Luke Perez

Introduction

Luke M. Perez is an assistant professor affiliated with Ohio State University’s Salmon P. Chase Center for Civics, Culture and Society who became the subject of widespread attention in February 2026 after video showed him tackling a videographer in a campus hallway. The incident occurred as the journalist tried to ask a follow-up question of former Ohio State president E. Gordon Gee, who was appearing as a guest speaker. Footage of the altercation went viral, and within days the university had placed Perez on administrative leave while he faced an assault charge. By early summer, both a university human resources committee and a separate faculty panel had recommended that he be fired, though no final university decision had been announced

Background Information

Perez worked as an assistant professor at Ohio State’s Salmon P. Chase Center for Civics, Culture and Society. Through the center, Perez hosted guest speakers for his class, and in February 2026 that lecture series brought E. Gordon Gee to campus for a session on “profiles in American leadership”

The visitors Perez confronted that day were experienced media figures. Videographer and documentarian Mike Newman and political blogger D.J. Byrnes, who runs The Rooster newsletter, came to Smith Laboratory on Monday, February 9, 2026, hoping to interview Gee. Byrnes had previously questioned Gee in the hallway about the former president’s public comments, including remarks touching on student loan debt and on sexual abuse survivors at Ohio State.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Allegations. The claims in this section are allegations from police charges and university investigations, which reported substantiating them. The assault charge was never admitted by Perez and has not been adjudicated in court; he is presumed innocent unless and until convicted. His removal from the classroom and the panel recommendations against him are university employment-process actions.

The confrontation happened on February 9, 2026, at Smith Laboratory. Videographer Mike Newman and political blogger D.J. Byrnes, with The Rooster, tried to interview former Ohio State President E. Gordon Gee. Gee took some questions before declining to answer more. That was when Perez stepped in front of Newman and threw him to the ground to prevent him from talking to Gee. Video of the altercation was shared publicly and went viral, drawing national attention to the episode

The footage captured the scene in detail. Newman was attempting to walk past Perez when Perez grabbed at the man’s phone, then grabbed the journalist and dropped him to the floor. In the video, Perez can be heard saying, “I told you not to put that in my face,” followed by, “Now, I’m not gonna ask you again, don’t touch me.” The two men wrestled to the floor during the on-camera brawl, and Newman and Byrnes threatened to call the police and have Perez arrested. Perez is a 12-year Air National Guard veteran, a detail that circulated widely as the video spread

Following the incident, Perez was charged with assault and placed on administrative leave. Ohio State went beyond the criminal charge, investigating workplace violence allegations against Perez. That inquiry produced a report, published in late May, finding there was sufficient evidence that Perez had violated university rules against workplace violence

The report was specific in its findings. Investigators interviewed Perez and seven university-affiliated potential witnesses, including two staff members, three faculty members, one emeritus faculty member, and one student, and reviewed video documentation provided by Ohio State police along with the department’s incident report. “Dr. Perez engaged in violent behavior as defined in the Workplace Violence Policy,” the report stated, adding that he “used physical force, violence, or other actions that have the capacity to inflict harm or to endanger the physical safety of another person” and that the behavior “caused a disruption to the work environment, and a reasonable person in that environment would fear for their physical safety”

Public Reaction and Consequences

The viral video made Perez a public figure almost overnight. Byrnes claimed the episode violated the reporters’ First Amendment rights, noting that Ohio State is a public institution, and described the encounter bluntly: “I thought we were in a bastion of free speech only to end up with a guy physically assaulted,” Byrnes said. “There’s no other way to describe it other than assault. It was bizarre”

The institutional consequences followed quickly. A university human resources sanctioning committee reviewed the case and recommended that Perez be fired, saying his actions were “the most egregious incident of workplace violence they had ever investigated.” A separate panel of Ohio State faculty also reviewed the case, and in early June The Lantern reported that the faculty panel had likewise recommended termination. The Lantern noted that investigators weighed mitigating factors, including Perez indicating in panel interviews that he acted in self-defense and his lack of documented prior disciplinary history, but concluded the seriousness of the incident outweighed them. Ohio State declined to comment further on the report

Current Status

As of the most recent available reporting in June 2026, Perez’s position at Ohio State remained unresolved. A human resources sanctioning committee and a separate faculty panel had both recommended that he be fired, and the university’s investigation concluded there was sufficient evidence he violated workplace violence rules. Ohio State declined to comment further on the report, and no final university decision on his employment had been announced. His criminal assault charge from the February 9 incident also remained pending, with no reported resolution. He remained on administrative leave, and neither the university process nor the criminal case had reached a conclusion in the available reporting

Impact on Their Career/Life

The incident upended Perez’s academic career within days. An assistant professor whose role included hosting leadership lectures was removed from the classroom, charged with assault, and made the subject of a viral video that attached his name to a physical altercation with a journalist. The footage of him throwing Newman to the ground became the defining public image of his professorship

The university findings raised the stakes further. The sanctioning committee’s conclusion that his actions were the most severe case of workplace violence it had ever investigated, together with the faculty panel’s recommendation of termination, left Perez facing the loss of his position. Even after weighing mitigating factors the investigators acknowledged, including his claim of self-defense and his previously clean disciplinary record, both panels found the incident serious enough to end his career at Ohio State. With his employment decision and the criminal charge both unresolved, his future in academia remained deeply uncertain