Arizona Professor Finds Time to Show QAnon Video While Explaining Syllabus
Douglas Belmore, an adjunct English professor at Mesa Community College in Arizona, showed a 14-minute QAnon conspiracy video in at least two classes, according to multiple students. The Phoenix New Times, after speaking to at least four students who would only speak anonymously, approached Belmore for comment. Belmore told the alt-weekly: “I think I only have one response to give you. It’s a question and it’s three words. Who is Q?”
Belmore repeatedly asked the reporter “Who is Q?” and said he would be telling campus security about the alt-weekly’s questions.
How did QAnon become relevant to college students? Apparently it’s all in the syllabus. Belmore was discussing his syllabus when he brought up QAnon. “Afterwards, [Belmore] just kept talking about how there are a bunch of criminals and they’re going to get caught now that Trump is the president. Belmore believes that Q is actually JFK Jr., and he just faked his death,” the student told the New Times.
A different student from a different class said Belmore showed the video while stating that Kennedy is alive. “He was just babbling, basically. He just brought it up out of nowhere,” the student told the New Times.
The use of QAnon in the classroom didn’t bother most students, but still had mixed reviews, according to the alt-weekly’s reporting. “It’s a chill class because he goes over the quizzes with us. It’s weird though, because you have politics being spouted at you for an hour instead of being taught actual English stuff,” the student said told the New Times.
Mesa Community College spokesperson Dawn Zimmer said the college has been contacted. “We found out about it this morning and are taking proper actions. We’re contacting our leadership so they can contact him,” Zimmer told the New Times.
Honestly, it gets even weirder though! There’s a YouTube channel under Douglas Belmore’s name that has a lot of QAnon videos, music and memes, including music he recorded himself! Unclear if these are the same videos shown in the classroom. How did the New Times connect Belmore to this YouTube channel, you ask? The “about” page has links to Belmore’s Rate My Professor pages.
Belmore’s ratings at Paradise Valley Community College and Pima Community College — community colleges serving the Phoenix metroplex and Tucson, respectively — are rather high. However, the ratings from his time at Mesa Community College are low, a 1.7 average of the site’s 5. Students on the site repeatedly describe Belmore as passionate, but prone to unrelated tangents. I can’t help but be curious about the subjects of those tangents.