Emory professor who used n-word in class to undergo sensitivity training
The Emory University professor who was under fire last month for using the n-word during a civil rights lecture, won’t be fired but instead has to undergo sensitivity and unconscious bias training, the school announced Tuesday.
Law professor Paul Zwier outraged freshman when he used the racist term in class on August 23. The university said in a statement that the “offensive language was not part of the case law cited. The use of this—or any racial slur—in our community is unacceptable.”
The professor is also required to take part in conversations with student leaders and faculty around racial sensitivity. Also students who don’t want to take Zwier’s class won’t be forced to. They will have the option to not take his class for the next two years if no other professor is available.
Zwier apologized in a statement Tuesday.
“I must fully acknowledge what a mistake it was to say the word,” he wrote. “Any attempt to explain ignores the fears and realities of racism that still haunt our society and my responsibility for protecting our community from it. I fell short in discussion of matters that are important for us to understand about the response of the law to changes in evolving views of race in American society.”
James B. Hughes Jr., interim dean of the law school, said earlier this year, he met with the professor and he met with students from the law class which included representatives from Emory’s Black Law Students Association.
“It has been our shared goal to understand what happened and to get some context for how students are feeling and responding and what impact this may have on our broader community,” Hughes said.
“We can — and will — do better,” he said. “We — the university leadership and greater community — are committed to upholding the principles of equity, inclusion, and respect that we all embrace and value at Emory.”
