset by the volume on the student’s laptop.
The student, who uses the TikTok handle @coritoocutee, recorded Hanssen as she pranced in front of the student several times while recording her with her cellphone, capturing the student at every possible angle. Hanssen allegedly called campus security to throw the student out before the video took place, but they declined, according to the student.
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The video was captioned, “Pov: a professor harasses you for listening to a lecture because she doesn’t wanna close her door.” Another caption reads, “Why did this lady call campus security before this video and had a tantrum bc they couldnt escort me out ???? chilee and the sound was only on 25 until she got crazy so it went to a 100 idc!”
Another white professor seated nearby eventually stepped in, and Hanssen was told to go back into her office. Cori shared another video with TikTok user Jay Megan and said that the other professor told her that the volume on her laptop was not disruptive to him.
Megan shared additional videos claiming that the female professor was the daughter of Robert Hanssen, the FBI agent who was arrested for being a Russian mole back in 2001 and is the subject of the movie “Breach” with Ryan Phillippe and Chris Cooper.
According to The New York Times, Robert Hanssen was sentenced to life in prison after he was convicted of sharing secrets with Moscow for decades. The mole reportedly gave the Russians the identities of three KGB informants, which resulted in their execution. His story was made into a feature film back in 2007. Hanssen died in June at the age of 79 in prison.
Professor Hanssen matches the profile of one of Robert Hanssen’s daughters, Sue, who attended Oakcrest School for girls in Vienna, Virginia. The professor graduated from Oakcrest in 1992, according to the school’s alumnae page.
She has a 4.3 out of 5 rating on Rate My Professor.
While most viewers of Cori’s video chastised the student for not using headphones, others believe that the professor overreacted.
“Hold on now. she may have overreacted but, pretty common courtesy in public spaces to use headphones. Been like that since they were invented,” wrote one viewer.
“Why are the seats outside the offices like that? why doesn’t she close the door?” asked another viewer.
“If it’s a space that is a ‘collaborative’ space & she had it low she is 100% allowed to play it out loud as you can hear louder background noises,” wrote one TikToker user.
However, TikToker Jay Megan believes the teacher’s reaction was motivated by race.
“Let’s face it, we can tell that this was actually about the race of the young woman when her phone was shaking as she was recording her,” Megan said.
According to Cori, the incident happened in April, and after she reported the professor, the school moved the tables where the student was sitting from the side of the building where Hanssen’s office is located.