15 February 2018

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

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]?”

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. [...]

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.  [...]

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”.

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