UW-Madison Professor Called Robert F. Kennedy Jr. a "Moron" During Lecture

"He's a moron. That's not a political thing, that's a fact," Timothy Paustian said

A University of Wisconsin-Madison professor told students during a lecture on Friday that "we have a psychopath that’s going to be the head of Health and Human Services in RFK Jr. He’s against vaccines. He's a moron. That's not a political thing, that's a fact."

Timothy Paustian, a bacteriology professor at UW-Madison, harshly criticized HHS Secretary nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. while teaching his Microbial Sciences 1220 class.

“I am concerned that if we do have a pandemic with him in charge, he's going to be talking about crystals and meditation.”

He then told students to "ignore people like that" and told them to educate their “friends and family" about the dangers of Kennedy being HHS Secretary.

Paustian told Wisconsin radio host Dan O’Donnell, "It was a joke. I probably should not have said it. But I am concerned about HHS stance if we do have a pandemic."

He continued, “I will be formally apologizing in class today for that joke. It was in poor taste. If you would like a recording of that, I can send it to you.”

Paustian has a long history of donating to the Democratic Party of Wisconsin and ActBlue, a Democratic campaign fundraising platform.

John Lucas, a spokesman for the university, told The Madison Federalist, “During a Dec. 6 meeting of a microbiology class, Teaching Professor Timothy Paustian shared expertise and views related to the federal response to pandemics and outbreaks.”

“The discussion of the topic was directly related to the course material and he stands by his views of the subject, which are based on his expertise in bacteriology and immunology. However, Professor Paustian says that his characterization of prospective federal appointees was unnecessary and inappropriate.”

He continued, “Professor Paustian shared an apology for his comments with his students during a Dec. 9 meeting of his class.”

The College Republicans of UW-Madison told The Madison Federalist that, “It is inappropriate for a professor at a public university to make controversial political comments in his class. Unfortunately, this is a common phenomenon at UW-Madison.”

U.S. Representative Bryan Steil tweeted, “We should be teaching students how to think, not what to think” in reaction to the video. Representative Tom Tiffany tweeted, “Professors should keep their own political views OUT of the classroom. After spending thousands of dollars to be there, students deserve a better educational standard.”

Podcast host Megyn Kelly tweeted, “The arrogance.”

State Senator Julian Bradley said, “The UW system just asked for $855M from the taxpayers and there's a lot of heartburn in the Capitol and in communities all over the state because of examples just like this. That's not a political thing, that's a fact. Not joking.”

Yale University professor Benjamin Bikman said, “I just don't understand the need that some professors have to do this. As a professor of cell biology, my priority each day is to simply teach the topic. They're not paying tuition to hear my thoughts on anything else.”

This is a developing story and will updated as necessary.