At around 6:30 p.m. Thursday, paramedics and Florida A&M Police officers responded to a call that a teacher in Tucker Hall was suffering from a possible stroke.
Students leaving the building were distraught and surprised by the incident. According to them, halfway through their world history class, instructor Jean Deese nearly lost consciousness after momentarily losing his balance in the middle of a lesson. One student, Carrie Hopkinson, left Tucker Hall in tears.
“He’s always in pain,” said the sophomore landscape and design student from Ontario, Canada. “He would always tell us that if we were as old as he is, we wouldn’t want to live.”
Also among the students was sophomore philosophy and religion student Rodney Mackey from Plant City, Fla., and Jean Mackeneley, a third-year biology student. They said that Deese was sweating profusely and trembling, but remained resilient.
“He was trying to power through it and teach,” Mackey said. “He was refusing to go.”
A FAMU police officer said a student who she believed to be Allen Copeland made the call to paramedics. She praised him for being “calm,” “collected,” and “responsible.”
“That student really impressed me,” the officer said.
The students also chuckled after hearing that Deese said that he still planned a test for them next week.