Columbia faculty member charged in assault

NEW YORK, Nov. 11 (UPI) -- A Columbia University faculty member faces charges of assaulting a university employee during an argument in New York about white privilege, officials said.

Camille Davis, a production manager in the Columbia theater department, filed charges against Lionel McIntyre, an associate professor of architecture, the New York Post reported. She said McIntyre hit her Friday night in Toast, a bar on Broadway near the university.

Sources told the Post Davis, who is white, and McIntyre, who is black, are both regulars at the bar.

A man who identified himself only as Shannon told the Post he was involved in the discussion and got hit as well when he told McIntyre not to hit a woman.

"The punch came out of nowhere," Shannon said. "Mac was talking to us about white privilege and what I was doing about it -- apparently I wasn't doing enough."

Bar employees threw McIntyre out. He was arraigned late Monday and released.

"It was a very unfortunate event," he said after the hearing. "I didn't mean for it to explode the way it did."