A professor at Hunter College has been placed on leave following intense backlash over racist remarks captured on a live microphone during a virtual public meeting.
Allyson Friedman, a tenured associate professor of biology at the college, was attending a Feb. 10 meeting of the New York City School District 3 Community Education Council as a parent. During the session, her microphone was unintentionally left unmuted while a Black eighth-grade student was speaking about concerns over a possible closure of her Upper West Side public school.
In a statement released Wednesday, Hunter College President Nancy Cantor announced that the school had launched an investigation.
“I write to share an update about actions that Hunter College is taking as a result of the incident during a recent virtual meeting … in which abhorrent remarks were heard coming from a district parent who also is a Hunter employee,” Cantor said. “Pending the outcome of our investigation, the employee has been placed on leave.”
The college, part of the City University of New York system, had earlier confirmed it was reviewing Friedman’s conduct after audio of the meeting spread widely online and drew public outrage.
In the recording, Friedman can be heard making offensive comments, including: “They’re too dumb to know they’re in a bad school,” and, “If you train a Black person well enough, they’ll know to use the back. You don’t have to tell them anymore.”
The remarks appeared to reference comments made earlier in the meeting by interim acting superintendent Reginald Higgins about historian Carter G. Woodson, widely regarded as the father of Black history. Woodson wrote in his 1933 book, The Mis-Education of the Negro, “If you make a man think that he is justly an outcast, you do not have to order him to the back door. He will go without being told.”
Two adults participating in the virtual meeting immediately challenged Friedman’s remarks, while others appeared stunned. The meeting fell silent for several seconds before moderators apologized to the student and encouraged her to continue speaking.
Friedman later told The New York Times that she had been attempting to explain systemic racism to her child by referencing what she described as “an obviously racist trope.” She said her full comments were not fully audible due to the microphone issue and insisted the views expressed were not her own nor directed at any student or group.
Public officials swiftly condemned the incident. Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal called the comments “outrageous,” adding that it was especially disturbing they were made while children were testifying.
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards Jr. also criticized the remarks, writing on social media that Friedman should not be near children.
Moshe Spern, president of the United Jewish Teachers, said the professor’s words were “abhorrent and racist” and urged the college to prevent her from returning to her role until the investigation concludes.
In her statement, Cantor noted that counseling services and employee assistance programs were being made available to members of the Hunter community. She also pointed out that the incident occurred during Black History Month, when discussions at the meeting focused on the lasting effects of anti-Black systemic racism and the responsibility of educational institutions to confront it.
“Hunter has long embraced such a role,” Cantor said, “which requires constant vigilance to remain attentive and responsive to the ways in which we continually draw and redraw discriminatory social lines.”
