UCLA professor suspended for refusing 'lenient' assessment of black students amid George Floyd protests
The ongoing protests against racism in the US have now left an impact in the academic world as a professor in Los Angeles faced suspension for rejecting an appeal to be lenient with his black students during exam evaluation. Gordon Klein, an accounting professor in the Anderson School of Business, University of California, was suspended by the university authorities for three weeks starting June 25.
The professor, who has been teaching for nearly four decades, was also given police protection after he received several threats that came after his email exchange with a student was leaked online by her. Demand for Klein’s ouster is also gaining ground with one petition seeking his removal gaining nearly 20,000 signatures. Klein also had his share of supporters in the academic fraternity.
It all began when a group of non-black students approached Klein in writing to ask him to effectively cancel the final exams for their black peers. They wrote that in the light of the recent “traumas, we have been placed in a position where we must choose between actively supporting our black classmates or focusing on finishing up our spring quarter”. They asked the professor to have a “no-harm” final exam that could benefit the students’ grades and for shorter exams and extended deadlines for final assignments.
“We believe that remaining neutral in times of injustice brings power to the oppressor and therefore staying silent is not an option,” the students, who call themselves the “non-black allies” of their black peers, wrote. According to Inside Higher Education, those students wrote to the professor to ask him to exercise compassion and leniency with the black students.
The veteran professor declined their request in writing, which did not go down well with some students. “Thanks for your suggestion in your email below that I give black students special treatment, given the tragedy in Minnesota,” he said, then adding: “Do you know the names of the classmates that are black? How can I identify them since we've been having online classes only?”
“Are there any students that may be of mixed parentage, such as half-black-half Asian? What do you suggest I do with respect to them? A full concession or just half?” the professor asked, adding whether the students, black or otherwise, were from Minneapolis where George Floyd was killed in police brutality on May 25. The incident sparked countrywide protests subsequently.
“I assume that they probably are especially devastated as well. I am thinking that a white student from there might be possibly even more devastated by this, especially because some might think that they're racist even if they are not. My TA (teaching assistant) is from Minneapolis, so if you don't know, I can probably ask her,” he wrote. Klein also asked how he was expected to implement the “no-harm” exam, when the course was only graded on the final exam, before concluding with a quote from the iconic black leader, Martin Luther King Junior.
“One last thing strikes me: Remember that MLK famously said that people should not be evaluated based on the “color of their skin”,” Klein wrote. “Do you think that your request would run afoul of MLK's admonition? Thanks, G Klein,” he signed off.
In a separate email addressed to his entire class, Klein said that outside events, including personal hardship, do not necessarily mean students have to look away from their responsibilities. He cited the example of his daughter, who fought a severe illness and grief of losing close friends to suicide during her study in the University of California but still completed her course.
'Extremely insensitive, dismissive, woefully racist'
The professor’s response raised eyebrows as the petition sought his firing, accusing him of coming up with “extremely insensitive, dismissive, and woefully racist response to his students’ request for empathy and compassion during a time of civil unrest”.
Martinez, who posted the discussion online, was not among the students who wrote to Klein but said she was upset when one of her friends showed it to her. In an email to The Washington Free Beacon, she said: “I believed this information was important to bring to light because as a non-black POC, I believe it is my duty to amplify my black peers' voices. I felt this was a very unreasonable response to a very valid request, and decided that the professor should be held properly accountable.”
Antonio Bernardo, the dean of Anderson School of Business, seconded Martinez to say in an email to the students that Klein’s response was “troubling”. He also reportedly extended the time students have to complete the exams. A spokesperson from the Anderson management school also told Inside Higher Ed that Klein’s email was “deeply disturbing”. They said they were investigating the email.
Klein also found support. A spokesperson for the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, Katlyn Patton, said Klein has significant rights to manage the content and direction of his course under the First Amendment. Peter Wood, the president of the National Association of Scholars, called the suspension of the professor “disturbing”.