A Princeton University professor has canceled his course on hate speech, blasphemy, and pornography after his use of a racial slur during a class discussion sparked arguments with students that resulted in some walking out and another dropping the course, the Associated Press reports.
Lawrence Rosen, a professor of anthropology at Princeton, used the slur three times throughout a February 6 lecture on oppressive symbolism in the course, “Cultural Freedoms,” according to a Daily Princetonian article that quoted multiple students in the class. He asked students whether it was worse for a white man to punch a black man, or a white man to call a black man the N-word.
A statement by Michael Hotchkiss, a spokesman at Princeton, affirmed the university’s values of free speech and inclusivity in the days immediately after the incident.
“The conversations and disagreements that took place in the seminar led by Professor Rosen on Tuesday afternoon are part of the vigorous engagement and robust debate that are central to what we do,” Hotchkiss said on Thursday. “We will continue to look for ways to encourage discussions about free speech and inclusivity with the students in Professor Rosen’s class and the campus community more broadly. As part of those ongoing efforts, we are in the process of setting up a meeting with the students.”
Students confronted Rosen, expressing their discomfort with his use of the word, according to the campus newspaper. “There were about six black students in the lecture,” one student told the Princetonian. “All the black students were looking at each other, as if asking whether he actually said that.”
Students reported that Rosen had said in response to their concerns, “It’s supposed to deliver a gut punch, so that’s why I use it.” He refused to apologize to the affected students, saying, “I don’t think I need to apologize, I did not oppress anyone.”
He has taught the course multiple times, using a similar lecture approach and posing the same question at the beginning of lectures without reported incident. Using the racial slur was just one example Rosen employed in his class. Another was having a student wipe her feet on the American flag.
“In a different setting — a different university for example — the student response might have been the reverse. A student wiping his or her feet on the American flag might have caused a riot. So whose feelings should the law protect?” Carolyn Rouse, chair of anthropology at Princeton, wrote in a letter to the editor of the Princetonian. “Should a baker, for instance, be allowed to refuse service to a gay couple because he or she finds homosexuality offensive or blasphemous? For students who would like to be able to answer those questions, for students who are interested in law for example, Rosen’s course helps do just that.”
Rosen did not respond to The Chronicle’s requests for comment.
