Turning your professor into a viral meme does not come without its consequences.
A South Dakota State University professor delivered the ultimate clap-back yesterday after discovering that his student’s tweet had gone viral — and it happened to be all about him.
“Is it still okay for me to take my final tomorrow at 12?” Kade Walker e-mailed his professor, Dr. Wiltse, late last week. His professor responded with a simple “whatever,” devoid of punctuation or formality, and the laughably terse nature of the reply has caught the internet’s attention. When Kade tweeted the exchange on Thursday (December 7), it promptly went viral.
“High school: College is no joke, your instructors are very serious and you have to always be professional and respectful. College…” Kade captioned his tweet, which racked up 150,000 likes and 40,000 retweets in two days.
Dr. Wiltse was not about to take this lying down. “TFW your words go viral, and your punk student doesn’t cite his source,” he quote-tweeted Kade a day later, garnering even more retweets than his student.
Of course, Kade’s professor isn’t actually angry, and as Teen Vogue noticed, he even corrected one user by saying that he’s “a favorite, actually.” He told another user that he is “apathetic out of affection.”
Tag your professor next time, Mr. Walker. It’s only polite.