Kansas Debate Coach Loses Cool, Moons Room

A YouTube video of a Kansas professor mooning a room full of students and faculty during a debate has led to two university investigations.

The video shows Fort Hays State University debate coach William Shanahan in a profane, in-your-face argument with his counterpart from the University of Pittsburgh, Shanara Reid-Brinkley. The exchange took place in March at a competitive debate at Emory University in Atlanta.

The video shows Shanahan explode into a feral, expletive-laced tirade. The debate coach was caught on tape jumping around and gesticulating wildly before bending over and pulling down his khaki shorts, exposing his underwear. The tape was posted on YouTube Aug. 2 and had over 88,000 views by Thursday.

In the video, Reid-Brinkley criticized Shanahan for his body language while the students were debating. Shanahan protested throughout the fight that he had a right to be involved in the course of debates.

"Sometimes people care so much that it bubbles over," Shanahan said in the video. "I'm not ashamed of my behavior... I'm not backing down."

Fort Hays academic officer Larry Gould said Reid-Brinkley accused the Fort Hays team of dropping her as a judge because she is black. Gould said the school is also investigating the "racial element" to the episode.