Hunter College Prof Makes Racist Comment During DOE Meeting Over School Closures

During a Community Education Council meeting discussing proposed school closures, one of the students, who attendees was Black, spoke up during the meeting to protest the planned shutdown of her school.

Allyson Friedman, Hunter College adjunct professor and an attendee at the meeting as a parent, was overheard on her mic saying, “They’re too dumb to know they’re in a bad school.” Unaware that her microphone was not muted, she proceeded to say, “If you train a Black person well enough, they’ll know to use the back...you don’t have to tell them anymore.”

This comment appears to be related to a previous one made by the local school district’s interim acting superintendent, Reginald Higgins. He was speaking about Carter G. Woodson, a scholar of Black history, who said, “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.”

As members of the meeting covered their open mouths with their hands in shock, some of them widened their eyes in disbelief at the statement they had just heard loudly broadcast in the meeting. One of the attendees cut in to say, “Allyson Friedman, what you’re saying is absolutely hearable here. You’ve got to stop.” Dr. Friedman’s mic went silent, as did the voices of the rest of the attendees.

In a statement from Hunter College, it has been confirmed that Dr. Friedman made the comments. Community Educational Council 3, the DOE district that covers northern Manhattan, sent out a statement saying, “CEC3 unequivocally condemns the remarks made during the meeting. They do not represent the values, mission, or principles that guide our work.”

Manhattan borough president Brad Hoylman-Sigal said the remarks were anti-Black, calling it “particularly despicable” that children were forced to be exposed “to this hatred.” Additionally, chair of the City Council’s education committee and former teacher Eric Dinowitz said that “these racist comments are horrendous,” and stressed the Education Department to “address broader issues of racism within our school communities.”

Dr. Friedman, a tenured associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, said in an emailed statement on Sunday, “My complete comments make clear these abhorrent views are not my own, nor were they directed at any student or group,” Dr. Friedman said. “I fully support these courageous students in their efforts to stop school closures.” She also claimed that she had been attempting to explain systematic racism to her child, who was in the room with her, “by referencing an example of an obviously racist trope.” She stated that only a segment of the conversation was picked up due to microphone issues.

The college said that it was reviewing the incident under its conduct and nondiscrimination rules. “We expect our community members’ actions and words to comport with our institutional identity, values, and policies,” the university said in a statement. “We stand firm in our enduring commitment to sustain an inclusive educational environment.”

The city recently proposed moving the Center School to a new campus. This move would result in P.S./I.S. 191, the school that occupies the building now, losing its middle school grades. Schools with lower enrollment tend to educate a larger population of Black and Latino students, making school closures and mergers a race-forward issue. Rita Joseph, a Black city council member, commented on the issue, “We cannot talk about school closures, equity or educational opportunity without confronting the culture and systems that devalue Black students and communities.”