Overview
- Associate professor Allyson Friedman was placed on leave pending an investigation, Hunter College President Nancy Cantor said in a message to the campus on Wednesday.
- A Feb. 10 Community Education Council District 3 Zoom recording captured Friedman saying “They’re too dumb to know they’re in a bad school” and invoking a line about going to “the back,” comments that followed a Carter G. Woodson quote.
- Friedman, a biology faculty member and district parent, apologized and said her remarks were taken out of context while she tried to explain systemic racism to her child.
- Parents, students, and public officials denounced the remarks, with a press conference held, an emergency CEC meeting scheduled for Thursday evening, and a petition surpassing 1,200 signatures calling for her firing.
- Hunter called the comments “abhorrent,” noted the meeting took place during Black History Month discussions, and offered counseling resources as the review proceeds.