A UCLA professor has been suspended after rejecting students’ calls for lenient marking and responding to their concerns in a “disturbing” manner.
Anderson School of Business accounting professor Gordon Klein has been suspended for three weeks after refusing students’ request to hold ‘no-harm’ final exams due to the civil unrest and the trauma associated with George Floyd’s death and nationwide protests.
In the letter addressed to Prof. Klein, students requested a special final exam for their black peers from which they could only benefit and lose nothing if they failed.
Additionally, the students, who dubbed themselves as non-black allies, asked for extended deadlines and more lenient exams due to “traumas” that have placed them “in a position where we much choose between actively supporting our black classmates or focusing on finishing up our spring quarter.”
As the Inside Higher Education confirmed, the students requested preferential treatment for black students and didn’t seek “to get finals canceled for non-black students.”
After receiving the request, Klein wrote back to the students who went after him after feeling that the request was being mocked by the professor.
“Thanks for your suggestion in your email below that I give black students special treatment, given the tragedy in Minnesota,” he responded.
“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 went on to suggest that people, as Martin Luther King once said, shouldn’t be judged based on their skin color.
After receiving the professor’s reply, the message reached Emilia Martinez who shared the exchange online and started a widespread debate.
“I felt this was a very unreasonable response to a very valid request, and decided that the professor should be held properly accountable,” Martinez said in an interview with Washington Free Beacon.
Agreeing with the students was also Antonio Bernardo, the Anderson School of Business dean, who called the professor’s actions “troubling.”
“Respect and equality for all are core principles at UCLA Anderson. It is deeply disturbing to learn of this email, which we are investigating. We apologize to the student who received it and to all those who have been as upset and offended by it as we are ourselves,” the school’s spokesperson told Inside Higher Education.
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Replaced!