Professor Anastase Mastoras teaching a database management systems class. (Courtesy of an anonymous student in class.)
The professor who kicked a student out of class for arriving late, triggering a small revolt in his classroom, says he has now received an apology from the student — but he’s not accepting it.
Prof. Anastase Mastoras told The Ryersonian Friday after his class: “The guy apologized in front of 80 people. But the apology was not accepted.”
A longtime professor in the computer science department, he seemed to suggest that the damage done by the incident and its fallout couldn’t be undone by the apology.
“If you break a plate and you say, ‘I’m sorry,’ the plate is not going to be a plate anymore,” he said, but declined to discuss the issue at length.
The student reportedly only comes to class occasionally since the incident.
“He only comes sometimes now,” said a student in the class who wishes to remain anonymous. “He said he was sorry for disrupting the class.”
On Oct. 28, Mastoras claimed a student was disrupting his database management systems lecture by arriving late and asked him to leave.
The student left, but returned, saying that he paid for the class and should be allowed to stay.
The professor then called campus security to have the student removed. But the student, along with many others, left in protest before security arrived.
A formal complaint letter and petition against Mastoras was filed by the Ryerson Computer Science Course Union. Imogen Coe, dean of science, said she was aware of the complaint on Monday.
This is not the first time that Mastoras has had issues with students. In 2003, The Eyeopener reported that the “popular professor” stopped teaching some of his classes after a “cheating scandal.”
Mastoras accused a group of students of cheating on their final projects, The Eyeopener reported, but the students were able to appeal this by claiming that the course “was poorly taught.” A petition against Mastoras was allegedly started by the accused students, but it’s unclear how many students signed it.
Some students who spoke to The Eyeopener 11 years ago called Mastoras “a terrible teacher.” But others said he was a passionate teacher much liked by other students.
Pema was a reporter for The Ryersonian. She was formerly at The Peterborough Examiner.
Pema graduated from the Ryerson School of Journalism in 2015.
