Cardiff lecturer who called students ‘idiots’ sacked as extenuating circumstances head

The Cardiff University biosciences lecturer who accidentally uploaded a video calling students “idiots” and saying they were “ridiculous” for wanting a safety net policy has been sacked from her role as the head of extenuating circumstances for the course, The Cardiff Tab can reveal.

An email sent out to Cardiff University bioscience students detailed “changes to staff in Key Teaching roles”, including a new UG Extenuating Circumstances Group Chair.

Several staff changes were announced, but the extenuating circumstances role, once belonging to Dr Helen McCarthy, was the only change that is listed to take place “immediately”.

It has since been revealed that she was asked to stand down from her position so that Cardiff students could still have “confidence” in the procedure.

McCarthy came under heavy fire after her comments about students during a video that was mistakenly uploaded to Learning Central. In the video, the lecturer refers to students as “idiots” and mocks them for seeking a safety net policy.

A spokesperson for Cardiff University told The Cardiff Tab: “In light of the incident, Dr McCarthy was asked to stand down by the Head of School as Chair of the School’s undergraduate Extenuating Circumstances Committee, as we recognise the importance of retaining student confidence in that procedure.

“Dr McCarthy is no longer involved in extenuating circumstances considerations.”

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