A white lecturer at a college in upstate New York is under probe by the school — because she told students she was “sick” of talking about the Black Lives Matter movement.
A video posted to Instagram on Monday was recorded in the fall during a video conference call for a writing course at SUNY Buffalo State College, the Buffalo News reported Tuesday.
“This is me, but speaking honestly, and you guys have to respond honestly with what you think, with what you feel about this,” said the part-time lecturer, identified by a student as Erica Cope. “So am I sick about talking about Black Lives Matter. All right? I said it.”
Student Jahnay Morehead told the newspaper she recorded Cope’s comments during a writing course in the fourth week of the fall semester. She said she contacted the college’s diversity committee weeks later, but didn’t take part in a subsequent Zoom call to address the matter, according to the report.
The remark to a class of predominantly black students was “insensitive” and came as an example of an opinion that would lead Cope to get “canceled,” Morehead said.
“She asked us to share an opinion that might be considered controversial and I guess that was her example,” Morehead told WGRZ. “After she said that, she was kind of trying to change the topic very swiftly. A lot of students was like, ‘Why? Why do you feel this way?’ And she really didn’t want to go into it.”
