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Prof Allegedly Fired for Reading Racial Slur From Anti-Slavery Novel by Mark Twain

Prof Allegedly Fired for Reading Racial Slur From Anti-Slavery Novel by Mark Twain

“I apologize if I made anyone uncomfortable in the class by using a slur when quoting from and discussing the text”

The left is making it clear that this word cannot be used, even in a setting that is clearly against the historic use of the word.

The New York Post reports:

St. John’s professor allegedly fired for reading racial slur from Mark Twain book

In a twist worthy of Mark Twain himself, a St. John’s University professor has been fired for reading a passage containing the N-word from Twain’s anti-slavery novel “Pudd’nhead Wilson” in her “Literature of Satire” class.

Hannah Berliner Fischthal, an adjunct instructor at the Catholic college in Queens for 20 years, uttered the N-word once during a remote class Feb. 10 — after she first explained to students the context of the word and said she hoped it would not offend anyone.

“Mark Twain was one of the first American writers to use actual dialect,” Fischthal said. “His use of the ‘N-word’ is used only in dialogues as it could have actually been spoken in the south before the civil war, when the story takes place.”

The day after the class, however, she got an email from a student who said she had to “abruptly” leave the call because of Fischthal’s use of an “inappropriate slur.”

“It was unnecessary and very painful to hear,” the student wrote in the email seen by The Post.

Fischthal apologized to the student in an email and set up a private discussion online about the issue that she titled “Insensitive Language.”

“I apologize if I made anyone uncomfortable in the class by using a slur when quoting from and discussing the text,” Fischthal wrote. “Please do share your thoughts.”…

On March 5 she was suspended pending an investigation she had violated the university’s policy against bias. On April 29 she was fired.

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Comments

Under the New Woke Order, we would never again see any course titled “Literature of Satire.”

Maybe the prof should have just sent the child a link to a definition of “context.”

I wonder how such students manage to go through life without ever hearing a rap song or a street conversation?

    henrybowman in reply to markm. | May 17, 2021 at 10:24 am

    So we can be pretty sure now that the student was either Amish or Mormon. Check.

    civisamericanus in reply to markm. | May 17, 2021 at 4:55 pm

    I was once on a bus with a lot of Black people, and I heard a guy behind me saying the N word over and over. The Black people seemed to be ignoring him, and I tried to do so as well but, when I finally took a glance to find what I expected to be a sheet and hood, discovered it to be another Black person reciting rap lyrics.

The issue is that she is likely a white professor who said it, and she isn’t allowed to. Much the same as blacks killed by other blacks (90%) don’t count and only those who are killed by a white (often commiting a crime) are allowed to have their names said in public.

Did I get that right? There are just so many more rules that I need to follow these days, made especially difficult by the lack of logic used when establishing them.

henrybowman | May 17, 2021 at 10:23 am

“after she first explained to students the context of the word and said she hoped it would not offend anyone.”

Why didn’t she just say, “Turn on your screen recording software now, I’m jonesing to collect some sweet, sweet unemployment.”

“a student who said she had to “abruptly” leave the call because of Fischthal’s use of an “inappropriate slur.”

Wow, a “rap virgin.” Raise your hand if you believe her.

civisamericanus | May 17, 2021 at 4:56 pm

Maybe they should cancel Uncle Tom’s Cabin because it also features the N word (usually spoken by racist slave owners). That was of course the novel that drew widespread attention to the evils of slavery, but don’t let that stop the woke snowflakes.

Pepsi_Freak | May 18, 2021 at 12:21 am

If this college student is such a precious snowflake that she comes totally unglued on hearing a word used in an educative context (rather than a disparaging or insulting context) perhaps she isn’t ready to be on her own in the real world.

Does the fired faculty member have a cause of action against the complaining student for tortious interference with contract?

Why in the world would any person capable of independent thought ever spend a nickel at a university where reading Mark Twain is cause for dismissal.

Hannah, you are better off without these people. Ignorance has a way of coming back to bite. This snowflake will be completely unable to take the heat.