A Middle Tennessee University music professor apparently went off script during his guest lecture at Belmont University this week and played the song “F**k Donald Trump” over the loudspeaker.
Belmont, of course, is a Christian university.
Joseph Morgan was the MTSU professor in question.
Belmont spokesman Greg Pillon confirmed the incident in an emailed statement to The Tennessee Star.
“On Wednesday, an outside speaker appeared at Belmont University and shared content about politics and popular culture that was biased and disrespectful. Some of the content presented, including the presentation title which was different from what had been approved by university officials, was outside the lines of what was expected,” Pillon said.
“The university feels betrayed by the deception implicit in the actions of the guest speaker. Belmont University does not endorse the message that was delivered and also strongly objects to the obscene language that was used. We apologize to anyone who was offended as today’s event was not reflective of our Christian identity nor of our institutional commitment to civil political discourse.”
According to CampusReform.org, Belmont marketed the event as a music and discourse lecture titled “Popular Music and Presidential Politics.”
Morgan instead reportedly delivered a lecture titled “Popular Music and the Impending Tyranny of Donald Trump.”
Someone in the audience captured what happened on video. The video is available on YouTube.
“The video shows Morgan standing behind the podium as the music plays in the background. The only words that can be heard in the video are ‘hey, hey f**k Donald Trump,’” according to CampusReform.org
“However, students who spoke with Lone Conservative said the speaker also used the words, ‘p*ssy’ and ‘vagina.’”
MTSU spokesman Jimmy Hart told The Star Friday that Morgan’s lecture “covered previously published research by our faculty member, which was known by the Belmont professor prior to the event.”
“Some examples cited in the lecture included coarse lyrics and a discussion on whether such harsh language helped or hindered the intended message by the artists,” Hart said.
“Our faculty member assures us he did not share or advocate any personal political beliefs in the lecture.”
According to MTSU’s website, Morgan studied classical guitar and European history at the University of Pittsburgh where he earned a bachelor of arts. He earned his master’s degree at the University of Maryland, College Park.
From there, Morgan moved to Boston where he earned his Ph.D. in historical musicology from Brandeis University.
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Joseph Morgan” by Middle Tennessee State University. Background Photo “Joseph Morgan Speaking” by Lone Conservative.
[…] The Star reported last year, an MTSU music professor apparently went off script during his guest lecture at Belmont University […]
How is this taken out of context? Please explain!
Why am I not surprised at this? Academia at it’s ……….!
Disrespectful and Rude. Not sure how you can take such trash out of context – there is NO place for this in our schools.
Sad thing is he calls himself a man yet his conduct is more juvenile than a 13 year old. Then again, most 13 year olds are not this hard up for attention. My guess is that he isn’t very popular, maybe a bed wetter, or came from an abusive childhood. Maybe the product of a single parent raising, struggling from gender confusion, who knows. What we do know is that he needs psychiatric help and or a trip to the wood shed for the disciplinary measures that he obviously failed to receive as a child.
Should investigate the Belmont professor who issued the invite.
If I was the governor of TN, I would have him fired since he works for a state university!
I go to MTSU, he’s a good professor and a good person. This is being taken completely out of context.
There is NO EXCUSE for this type of filth no matter the person, the university. It certainly shows poor judgment on his part. This is offensive to so many and particularly in a Christian university.
Tell us how this could POSSIBLY be taken out of context?
Bovine excrement! Out of context indeed!!!!
How is blaring some F*ck Trump “song” over a loudspeaker taken completely out of context? Seriously??
Because he wasn’t there voicing an opinion. He was there giving a lecture on protest music and giving an example of the kind of music that helped embolden and impassion
Trump supporters during the election to push for his win evenmore. He was saying, Trump won the election because of music like this. He wasn’t saying it an angry or celebratory way. He was just stating a fact about what happened during the election. This article and whoever reported it, are doing nothing but spinning this story way out of context and trying to rile up conservatives.
I know Dr. Morgan better than everyone trying to display his head on a spike. You cannot make sound judgements by all of these clickbait articles that only want to further the narrative of an irreparably divided country. I have taken History of Western Art Music II, 17th/18th Century Music, 19th Century Music, 20th Century Music, an independent study on Richard Strauss, an independent study on Debussy, an independent study on History of Film Music, and a brief bookclub on Minimalism and Post-Minimalism. I know how he is as a professor, and I highly doubt his presentation was unforgivably terrible. This presentation was give at MTSU last year. I SAW this presentation. It was NOT “biased and disrespectful.” Having seen this presentation, I can honestly say that the video and these articles take the overall message of the presentation out of context. This song was only referenced. The video was not the message of the presentation. I could keep going on the topic of the content of his presentation, but I have other things to say. First of all, it was someone’s job to invite Dr. Morgan to speak on this. It was someone’s job to approve of the overall message. I find it hard to believe someone read solely the title they CLAIMED they received and thought to themselves “seems good to me!” Why would you only read the title? Pretty bold for UNIVERSITIES to preach reading everything and reading between the lines, yet they only read the title. By the level of backpedaling, either the university is openly admitting they pulled the biggest faux pas of academia or someone at Belmont approved the content. There is no way he could possibly change the entirety of the content from the time of approval to the time of presentation. I can almost guarantee that the Belmont faculty in charge of this were fully aware of the message and are now trying to save their butts. Also, Dr. Morgan co-edited a book titled “Tyranny and Music.” What else could you expect when his presentation title allegedly had the words “Presidential Politics” in it? Secondly, NO ONE at MTSU giggled during Dr. Morgan’s presentation. People were taking notes, and there was discussion. IMPORTANT: As adults, we should all be mature enough to filter information whether or not we agree and whether or not information is biased. We are not in middle school anymore. We should have analytical chops and a certain level maturity at this point. At university, we should be allowed access to all kinds of information and opinions. We should not be sheltered from things happening in real life. Actively being ignorant to the world around us speaks volumes on our personal maturity. Not being allowed access to knowledge is cruel. Third of all, his presentation, specifically, was NOT mandatory.