US news

Professor cancels hate speech course after students object to use of racial slur

Princeton University’s Lawrence Rosen used slur while teaching anthropology students, prompting some to walk out of class

Associated Press

Wed 14 Feb 2018 00.56 GMT

A Princeton University professor has cancelled a course he teaches on cultural freedoms and hate speech after his use of a racial slur during a class discussion led some students to walk out.

Colleagues say Professor Emeritus Lawrence Rosen has often used the slur during lectures on free speech. They say this is the first time he has received such a negative response from students.

A small group of students walked out of Rosen’s anthropology class on 6 February after he used the slur three times, according to DailyPrincetonian.com, the university’s student newspaper, which first reported Rosen’s comments. Rosen asked the class: 「Which is more provocative: a white man walks up to a black man and punches him in the nose, or a white man walks up to a black man and calls him [the racial slur]?」

Princeton will keep Woodrow Wilson's name on building despite controversy

Read more

Rosen refused a demand from several students to apologise and argued with at least one student. Two students later filed a complaint with school officials.

The university later issued a statement defending Rosen. The professor and the students did not respond on Tuesday to a request for comment.

「The values of free speech and inclusivity are central to Princeton University’s mission and critical to the education we provide to our students,」 the statement said. 「The conversations and disagreements that took place in the seminar led by Professor Rosen are part of the vigorous engagement and robust debate that are central to what we do.」

The school said it would continue 「to look for ways to encourage discussions about free speech and inclusivity with the students in Professor Rosen’s class and the campus community more broadly」.

Speaking on Monday night at a meeting with students that had been scheduled before the controversy erupted, university president Christopher Eisgruber said he respected Rosen’s decision to use the word, citing the importance of having conversations where people feel uncomfortable.

「I think it’s very important for our culture to have academic freedom that allows people to have pedagogical choices on how to teach difficult subjects,」 Eisgruber said on a video posted on Facebook by TheTab.com. 「I respect Professor Rosen’s decision about how to teach the subject in the way that he did by being explicit and using very difficult words.」

Carolyn Rouse, chairwoman of Princeton’s anthropology department, who is black, wrote a letter to the editor of the Daily Princetonian defending Rosen’s use of the slur. By the end of the semester, she wrote, Rosen hoped his students would be able to argue why hate speech should or should not be protected using an argument other than 「because it made me feel bad」.

Noting that Rosen has used the same example year after year, Rouse said this was the first year he had had the response he did from students.

「I feel bad for the students who left the class not trusting the process,」 Rouse wrote. 「Rosen was fighting battles for women, Native Americans and African-Americans before these students were born. He grew up a Jew in anti-Semitic America, and recognises how law has afforded him rights he would not otherwise have.」

Topics

本文來源：https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/feb/14/princeton-university-professor-cancels-hate-speech-course-racial-slur