A White professor at the University of Dallas allegedly called security on a Black student for listening to a lecture on her laptop without using headphones.
Susan Hanssen, who is an Associate Professor of History and Chair of the Department of History, proceeded to film the student after calling campus security.
Hanssen seemed to be upset by the audio volume outside of her office.
The student, Cori–who goes by @coritoocutee on TikTok–filmed Hanssen filming her and shared the clip with the following overlaid text.
“Pov: a professor harasses you for listening to a lecture because she doesn’t wanna close her door.”
Cori posted the video of her being filmed and captioned it with:
“Why did this lady call campus security before this video and had a tantrum bc they couldnt escort me out ????"
"Chilee and the sound was only on 25 until she got crazy so it went to a 100 idc!”
In the video, Cori told Hanssen during their filming showdown:
"We can do this all day. And I'll turn [the volume] up to 100."
Here is Cori's TikTok video of her being filmed by Hanssen.
The clip ended with a White man in a dark orange sweater approaching Hanssen.
According to Yahoo News, he was another professor who advised Hanssen to go back to her office.
Cori posted a follow-up video explaining what happened when her class was suddenly canceled that day back in April.
She said she found a spot to study on campus instead of going all the way back to her dorm since she had class in the next 45 minutes or so.
Her interaction with the professor was civil at first when she approached Cori and said the video was loud.
Cori apologized and turned down the volume. But things didn't end there.
Ten minutes later, Hanssen reemerged from her office and told her:
"Yeah, I could still hear your video. Do you have headphones or can you just leave?"
Cori explained to Hanssen she didn't have headphones and was not leaving.
"After that, it took a turn because you could tell nobody tells her 'no,'" said Cori.
"She started acting out of character and yelling."
"I sat there until she started recording me from the inside of her office."
When campus security showed up, Cori said she told them she was disappointed they were responding to the call since she wasn't doing anything illegal.
Cori said the security officer eventually left after explaining to Hanssen there was nothing they could do.
That was the moment Hanssen stepped out of her office and started filming Cori from various angles.
Cori continued:
"I started recording her because it was for my protection, 1, and 2, I knew that all she wanted me to do was react...leading to the stereotype that Black people already have."
She admitted she was being "petty" by reacting to the confrontation by turning up the volume.
She also said the nice man at the end of the video stepped in and told Hanssen to go back into her office, which she did.
When Cori asked him if she was being disruptive with the lecture video, he allegedly told her he wasn't bothered by the video.
"He told me he could hear a video going but he couldn't hear the content of the video," said Cori.
"I rest my case."
Some TikTokers agreed Hanssen overreacted by filming the interaction.
@coritoocutee/TikTok
@coritoocutee/TikTok
@coritoocutee/TikTok
@coritoocutee/TikTok
Others pointed out that this could have all been avoided with a simple solution.
@coritoocutee/TikTok
@coritoocutee/TikTok
@coritoocutee/TikTok
@coritoocutee/TikTok
Some users argued that Cori not using headphones wasn't a big deal.
@coritoocutee/TikTok
@coritoocutee/TikTok
And other TikTokers wondered why Hanssen didn't handle the situation differently.
@coritoocutee/TikTok
@coritoocutee/TikTok
Hanssen had informed Cori earlier that it was office hours for students to drop by, but Cori noted how not a single student stopped by the entire time she was there watching the video.
After Cori reported Hanssen for harassing her, the school responded by moving the tables where Cori had been sitting away from the professor's office.
@jaketapoer/Bluesky
@BillAckman/Twitter