Professor assaulted in classroom at Loyalist

One of the computer monitors damaged in the classroom altercation. Photo by Courtenay Modeste

By Bevan Hamilton and Courtenay Modeste

BELLEVILLE – First-year Art and Design students at Loyalist College were left in shock after an attack on one of their professors Tuesday afternoon.

QNetNews spoke to students Lydia Lambert and Gina McCambridge, who said they were sitting just inches from where the incident occurred.

According to Lambert, the professor was helping a student when another student jumped up and began attacking him without being provoked. It came out of nowhere, catching everyone by surprise, she said.

The student “threw him over the desk and began beating him up. All of a sudden (the student) just got up and walked away as the teacher yelled, ‘What did I do?’,” Lambert said.

Belleville Police were called to the college around 1:30 p.m. and made an arrest. The police reported Wednesday morning that David Jock, 21, of Tyendinaga, has been charged with assault and mischief to property. He is to appear in court on the charges on Nov. 6.

The police report said that the professor suffered minor injuries.

Two computers were damaged during the altercation, including the computer Lambert was sitting at.

McCambridge said Kathleen Bazkur, Loyalist’s acting dean of the School of Media, Arts and Design, as well as two college counsellors, came to the class after the incident and addressed the students to help them deal with their responses to the outburst.

Bazkur told QNet News in an email Tuesday evening that she could not comment on the incident because it was in police hands, referring queries to Deputy Police Chief Paul VandeGraaf. In a brief interview this afternoon, VandeGraaf said he had no information to add to the earlier news release by his department.