Political commentator and former Teen Vogue columnist Lauren Duca — who taught a summer course on feminism and journalism at New York University — reportedly received a formal complaint from her students.

According to a BuzzFeed News profile which was published on Tuesday, the students from her six-week course alleged Duca cared more about selling copies of her new book than actually teaching, would “belittle” students, including one she allegedly singled out for not speaking English very well, and failed to read their submitted work.

“Nearly four weeks after the course ended […] her students sent a collective formal complaint to the heads of the NYU journalism school about Duca’s conduct,” BuzzFeed News reported, adding that five out of the ten students “had similar allegations against Duca and the class’s structure: that Duca didn’t follow her own syllabus, that she spoke often and inappropriately about her personal life, that she would belittle and yell at students, and, most pressingly, that she targeted one student in particular.”

The complaint read, “We are disappointed at the department and NYU for hiring a professor with more interest in promoting her book than teaching a group of students eager to learn… There was a consistent lack of professionalism that persisted throughout every aspect of the course… We are disappointed at the department and NYU as an institution for hiring a professor without a syllabus and classroom management skills. We are disappointed at the department and NYU for hiring a professor without a clear course objective.”

The students also accused Duca of disappearing “for 30 to 45 minutes per class to ‘meditate,’” an allegation which Duca at least partially admitted to. “It was a three-hour class and we took a break and I would meditate for 15 minutes and they would be gone getting snacks and stuff,” she told BuzzFeed.

“It’s frustrating to see as a student, as a young woman, see how somebody can so clearly take advantage of the system and capitalize on her supposed wokeness while not practicing what she’s writing about,” one student told BuzzFeed.

As an extra blow, the students ended their complaint with, “Sincerely, ‘The Feminist Journalist’ Class – Summer 2019.”

The students, who would only speak to BuzzFeed News on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals from Duca, described the summer course as a “waste of six weeks for all of us,” and claimed they were speaking out because they “don’t want anyone else to make this mistake again.”

In response to the complaint, Duca told BuzzFeed, “It’s okay if I’m not a great teacher because I’m great at lots of other things.”

Duca was catapulted into the public eye after a heated exchange with Fox News host Tucker Carlson on his show Tucker Carlson Tonight in 2016, during which Duca referred to Carlson as a “sexist pig.”

She also made the headlines in January 2017 after she successfully called on Twitter to suspend pharmaceuticals entrepreneur and provocateur Martin Shkreli, who is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence for securities fraud.

[Photo by Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images]

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