PSU econ professor accuses student of being FBI informant and agent provocateur

Professor banned from teaching following verbal confrontation
By Virginia Vickery and Theodora Karatzas
Daily Vanguard
Feb. 08, 2010

A tenured Portland State economics professor is currently suspended from teaching after he publicly accused a student during a class lecture of being an FBI informant and of trying to sell guns to students.

Professor John Hall, during his 2 p.m. “Economics 445/545: Comparative Economic Systems” class on Jan. 14th, verbally harangued student Zachary Bucharest for nearly half an hour, according to students in the class.

Hall, who has taught at PSU for 24 years, began the class with a lecture relevant to the course material but about halfway through the two-hour long class, he began to describe his experiences with law enforcement in other countries including Eastern Europe, according to a student who wished to remain anonymous.

Hall claimed to have been surveilled at times throughout his life and then told the class that an FBI informant and agent provocateur was in their midst. Hall said this person served as a sniper in the Israeli army and called him a killer with access to a personal arsenal.

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