Students at Stanford University are angry and disappointed after an assistant professor used the N-word twice in one week in separate classes, reported The Stanford Daily.
Rose SalsedaAssistant art history professor Rose Salseda, who isn’t Black, reportedly typed the N-word on May 4 in a discussion post for a course while writing the name of hip-hop group N.W.A. On April 28, in a different class for which she was delivering a guest lecture, Salseda read parts of the lyrics to an N.W.A song which contained the N-word, said an earlier article in the Daily.
Students are upset Salseda, a co-founder of the U.S. Latinx Art Forum, repeated the N-word in a class after apologizing following her April 28 guest lecture.
“It’s like a giant middle-finger to everyone that has been criticizing her,” said a student, Judy Tseygaye, who attended Salseda’s guest lecture on April 28. “To say the N-word is one thing but to say it again, after a week of Black students and their allies speaking out, feels particularly malicious.”
Last Wednesday, Salseda addressed the incidents in a class conversation moderated by the director of the Institute for Diversity in the Arts.
In a letter to the Daily, she said she now understands the distress caused to students.
“While my intention was to center the voices of artists who have made important social interventions, I recognize the impact my reading of the N.W.A. lyric and the posting of their biography has had on students, especially Black students,” wrote Salseda. “I sincerely apologize for those actions and am committed to changing classroom practices.”
