Students File Title IX Report After Tenured Sociology Professor Used N-Word Twice In Culture In America Class

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12 November, 2021

10:17 AM

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Columbia Daily Spectator BY TALIA TRASKOS-HART NOVEMBER 9, 2021 Content warning: This story contains the mention and use of racial slurs and discusses topics of racism. Editor's note: The names of students included have been changed to protect their privacy. In a Zoom lecture for his Culture in America class on Oct. 28, tenured Barnard sociology professor Jonathan Rieder said the N-word twice while quoting the movie "8 Mile." Students reported that Rieder claimed that the clip illustrated intersectionality and identity. As a result, a small group of students are filing a Title IX report against Rieder but fear that his tenured status will make recourse difficult. Some students feel that this incident is part of a greater pattern of offensive speech by the professor. Anabelle, a student in the class, was warned by peers after course registration about the professor's provocative statements in previous classes. "This is my first class with him, but when I had mentioned that I was taking this class, a bunch of people were like, 'Oh, watch out,' because it's kind of well-known that he does things like this and intentionally tries to make students uncomfortable," she said. A similar incident occurred last April in Dinah PoKempner's International Human Rights Law Class. PoKempner said the N-word 11 times, for which she was fired from her position as general counsel at Human Rights Watch. PoKempner is not teaching any Columbia classes during the 2021-22 school year. The use of racial slurs in academic settings has been a controversial topic at universities across the nation. In 2018, Lawrence Rosen, a professor of anthropology at Princeton, canceled his course after his students challenged his use of the N-word during a lecture. And in April 2020, Rose Salseda, an assistant professor of art history at Stanford, used the N-word while quoting song lyrics. An apology was sent out by the department chair to all Stanford faculty and students. Students who voiced concerns about Rieder's use of the slur were invited to stay after class for continued discussion. During this discussion, Rieder also allegedly used "bitch" and a homophobic slur as "examples of marginalized people possibly reclaiming words," according to Anabelle. Rieder allegedly also argued that ending the N-word with an "a" was more appropriate than ending with a hard "r," and that he "hasn't said the N-word with a hard 'r' in nearly two years," according to Sarah. In an apology email sent to students on Oct. 29, Rieder wrote that he found the distinction between the two endings of the word to "sociolinguistically … function as a different word." "It's fair to say that I didn't need to quote the word," Rieder wrote to students. "I regret any pain or offense caused by my quoting, whether one student or the whole class felt pain or offense. You should know that in the remaining weeks of the course, no material will call for saying the word." Some students did not feel that his apology acknowledged the harm the professor caused in using the word. "His apology definitely had a tone of 'I'm sorry that you guys reacted in this way,' without him actually taking accountability and feeling genuinely sorry about what he did," said Julia, another student in the class. Some students also expressed frustration with Rieder's casual use of the slur given his identity as a white man, as well as the power imbalance that exists between students and instructors in the classroom. "That word will never be used against you in a dangerous and negative way, and you don't have authority to be able to choose whether or not you can say it," Sarah said regarding Rieder's use of the N-word. After students voiced their concerns about the use of the slur during class, the discussion shifted more broadly to the topic of free speech on liberal arts campuses. "[Rieder] mentioned how we are in a liberal bubble, being at this school. And this is what he's concerned about at liberal arts colleges, how we're becoming too sensitive and we're sanitizing too much of our learning," Sarah said. Rieder maintains that his use of the word was a conscious choice with an academic purpose. "I have never used or employed racial slurs as my own," he wrote in a statement to Spectator. "As to dealing with course material that may contain slurs, two years ago I made a practical decision to temporarily embargo quoting the N-word in any form, while figuring out how to balance the objections of some students and my own pedagogical and sociological beliefs." Despite this self-imposed embargo, Rieder went on to question the value of eliminating the N-word when contextualized in classroom settings. "I believe that Barnard and Columbia need to do more to impart the values of freedom of expression and the importance of liberal arts ideals. Making students feel comfortable should not be the priority of our teaching," he wrote. In class, the professor referenced other scholars who justify saying the N-word in certain contexts, such as John McWhorter, an associate professor of English and comparative literature at Columbia who specializes in American linguistic history. McWhorter has criticized what he views as a culture of hypersensitivity surrounding the use of the N-word. Anabelle said McWhorter was used "as, like, 'a Black man that would agree with me' type of thing." Students' main concern remains the challenge of remedy given Rieder's protections under tenure. "It's really difficult because of his status," said Sarah. "I'm just annoyed that Barnard knows that he has done this repeatedly, for years, and they don't take serious action against him." Correction: A previous version of this article stated that Rieder was quoting the Eminem song "8 Mile" instead of the movie of the same name. Spectator regrets this error. Staff writer Talia Traskos-Hart can be contacted at [email protected]. Follow Spectator on Twitter at @ColumbiaSpec. Founded in 1877, the Columbia Daily Spectator is the independent undergraduate newspaper of Columbia University, serving thousands of readers in Morningside Heights, West Harlem, and beyond. Read more at columbiaspectator.com and donate here.