The email from the biostatistics department’s director of graduate studies also resulted in an apology from the dean of the medical school.
A Duke University administrator who advised graduate students by email to speak English while on the campus will step down immediately as director of graduate studies in biostatistics, the university announced.
On Friday, Megan Neely, who is also an assistant professor of biostatistics and bioinformatics, emailed students in the program to report that two faculty members had asked her for pictures to identify graduate students. She said the professors wanted to identify some students who were speaking Chinese in a student lounge area.
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The email from the biostatistics department’s director of graduate studies also resulted in an apology from the dean of the medical school.
A Duke University administrator who advised graduate students by email to speak English while on the campus will step down immediately as director of graduate studies in biostatistics, the university announced.
On Friday, Megan Neely, who is also an assistant professor of biostatistics and bioinformatics, emailed students in the program to report that two faculty members had asked her for pictures to identify graduate students. She said the professors wanted to identify some students who were speaking Chinese in a student lounge area.
“They were disappointed that these students were not taking the opportunity to improve their English and were being so impolite as to have a conversation that not everyone on the floor could understand,” she wrote.
In the email, Neely advised international students to speak English “100% of the time” in any “professional setting” on the campus.
A petition was soon distributed urging Duke to investigate Neely’s “discriminatory emails.”
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“We are disheartened … when Duke’s faculty members implied that students of diverse national origin would be punished in academic and employment opportunities for speaking in their native language outside of classroom settings,” read the petition.
This was the second time that Neely has emailed graduate students about speaking English, according to the petition. The first email was sent in 2018, when she wrote that “speaking in your native language may give faculty the impression that you are not trying to improve your English skills.”
In her letter to biostatistics students, Mary E. Klotman, dean of the School of Medicine, apologized for Neely’s email.
“To be clear: there is absolutely no restriction or limitation on the language you use to converse and communicate with each other,” Klotman wrote. “Your career opportunities and recommendations will not in any way be influenced by the language you use outside the classroom. And your privacy will always be protected.”
The dean said Duke’s Office of Institutional Equity will conduct a review of the master’s program in biostatistics “and to recommend ways in which we can improve the learning environment for students from all backgrounds.”
Fernanda is the engagement editor at The Chronicle. She is the voice behind Chronicle newsletters like the Weekly Briefing, Five Weeks to a Better Semester, and more. She also writes about what Chronicle readers are thinking. Send her an email at fernanda@chronicle.com.
