UNIVERSITY

Inside a bubbly room, everyone trains their eyes on the lecturer as he walks over to the second-last row of seats. He is saying something, which is not clear amid the murmuring, but from what he does next, it is not pleasantries.

In a flash, he appears to smack one of the students twice, before motioning her to leave the room. The female student does not object and rises to walk out of a space of stunned students.

All this happens in under 15 seconds, the brief incident caught on camera by one of the people inside the seemingly filled lecture room - presumably a student.

It is not clear what led the lecturer to appear to slap the student in such a manner. It is also not known which specific class this was, the identity of the faculty member and student involved and the date it happened. The only shade of certainty is that the incident happened at Makerere University in Kampala.

The short grainy footage has since gone viral online and has drawn mixed reactions.

Now, the university's management has spoken out on the episode, saying Saturday that they are investigating the matter. Reacting to the incident, Makerere did not name the lecturer nor the student.

'Students should feel protected'

The university said it regretted the "altercation" that "resulted in the faculty assaulting a student".

"We firmly condemn the instructor's conduct because it goes against several university policies," said the university in a series of tweets.

"The conduct of the faculty is unacceptable and portrays an abuse of authority entrusted to him to nurture and guide students as they pursue knowledge at our great university".

Calling the episode "unfortunate", Makerere said students should "feel protected and guided by the academic staff they hold in high regard" and, therefore, they have "instituted processes that should lead us to take the necessary disciplinary action against the faculty".

In the statement, the university says it has reached out to the student and "shared our regret and promised to investigate this matter with utmost sincerity".

As the public waits for the university's next course of action, tweeters have continued to weigh in on the incident, with the reactions divisive.

One says the lecturer should be punished because "you can't just slap a grownup [sic] woman like that over misunderstandings".

"Why did the Makerere lecturer slaps the student," another appears to seek answers.

Another tweets: "For whatever reasons that I might not know, I don't think the lecturer slapped the student who was doing a right thing. I stand with the lecturer. We students are a problem and then we come to seek for social media sympathy."

Some tweeps chose to lighten the talk, with one quipping: "What if Makerere lecturer slapping a finalist was a movie trailer?"