'Nikolas, if you’d like to teach the class, let me know. Otherwise, I’m going to need you to stop interrupting every 5 minutes': 22-year-old student constantly interrupts his professor's lectures, complains to the department when she finally calls him out

Author image for Emmy Pratt
Emmy Pratt • Writer and Editor
May 15, 2025 8:00 AM EDT

If you've ever taken a humanities class in college, you know That Guy. That Guy could be any person of any gender, but one thing is very clear: they are incredibly annoying. They always think that their opinion is of the utmost importance, chiming in whenever they can about anything that comes to mind. It is apparent with many of The Guys that they didn't even bother to do the readings, nor are they particularly interested in what the professor is saying. They just love listening to the sound of their voice, and that is truly enough for some people. 

It's rare that a professor is willing to call out such a student, especially if they're just incompetent instead of actually disruptive. There is a fine, fine line between a student who's too eager a beaver and one who totally brings down the energy in the room, ruining other people's experience. 

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  • 01

    AITAH for embarrassing a student during lecture after he kept interrupting me?

    So I 33F am a lecturer at a university I've been teaching in my department for almost seven years I love what I do and I take my job seriously I'm not the strict professor but I do expect respect. This semester I have a student let's call him Nikolas he's 22 and thinks he knows literally everything from day one he's
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  • The student in this story is bad news. He's constantly undermining his professor in front of the whole class, interrupting lectures at totally inopportune times. When his professor finally gave him a taste of his own medicine, he went crying to the department chair about how she embarrassed him.

  • 02
    Today is wednesd
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  • 03
    been interrupting my lectures correcting me mid sentence pushing back on things in a way that isn't discussion it's just disrespect. At first I let it slide I thought maybe he was just awkward or nervous but it kept happening and it started affecting the whole class he'd roll his eyes when I answered questions and once when I cited a study he
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  • 04
    literally said well that's debatable out loud in front of everyone. So last week I'm giving a lecture and he cuts me off again trying to argue some point that wasn't even relevant and I just snapped I said Nikolas if you'd like to teach the class please let me know otherwise I'm going to need you to stop interrupting every five minutes because this isn't a
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    Toda dnesday 17
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  • 06
    podcast..he went red and didn't say another word for the rest of the session. Now here's the thing he filed a formal complaint with the department said I humiliated him in front of his peers and created a hostile learning environment and now my chair wants to meet with me...I honestly don't think I was wrong I'd warned him I'd tried to redirect
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  • 07
    him I was just done. Now don't know what to think anymore.. So AITAH for embarrassing him?
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  • 09
    Darien_Tyne NTA I had a teacher who did this all the time to students and everyone loved her
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  • 10
    VisibleDepth 1231 Yeah when I was at uni there was a girl in several of my classes who was always interrupting and 'correcting' the professors. Drove me crazy. I'm paying an astronomical amount of money to be in this class and your ego is so huge you think it's your voice I want to hear. OP you did the right thing by your other students and I'm sure they appreciated it. Constant interruptions like that aren't just disrespectful to you but to everyone else who has invested time and money because
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  • 11
    Disastrous_Art_1975 NTA as long as you actually have told him previously to stop. He was being disrespectful it sounds like, often. So he needed a firmer rebuff
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  • 12
    _taliyah_OP Exactly I tried being patient and redirecting him, but it was affecting the whole class. It was about setting a boundary
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  • 13
    MedicJambi And instead of finding the maturity he was lacking he went and ran to file a complaint because his feelings were hurt and his obviously superior intellect wasn't recognized(/s)
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  • 14
    zenithica Imao he sounds like a guy in my class first year at uni. so arrogant and always had something to say. had a complete meltdown one day and complained to the head of subject, saying he hated everyone in the class and the lecturers bc he was so much smarter than everyone. i think his highest grade for any of his submissions in the class was a low C on generous grading and everyone absolutely hated him haha
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  • 15
    Gore01976 i had this type of thing in the early 90's as a student. Others would be disrupting a class and the teachers had called it out the same way. there was nothing about a complaint or that. The kids of today are too weak with their feelings
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  • 16
    Left-Entertainer-279 Don't forget that when you have that meeting with the chair. If I'd been a student in that class his constant interruptions and asides would be detracting from my learning, and I paid for those lectures too!
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  • 17
    Have you discussed with any other faculty I'd they have him in their class? I expect if he's doing this to you, he's doing this to them as well and if you come as a united front then one would hope the chair would instead had a discussion about appropriate higher learning behaviors with him.
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  • 18
    Valnaire It'd be especially damning if this was an issue that was only present in the classes with female professors.
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  • 19
    Newknees-147 The obnoxious was being a bu y and trying to embarrass the instructor. If he's going to act like a 10 year old j, he needs to be treated like one. In my opinion, you treated him better than he deserved.
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  • 20
    Atillythehunhun Assuming your other students don't hate you this should be a non issue. You have a room full of witnesses and you merely reprimanded his bad behavior. It's standard for the chair to need to get your side after a formal complaint is filed so don't stress about that
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  • 21
    _taliyah_OP That's a good point..my other students haven't said anything negative, so I'm hoping that helps. I'm trying not to stress about the meeting, just want to make sure everything's clear
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  • 22
    Lifeacrobat If he was rolling his eyes when other students were asking questions, then HE was creating the hostile learning environment. And you other students is breathing a sigh of relief.
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  • 23
    Customisable_Salt The other students are probably grateful you have now nipped it in the bud. There was one student like this in my uni lectures and he aggravated everyone, it was a relief when he was finally told he needed to be quiet until questions were invited at the end of the lecture. I had another like this in tutorials, she was absolutely insufferable to work with and could have started a fight in an empty room with her own shadow. Everyone talked
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  • 24
    about what an egotistical pain she was to deal with and dreaded her inevitable aggressive interventions. Particularly because she was often confidently and belligerently incorrect. There is certainly a 'type' that does this. The other students will have been as unimpressed as you are. University is expensive, no one wants their time wasted. The meeting is very likely simply the university covering their by looking into it, they're more or less obliged to do so. Calmly lay out what happened and d
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  • 25
    shaylgarcia I'm curious if your department head will ask his other professors what he is like in their classes? You handled this brilliantly in my opinion. As a former teacher, I approve!!
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