Hunter College Prof Placed on Leave for “Abhorrent” Hot Mic Comment During DOE Meeting

A Hunter College professor who made what appeared to be “abhorrent” racist comments during a Department of Education meeting about school closures has been placed on leave while the college investigates the incident further.

Hunter college President Nancy Cantor said, “abhorrent remarks were heard coming from a district parent who also is a Hunter employee.”

The person who made the remarks is a tenured adjunct biology professor, Allyson Friedman who was at the meeting with her daughter, who is a student at the school. “Pending the outcome of our investigation, the employee has been placed on leave,” Cantor said.

The uproar began during a Community Education Council meeting discussing proposed school closures. One of the students, who attendees said was Black, spoke up during the meeting to protest the planned shutdown of her school.

Friedman who was at the meeting as a parent, was overheard on her mic saying, “They’re too dumb to know they’re in a bad school.” Unaware that her microphone was not muted, she proceeded to say, “If you train a Black person well enough, they’ll know to use the back...you don’t have to tell them anymore.”

She has since said the hot mic picked up only part of the comments.

The comment appeared to be related to a previous one made by the local school district’s interim acting superintendent, Reginald Higgins. He was speaking about Carter G. Woodson, a scholar of Black history, who said, “If you make a man think that he is justly an outcast, you do not have to order him to the back door. He will go without being told.”

Some at the meeting covered their mouths or widened their eyes in disbelief at the comment loudly broadcast at the meeting. One of the attendees cut in to say, “Allyson Friedman, what you’re saying is absolutely hearable here. You’ve got to stop.” Dr. Friedman’s mic went silent, as did the voices of the rest of the attendees.

Community Educational Council 3, the DOE district that covers northern Manhattan, sent out a statement saying, “CEC3 unequivocally condemns the remarks made during the meeting. They do not represent the values, mission, or principles that guide our work.”

Manhattan borough president Brad Hoylman-Sigal said the remarks were anti-Black, calling it “particularly despicable” that children were forced to be exposed “to this hatred.” Additionally, chair of the City Council’s education committee and former teacher Eric Dinowitz said that “these racist comments are horrendous,” and urged the Education Department to “address broader issues of racism within our school communities.”

Dr. Friedman, a tenured associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, said in an emailed statement that the hot mic had only picked up a portion of her comments. She insisted she was pointing out the problem of racial tropes to her daughter, but was not endorsing them. “My complete comments make clear these abhorrent views are not my own, nor were they directed at any student or group,” Dr. Friedman said. “I fully support these courageous students in their efforts to stop school closures.” She also claimed that she was “referencing an example of an obviously racist trope” and that only a segment of the conversation was picked up due to microphone issues.

The city recently proposed moving the Center School to a new campus. This move would result in P.S./I.S. 191, the school that occupies the building now, losing its middle school grades. Rita Joseph, a Black city council member, commented on the issue, “We cannot talk about school closures, equity or educational opportunity without confronting the culture and systems that devalue Black students and communities.”