White lecturer tells students she’s ‘sick’ of talking about Black Lives Matter
A white lecturer at a college in upstate New York is under probe by the school — because she told students she was “sick” of talking about the Black Lives Matter movement.
A video posted to Instagram on Monday was recorded in the fall during a video conference call for a writing course at SUNY Buffalo State College, the Buffalo News reported Tuesday.
“This is me, but speaking honestly, and you guys have to respond honestly with what you think, with what you feel about this,” said the part-time lecturer, identified by a student as Erica Cope. “So am I sick about talking about Black Lives Matter. All right? I said it.”
Student Jahnay Morehead told the newspaper she recorded Cope’s comments during a writing course in the fourth week of the fall semester. She said she contacted the college’s diversity committee weeks later, but didn’t take part in a subsequent Zoom call to address the matter, according to the report.
The remark to a class of predominantly black students was “insensitive” and came as an example of an opinion that would lead Cope to get “canceled,” Morehead said.
“She asked us to share an opinion that might be considered controversial and I guess that was her example,” Morehead told WGRZ. “After she said that, she was kind of trying to change the topic very swiftly. A lot of students was like, ‘Why? Why do you feel this way?’ And she really didn’t want to go into it.”
Cope, who is listed as a lecturer on the college’s website, referred a Post reporter’s inquiry on Wednesday to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), a nonprofit group that focuses on free speech rights on college campuses.
FIRE attorney Adam Steinbaugh told The Post Cope was trying to stress the importance of “having difficult conversations” while sharing an opinion that might be unpopular during the freshman writing class in September.
“She was trying to speak provocatively and, out of context, it’s being interpreted as her saying I’m tired of talking about Black Lives Matter,” Steinbaugh said.
The full 26-minute video, however, made clear that Cope was saying she was “tired of having superficial conversations” about the social movement, according to Steinbaugh.
The attorney accused the college of being misguided in condemning Cope’s comments, saying an investigation into the video would have a “chilling effect” on future class discussions about BLM.
“It seems to be a condemn first, ask questions later sort of approach,” Steinbaugh said. “It does not take long to figure out that the full context of this video is not someone who is tired of talking about Black Lives Matter.”
The college learned of Cope’s comments on Monday, a spokesman told the Buffalo News.
The college’s president, Kate Conway-Turner, acknowledged the video in a statement late Monday, saying the school’s chief diversity officer was gathering “all pertinent details” in the incident.
“Let me be absolutely clear — Black Lives Matter at Buffalo State College,” the statement read. “The viewpoint expressed in a video circulating online by a part-time instructor clearly runs counter to all that we stand for at Buffalo State.”
Conway-Turner noted that the full context of the comment remains unclear, but said the sentiment expressed “lays bare an insensitivity to the historic and current lived experiences” of people of color.
“Her message as presented is unacceptable,” Conway-Turner said. “We must and we will strive for better.”
In a follow-up statement Tuesday, Conway-Turner said students had concerns about the class last fall, but a formal complaint wasn’t filed.
“This news is unsettling,” the statement continued. “All members of the campus community should feel comfortable coming forward to the Equity and Campus Diversity Office with any complaints of this nature without fear of retaliation. We will rededicate our efforts to making this clear to students, faculty, and staff.”
via: https://nypost.com/2021/04/21/white-professor-tells-students-shes-sick-of-talking-about-blm/
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