Exclusive video: UPD body-cam video shows alcohol-fueled end-of-year class party
July 29, 2019
“Spread it out. This is good stuff.”
It’s the first thing that can be heard in a police body-cam video that Spinnaker recently obtained of Dr. Brian Thornton’s end-of-the-year luau — a class party that came to a dramatic end.
The party in question occurred on April 18, at the end of the Spring semester. Police responded to a social media post made by one of the students in the class.
Multiple times throughout the body-cam footage, Dr. Thornton claims to have not known the students were planning to bring alcohol.
“They were supposed to just bring food,” Thornton can be heard saying at one point. At another, he tells UPD, “I didn’t tell them to bring it.”
In the video, police say a bottle of vodka and a 12-pack of beer were “outlying” when they entered the classroom to investigate. According to police on the body-cam, 14 students were in the classroom when the incident occurred.
“You’re looking at the kids and they’re drinking beer right in front of you while you play the guitar,” an officer can be heard saying to the professor. “I mean, I could ask them: ‘hey, did you say this was sanctioned?’ But because you didn’t do anything, that’s pretty much giving the okay to do it.”
When reached for comment, Dr. Brian Thornton was unavailable.
No police report was filed, but an incident report with Student Conduct was made. Dr. Thornton is not listed to teach in the Communication department for the upcoming Fall 2019 semester. As of right now, he is listed to teach classes again in Spring 2020.
The University has not yet released an official statement as to whether or not Dr. Brian Thornton has been suspended. Spinnaker will update the story as more information emerges.
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Will • Aug 2, 2019 at 10:27 pm
Dr. Thornton is one of the best teachers in the communications department and he did that party for fellow students to get to know each other better and share ideas… he is a great guy… I hope UNF can give him plenty of fairness.. he’s never advocated the use of alcohol in classrooms ever and unfortunately social media can shatter someone’s life just for one incident… this is not who he is..
Kristina • Jul 31, 2019 at 6:46 am
Dr. Thornton’s class was one of the only classes at UNF that I enjoyed — at the time, I didn’t even want to attend college. He was knowledgeable, made the content relatable and he made you feel like you were capable of so much. We had our own luau and no one was mindless enough to bring alcohol. I really hope they don’t fire him. He’s a gem at UNF.
Victoria Treiber • Jul 31, 2019 at 4:06 am
I remember looking forward to Dr. Thornton’s class each week. He’s kind and knowledgable. He applied his real-world journalistic experiences to help us students connect with the course material and it was extremely effective and interesting. Suspending or firing Dr. Thornton would be a disservice to the school and the students.
ArchBishopOfTheSeventhCircleOfHell • Jul 30, 2019 at 8:52 am
Ah, in this day and age it’s legal to rape the students with tuition fees but the”kids” who are actual adults cannot drink a beer on campus. I get it, there’s too much liability for the University. This is a non-issue though. Give everyone a “warning” and move on. No need to punish the professor who is treating the adults in his classroom as actual adults. In college, if there is no alcohol at a party then it’s not a party, it’s an obligation. Let’s not pretend otherwise.
– UNF Alumni Class of 2010
Courtney Stringfellow • Jul 29, 2019 at 4:09 pm
Dr. Thornton was one of the kindest professors I had throughout my time at UNF. Alcohol was strictly prohibited at our luau, a couple of years ago. I truly hope he doesn’t lose his job over this.