Law School Professor Drops The N-Word In The First Week Of Class

From: ELS Faculty Mailing List <[email protected]> on behalf of Law Communications <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, August 24, 2018 7:35:46 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: An Important Message from the Dean, Provost, and President

Dear Emory Law Community,

Yesterday, a professor used the “n-word” in a classroom when lecturing first-year law students on the topic of 1960s civil rights lunch counter protests in the South. This offensive language was not part of the case law cited. The use of this – or any racial slur – in our community is unacceptable.

The term is deeply rooted in degradation, fearmongering, and the creating of a deliberate sense of “otherness.” It reflects a tradition of white supremacy that we actively reject at Emory. People share a fundamental right to work and learn in an inclusive environment free of hostility. When insulting conversation is normalized, it creates a hostile environment and it undermines our institutional values.

Steps are being taken to identify appropriate redress in the present case. After learning of the incident, Dean Hughes met with several of the students in the class. Later in the day, he also met with a larger group of students, including representatives from Emory’s Black Law Students Association. Dean Hughes also spoke with the professor to apprise himself of the professor’s perspective. It has been our shared goal to understand what happened and to get some context for how students are feeling and responding and what impact this may have on our broader community.

Upon initial review with university leaders, next steps were determined. Earlier today, Dean Hughes also met with the Office of Equity and Inclusion and, on behalf of the university leadership, asked the office to open an investigation to make findings of fact and to recommend further actions, if any, required to address the situation. The Office of Equity and Inclusion strives to provide a safe environment at Emory that is conducive to intellectual engagement, learning, and collaboration.

Dean Hughes was assured that the investigation would be concluded, and recommendations would be made, within approximately two weeks. While awaiting those recommendations, Dean Hughes has assigned the courses of the professor involved in this incident to another instructor.

Through transparency about the existing issues at Emory Law, we want to be held accountable, and we want to be accountable for our own responsibility to the students, staff, and faculty at Emory Law and all of Emory. We have made tangible strides in our diversity and inclusion efforts, but we are clearly not where we need to be. In furtherance of that ongoing work, the following action has been taken today:
• The Committee on Community and Diversity in Emory Law will design meaningful mandatory training for faculty members as well as staff and students; • We know that training does not work without assessment, so it is our priority to require our faculty members to recognize, embrace, and adhere to standards of professionalism that the legal industry already demands. (For instance, the ABA Model Rule of Professional Conduct in reference to bias says that it is professional misconduct for a lawyer to engage in conduct that the lawyer knows or reasonably should know is harassment or discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion, national origin, ethnicity, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status or socioeconomic status in conduct related to the practice of law.)
• Several affinity groups within the law school are holding a unity rally in the coming week to help students show their support for a cohesive and mutually respectful Emory Law. More information on this event is forthcoming.

What we are experiencing is an issue that affects the entire Emory community. We will address it, with a focus on the painful recent experience. While we do this difficult work, please know that there are existing resources available to you. These include the organizations highlighted in the links below.

• Bias Incident Reporting
• Center for Women
• International Student Life
• Office of Accessibility Services
• Office of LGBT Life
• Office of Racial and Cultural Engagement
• RESPECT Program
• Spiritual & Religious Life
• Student Health & Counseling Services

We can – and will – do better. Although this letter focused on a particular issue in Emory Law, we—the university leadership and greater community––are committed to upholding the principles of equity, inclusion, and respect that we all embrace and value at Emory.

Sincerely,

James B. Hughes, Jr.
Interim Dean
Emory University School of Law

Dwight A. McBride
Provost & Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs

Claire E. Sterk
President