John Peng Zhang, a business school lecturer at the University of Miami, officially resigned this week after accidentally revealing a porn bookmark on the browser he was sharing with students during a zoom class last month.
According to the student newspaper, The Miami Hurricane, Zhang had been sharing his screen in a business analytics class on Zoom with his students on March 26th when students noticed the lecturer had bookmarked a page entitled, “Bust college girl fu…”
A student who had left his microphone on during class noticed the bookmarked tab and read it out for the whole class to hear. Immediately, much of the class took notice and began to take photos and videos that were shared and uploaded onto various social media posts.
By the end of the class session, videos and photos capturing the incident went viral. In particular, an 8-second TikTok video which zoomed in on Zhang as he talked and panned towards the porn bookmark blew up. According to The Miami Hurricane, the original TikTok video accumulated over 800,000 views in a few hours.
The clip, which now has been deleted also showed the Miami.edu URL in the browser, officially connecting the video with the institution. Ethan Hartz told the student newspaper that he “had friends sharing it with me from other schools who saw it.”
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In the following class, Zhang addressed the incident and said he did not know how it happened. The Miami Hurricane reported that the Professor allegedly “didn’t see it” and instead apologized to everyone in the class that did.
Soon after, Zhang allegedly sent out an email to his students saying he was “investigating” the matter and encouraged students not to share images of the link. However, after running one to two more classes, Zhang was no where to be found.
Daily Mail reported that the Business Analytics Department Chair, Robert Plant, informed former students of Zhang that his classes were cancelled. Days later, students were emailed that a new instructor was to substitute Chang for the remaining sessions.
A university spokeswoman confirmed to NBC News that Zhang was no longer with the school as of April 30th. According to a school statement the University of Miami pledged to “aggressively investigate all complaints of inappropriate behavior or sexual harassment.” The New York Post reported the university has declined to speak to the press.
Right after Zhang officially resigned from his teaching position, students who took part in uploading videos of Zhang’s bookmark realized the gravity of the situation. What started off as a practical joke had cost Zhang’s livelihood.
Jade Johnson told The Miami Hurricane, “I think firing him is a little extreme. He didn’t do anything illegal.”
The student who posted the viral TikTok video also said, “I felt bad about the attention it was getting. I didn’t want him to lose his job…I thought he would be fine..I felt really bad for him.”
That is why students launched a Change.org petition to call for Zhang’s reinstatement, according to NBC News. As the petition aims to garner 5,000 signatures, over 4,136 have signed in 3 days.
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