A New York College professor has been placed on leave days after she sparked massive backlash for making “abhorrent” comments about black students on a hot mic during a virtual meeting.
Allyson Friedman, an associate biology professor at Hunter College, was caught inadvertently interrupting a black eighth-grade student’s concerns about the potential shutdown of her Upper West Side public school during a public Community Education Council meeting on Feb 10.
“I write to share an update about actions that Hunter College is taking as a result of the incident during a recent virtual meeting of the New York City School District 3 Community Education Council in which abhorrent remarks were heard coming from a district parent who also is a Hunter employee,” Hunter College President Nancy Cantor wrote in a statement on Wednesday.
“As I shared earlier, we are investigating this matter under the university’s applicable conduct and nondiscrimination policies,” Cantor wrote.
“Pending the outcome of our investigation, the employee has been placed on leave,” the statement continued.
The CUNY school previously said it was “reviewing” Friedman’s conduct after the tenured professor’s comments quickly circulated online and sparked widespread fury.
“They’re too dumb to know they’re in a bad school,” Friedman was heard saying while her mic was unknowingly unmuted, according to a recording of the meeting posted online, which she had attended as a parent of a public school student.
“If you train a black person well enough, they’ll know to use the back,” she said. “You don’t have to tell them anymore.”
She seemed to be referring to a comment made by Reginald Higgins, the school district’s interim acting superintendent, who spoke about scholar Carter G. Woodson, the father of black history, earlier in the meeting.
“If you make a man think that he is justly an outcast, you do not have to order him to the back door. He will go without being told,” Woodson wrote in his 1933 book “The Mis-Education of the Negro.”
Two other adults in the virtual meeting quickly called out the professor, while others sat shocked with their hands over their mouths.
The entire meeting went dead silent for about 10 seconds before the moderators apologized to the student and urged her to continue.
Friedman later excused her language by stating she was explaining systematic racism to her own child, “by referencing an example of an obviously racist trope,” adding her full remarks weren’t completely audible due to a microphone mistake.
“My complete comments make clear these abhorrent views are not my own, nor were they directed at any student or group,” Friedman told the New York Times.
Public officials quickly slammed the professor’s conduct and urged Hunter College to take immediate action.
Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman Sigal called the comments “outrageous.”
“It is particularly despicable that these vile words were uttered while children were giving testimony at the meeting, exposing them to this hatred,” he said.
“She still isn’t fired???” Queens Borough President Donovan Richards Jr. also wrote on X.
“She shouldn’t be near any child at all. Her words are abhorrent and racist. I feel awful for all those children who witnessed this. Hunter shouldn’t allow her to continue in her role until a full investigation is complete,” United Jewish Teachers president Moshe Spern wrote.
Cantor added in the statement announcing the decision to place Friedman on leave that counseling services and an employee assistance program were available for members of the school community who feel they need support.
“This painful incident unfolded at a meeting where Black History Month was being celebrated, and the pernicious and enduring effects of anti-Black systemic racism were being discussed, especially with regard to the role of educational institutions in addressing them,” Cantor wrote.
“Hunter has long embraced such a role, which requires constant vigilance to remain attentive and responsive to the ways in which we continually draw and redraw discriminatory social lines.”
