At least four students walked out of a classroom at Princeton University when a white professor reportedly used the n-word several times.
The Daily Princetonian reports (via The Root) that Professor Lawrence Rosen posed a question to his students with the slur: "What is worse, a white man punching a black man, or a white man calling a black man a n***er?"
Rosen teaches an anthropology course, Cultural Freedoms: Hate Speech, Blasphemy and Pornography, and said that him using the word is "supposed to deliver a gut punch." This particular lesson was on oppressive symbolism.
It wasn't long before black students in the class noted their discomfort with him using the word and called him out on it.
"So are you just going to keep using the n-word," asked one student, Malachi Byrd to Rosen, according to Devyn Holliday, a student who spoke with the paper. "Yes, if I think it’s necessary," he reportedly responded. "I don’t think I need to apologize; I did not oppress anyone," he later said.
"Every single time he used the n-word, he used the word in its entirety,” said another student, Destiny Salter. "He said, 'You need to suspend your disbelief for the sake of this class.'"
But it seems he'll have at least one less student willing to do so. Kevin Ramos told the newspaper he's going to drop the class. "The professor saw how uncomfortable the students were with his language," he said. "If he doesn’t respect the students’ opinion, then it’s not worth learning from him." Can't say we disagree.
