Scenario: Columbia architecture professor and the production manager from the school theater department are in a heated discussion on race in a Harlem bar. Professor takes exception with something production manager says. Prof mollywhops production manager. Prof is black, production manager is white. Prof is male, production manager is female. Cue the NY Post:
"Police busted Lionel McIntyre, 59, for assault yesterday after his bruised victim, Camille Davis, filed charges.
McIntyre and Davis, who works as a production manager in the school's theater department, are both regulars at Toast, a popular university bar on Broadway and 125th Street, sources said.
The professor, who is black, had been engaged in a fiery discussion about "white privilege" with Davis, who is white, and another male regular, who is also white, Friday night at 10:30 when fists started flying, patrons said.
…
"The punch was so loud, the kitchen workers in the back heard it over all the noise," bar back Richie Velez, 28, told The Post. "I was on my way over when he punched Camille and she fell on top of me."
The other patron involved in the dispute said McIntyre then took a swing at him after he yelled, "You don't hit a woman!"
"He knocked the glasses right off my face," said the man, who would only give his first name as "Shannon." "The punch came out of nowhere. Mac was talking to us about white privilege and what I was doing about it — apparently I wasn't doing enough."
McIntyre had squabbled with Davis several weeks earlier over issues involving race, witnesses said. As soon as the professor threw the punch Friday, server Rob Dalton and another employee tossed him out.
"It was a real sucker punch," Dalton said. 'Camille's a great lady, always nice to everybody, and doesn't deserve anything like this.'"
Get the full scoop from NYPost.com
Uh, professor? Race relations and white privilege are definitely topics that can get The Buzz worked into a lather but…you can't punch women in the face.