Cliff Pinckard

Advance Ohio Media, Cleveland

CORAL GABLES, Florida — A business professor at the University of Miami resigned after students spotted a tab to a porn site on his computer screen as he taught an online course.

The Miami Hurricane, the student newspaper at the school, reports professor John Peng Zhang is no longer employed by the university after the incident, which occurred during a class on March 26. Students in the class spotted the tab to the site and began taking screen shots and videos, then shared them on social media, the Hurricane reports.

NBC News reports an official with the university confirmed Zhang has resigned but would not comment further. A statement released by the school said the university “aggressively investigates all complaints of inappropriate behavior or sexual harassment.”

According to the Hurricane, Zhang apologized to students during the next class, saying he didn’t notice the tab. He sent an email to students saying he was investigating what happened and asked that they not share images of the link online.

However, the damage was done. According to the Hurricane, a video of the incident posted by a student on TikTok received more than 800,000 views in just hours. The video has been deleted, but screenshots remain online.

Students from the class tell the Hurricane they initially thought what happened was funny, but they now feel badly for Zhang.

“I felt bad about the attention it was getting,” the student who posted the TikTok video tells the Hurricane. “I didn’t want him to lose his job. … I thought he would be fine. … I felt really bad for him.”

NBC News reports a petition has been started on Change.org calling for Zhang to be reinstated. Early Thursday morning, it had received more than 840 signatures, with a goal of 1,000.

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