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Atlanta, GA (WGCL) — An Emory University professor was suspended after using the N-word during a lecture about a 1960’s civil rights lunch-counter protest, according to students and university officials.
The university says the N-word was not a part of the case he was teaching. Student leaders tell CBS46 this incident is just a symptom of a deeper issue of respect.
Law professor Paul Zwier has been taken out of the classroom after he used the word at the end of his class filled with first-year students.
“This was like the first, or second day of class for them. They were thrown off,” says student Randy Williams. “While there may be an explanation on the professor’s side, it was still inappropriate,” says Williams.
Williams says he knows the professor and he reached out about the incident.
“This is a professor whom I have had interactions with. This is a professor whom I have seen be active with a lot of minority students. Then I became concerned, like, did I miss this? Did I have this professor judges all wrong?” said Williams. “So I reached out to the professor immediately…His email back to me was that he did say it, but it was in context of a case that he was talking about. According to him, he felt like he needed to explain more to the class and he was going to do that the very next day.”
Meanwhile, Zwier himself sent the following statement to CBS46 Wednesday night:
In today’s environment, with race-baiting language used by politicians both nationally and in Georgia and Florida, now is not the time for me to comment on what went on at Emory in my class. It would only be seen as doubling down or trying to create alternative facts, neither of which I want to do. Now is the time to condemn words that divide us rather than unite us, and in the words of John McCain, build walls rather than break them down. I fervently condemn racism and all of it ugliness, and join in on the calls at the rally today for us to be a better community, one that is accepting and respects the dignity of all.
Paul Zwier
The Black Law Students Association and student supporters held a unity rally to speak up against insensitivity Wednesday.
“It gives me hope that more than the people who are directly affected by this care, and that’s a step that Emory needed to take,” says student Savita Sivakumar.
Zwier was suspended by the university, who said in a statement that the use of any “racial slur in our community is unacceptable.”
The incident is currently under investigation by the Office of Equity and Inclusion. The university gave all of Zwier’s classes to another professor while they investigate what happened.
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