Spare the Rod, Spoil the Tech Student

Students may have witnessed TTUHSC professor surfing for sexual material
By James Clark and and Katie Bauer/KCBD Lubbock

LUBBOCK, TX (KCBD) - A Texas Tech professor is under fire for what reportedly happened during a class this week.

Sources tell KCBD NewsChannel 11 that 50-year-old Texas Tech Health Sciences Professor Rod Hicks was instructing students this week from Austin via teleconference. We're told that when the class ended, he left the video feed open. This is when students on the other side of the feed saw hicks surfing for sexual material.

In 2008, Hicks was presented the UMC Endowed Chair for patient safety. According to his Texas Tech staff listing, he also specializes in pediatrics.

We've learned through an open records request that Hicks was removed Thursday from his professorship of the endowed chair.

As of Friday afternoon, federal records do not show criminal charges of any kind but it is our understanding he may face civil and administrative penalties.

We're told Texas Tech police are investigating this, but that no crime reports are available at this time.

The Texas Tech Health Sciences Center released this statement, "This is a personnel matter and the Texas Tech Health Sciences Center is unable to discuss details at this time."

KCBD NewsChannel 11 has confirmed from more than one source that TTUHSC asked Dr. Hicks to come home from Austin yesterday without telling him why. But instead of coming home when planned he took a different flight. Our sources say the university was unable to locate him Friday.

KCBD NewsChannel 11 called Hicks' cell phone at 6:45 pm and the person who answered said Dr. Hicks was not available.

We also sent a message to his university email which came back with an error message that the mailbox could no longer accept messages.

Boy this Professor Hicks must have had a hankering for some porn if he couldn't even wait long enough for the students to get out of the room before he was surfing for smut. I kind of live in a glass house on this issue so I shouldn't throw rocks but I would have have been a little more careful about surfing porn right after a video chat. Of course, I'm a big believer in Murphy's Law so I just generally assume that if I tried to watch porn after a video chat some students would see my junk.

But let's not be too hard on (no pun intended) Professor Hicks. People make mistakes and I'm sure whatever these kids saw isn't half as bad as what they've seen on Chat Roulette or what they plan on doing after the bar tonight. I think Hicks should get a slap on the wrist (just not his right one) and a new nickname - the Bust A Nutty Professor. Sinner.