By Dylan Freeman-Grist
“You can’t just take a shit in front of me and walk away,” Steven Solomon, a professor at the school of Social Work at Ryerson, said to his first year sociology class.
It was a point of hilarity in one of his lectures and it quickly spread online when it was posted on the Facebook page, Stuff Ryerson Professors Say.
The page, created on Oct. 10, accepts submissions from students and publishes the colourful quotes of professors during their lessons.
For Solomon, his online fame followed the retelling of a story that included a former social worker and an old case. At the beginning of a shift, his client dumped a surprising and potentially life-threatening revelation on his desk, who then dove into secrecy and avoided all of Solomon’s follow-up questions.Solomon shared his frustration of the situation to his class, which responded with laughter — and a submission post to the Facebook group.
“I absolutely remember that quote,” said Solomon. “From what I’ve read so far, I thought some of the [quotes] were quite witty.”
Since it started, the page has gathered a following and garnered over 1,500 likes from across campus and has published over 200 quotes from professors.
The founder and administrator of the page, who agreed to speak to The Eyeopener anonymously, said that university can be stressful but it could be fun too.
“I think it’s just something small to make the students’ day a little more amusing,” said the founder.
The inspiration for the idea came from the University of Waterloo’s Facebook page, which has been running for a year now and serves a similar purpose.
“On the digital realm, there is lots of trouble to be had too – once something goes on the internet, it never goes away,” Solomon said. “I think there is a few different perspectives to take on this page.”
The page’s description notes states that it exists solely for fun and not to belittle or defame professors. If a quote is potentially controversial, anonymity is promised for the professor.
The founder said noted that the page receives roughly two submissions per day and that it will remain running as long as there’s a demand.
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