Class witnesses argument between college employees

By Matthew Rocco

A dispute between two Manhattan College employees in the Communication Department boiled over in front of an entire class Thursday.

Marek Fuchs, a journalism professor, was leading a discussion in his class when Melanie Morales-Woo, the department’s secretary, entered the room looking for the key to a computer lab in the Leo Engineering Building.

After being asked about the key, which is attached to a large frog keychain, Marek claimed to know nothing about its whereabouts. He even went as far as suggesting a student in the classroom who works in the department’s office might have the key.

“I don’t have the key, maybe John has it,” Marek said, looking in the direction of student John Banta.

What started as an innocent conversation took a turn for the worse when Melanie spotted the keychain in Marek’s left hand, despite his best efforts to hide the key behind a piece of paper. Marek remained unrelenting as he refused to hand the key over to Melanie.

“I forgot I had [the key], but I am not giving it to you,” Marek said with a stern expression. Melanie moved closer to Marek and said, “You have to give me the key. Grabowski needs it for class.”

“Then tell Grabowski to come up here and get it himself,” said Marek, who remained defiant.

Quickly becoming aggravated, Melanie threatened to call security before forcefully taking the keychain from Marek’s hand. She proceeded to hit him on his left arm and storm out of the room.

The embarrassing incident does not come as a surprise. The department has experienced some tense moments in recent days following the disappearance of an expensive camera tripod, which has yet to be recovered.

It is not known if Marek has previously displayed a similarly provocative attitude. This is the first public incident that he or Melanie has been involved in at Manhattan College.