Incoming Boston University professor Saida Grundy is being publicly accused of racism over remarks she made about race on Twitter (remarks her university is now saying were ‘offensive’ though still part of her protected free speech.) Prof. Grundy – who is Black – made a sarcastic comment on Twitter about it being time we admit that white college males are a ‘problem population’ due to their tendency to riot about sports (in response to the repeated claims, in the coverage of recent events in Baltimore, that young black men are a ‘problem population’). She also mentioned that every MLK day she tries to spend money only in black-owned businesses, and finds this nearly impossible. For these kinds of remarks – which Fox News has gleefully gotten wind of – she’s being accused of racism and bigotry and her qualifications to be a university professor are being called into question. Even worse, BU seems increasingly willing to throw her under the bus.
UPDATE: There is now a change.org petition, directed at the president of BU, in support of Prof. Grundy. Please consider signing! BU’s president weighed in on the controversy earlier today, apparently objecting to Prof. Grundy’s ‘rancor’, among other things.
UPDATE: Prof. Grundy has issued a brief statement in BU’s student newspaper.
Feminist Philosophers 