A non-Black student asked teacher to grade Black students with "leniency" after George Floyd's death

[JohnSJ]

"We are writing to express our tremendous concern about the impact that this final exam and project will have on the mental and physical health of our Black classmates," the student wrote, according to Klein. The student, whose name was not released, then requested a "no harm" final exam, meaning that it would only count if it helped a student's grade."

.......

"by the evening, students were calling for him to be removed from UCLA and a petition with 20,000 signatures circulated demanding that he be fired. Three days after the first email, Klein was suspended by UCLA."

.......

"Ultimately the UCLA's Academic Senate's Committee on Academic Freedom ruled that the case did not warrant an investigation because instructors are entitled to say no to requests for changes in the grading structure, and Klein was reinstated less than 21 days later."


https://www.newsweek.com/professor-suspended-not-giving-black-students-easier-final-exam-sues-ucla-1634873

Read the whole article, which isn't very long, which chronicles the whole incident

[Ron Obvious]

1. This is idiotic

Once the idea that certain minorities get "affirmative action" degrees gets established in the public mind, the less those degrees will be worth to employers.

Same standards for everyone and equality of opportunity, not equality of outcomes please. Nothing else makes sense and will actually perpetuate racism.

This should not be controversial.

[JohnSJ]

4. This should not be controversial, and it is unfair to everyone, especially those minorities affected

It needs to be emphasized that this case this was started by a non-black individual

[brush]

2. Is that headline right? Should it be "A non-white teacher..."

as a student wouldn't be fired and removed.

And btw, although well meaning, Black students don't need or want such patronizing efforts.

[JohnSJ]

5. Read the article. It said it was a non-Black student making that request

"The incident that spurred the lawsuit began on the morning of June 2, 2020, when he received an email from who he said was a non-Black student asking that Klein grade Black students with greater "leniency" in the wake of Floyd's death and the civil unrest that followed."

The headline used in the article is ambiguous:

"Professor Suspended for Not Giving Black Students Easier Final Exam Sues UCLA"

So I indicated the person who was a non-black person who started the incident in the OP

In the article, there is no indication the race of the professor involved from what I could see

[brush]

9. I get it was a non-Black student's request but it's not clear...

in the first graph of the OP who was fired.

[JohnSJ]

12. Actually the teacher was suspended, and that is indicated in the article and the second paragraph

of the OP

I am not trying to be defensive brush, just trying to explain my thinking, and because I think the original headline could produce an incorrect conclusion if the article wasn't read

[ancianita]

10. Back when I taught in all-black high schools in Chi, everyone -- black students, teachers, admins,

parents -- called this the soft bigotry of low expectations practiced by privileged whites who "help" by "setting a lower standard" for blacks. And lord, that was over 40 years ago. I can't believe what I'm reading here.

[Celerity]

6. Professor Suspended for Not Giving Black Students Easier Final Exam Sues UCLA (OP changed it)

[JohnSJ]

8. I am the OP, and I did NOT use that headline because it was ambiguous regarding the facts

which were that a non-black student started this incident by sending an email to the professor saying that black students should be given easier final exams because of what happen to George Floyd

There is no rule that I am aware of that I need to use the headline that Newsweek decided to use, which I think is misleading if one reads the full article

[joetheman]

3. Did he watch the promo for the Wonder Years??? nt

[madaboutharry]

7. This entire story is nuts.

From the non-black student stupidly making the suggestion to the campaign against the professor to the temporary suspension. This helps no one.

It actually is detrimental to minority students when their work is not graded on the same standards. It makes their degree’s suspect.

[Sympthsical]

11. UCLA should be sued

They caved, and that signaled to his other consulting clients that there actually was a problem. College students will protest meatloaf on a Tuesday if you can frame it in some controversial, clicktivist way.

The non-black student should be excoriated for their patronizing racism. The idea that people are too weak to handle things and need special treatment.

I do see this a lot on our side. This idea that minorities are somehow lesser and need to be coddled and condescended to. A person (usually white or straight or what have you) steps in (usually uninvited) and explains to everyone (usually unbidden) some thing that no one from the actual group concerned has even brought up.

This is like half of Twitter at this point.

I still get this as a gay man. People are forever offended for me. And if I'm not offended by some bit of nothing, they seem taken aback. "You're not offended?! But it's so offensive!" Well, I mean, clearly not if I'm not offended.

I've had something like this go on at school this semester. There's a student having problems with her boyfriend. She was constantly leaving class (like 5-6 times in a two hour period) to talk on her phone, which we could all clearly hear. There's an attendance policy, and she was out of class more than in. One day she didn't turn up for a test. The professor's policy is super clear. She got a zero. Then her friends got mad, because the professor wasn't respecting her emotional space or some such (I was sitting way in the back and rolling my eyes so hard, I was giving myself a headache).

Long story short, they went to the administration. The administration shrugged. Never saw the girl and two of her friends again. I guess they dropped it in solidarity.

Real life doesn't make "emotional space" for you all the time when you have responsibilities. You're adults. Handle it.