Gordon Klein, an accounting professor in the Anderson School of Business has taught at University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) for almost 40 years. He is now suspended and under police protection in his home. The reason? Klein refused to exempt black students from his final exam and sent a pointed rebuttal to students asking for the “no harm” exam. Parts of the response was certainly mocking in tone, more so than I would have considered appropriate. The school has launched a formal discrimination investigation. However, the suspension, investigation, and death threats against Klein reinforce the fear of many in the academy of a raising orthodoxy on campus and a lack of support for faculty involved in controversies.
According to
Inside Higher Ed, a group of students asked Klein for a “no-harm” final exam that could only benefit students’ grades as well as shortened exams and extended deadlines. They cited recent “traumas, we have been placed in a position where we much choose between actively supporting our black classmates or focusing on finishing up our spring quarter . . . We believe that remaining neutral in times of injustice brings power to the oppressor and therefore staying silent is not an option.”
Gordon Klein, an accounting professor in the Anderson School of Business, has taught at University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) for almost 40 years. He is now suspended and under police protec…
jonathanturley.org
Poor me. Gimmee,gimmee, gimme.
Gordon Klein, an accounting professor in the Anderson School of Business has taught at University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) for almost 40 years. He is now suspended and under police protection in his home. The reason? Klein refused to exempt black students from his final exam and sent a pointed rebuttal to students asking for the “no harm” exam. Parts of the response was certainly mocking in tone, more so than I would have considered appropriate. The school has launched a formal discrimination investigation. However, the suspension, investigation, and death threats against Klein reinforce the fear of many in the academy of a raising orthodoxy on campus and a lack of support for faculty involved in controversies.
According to
Inside Higher Ed, a group of students asked Klein for a “no-harm” final exam that could only benefit students’ grades as well as shortened exams and extended deadlines. They cited recent “traumas, we have been placed in a position where we much choose between actively supporting our black classmates or focusing on finishing up our spring quarter . . . We believe that remaining neutral in times of injustice brings power to the oppressor and therefore staying silent is not an option.”
Gordon Klein, an accounting professor in the Anderson School of Business, has taught at University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) for almost 40 years. He is now suspended and under police protec…
jonathanturley.org
Poor me. Gimmee,gimmee, gimme.
I'm surprised at the level of snark from an accountant, not surprised that he didn't realize it wouldn't go over very well.
He actually asked accounting questions about heritage, apparently he hasn't seen many of them
It was really on brand for an accounting teacher i liked it
kids shoulda just asked for no harm exams period.
An excerpt form the article (which comes from screen shots i'm too lazy to find)
Referring to the May 25 murder of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who was restrained by police in Minneapolis, Klein responded, “Thanks for your suggestion in your email below that I give black students special treatment, given the tragedy in Minnesota.”
“Do you know the names of the classmates that are black?” he asked. “How can I identify them since we've been having online classes only?”
Are there any students who “may be of mixed parentage, such as half black-half Asian?” Klein continued. “What do you suggest I do with respect to them? A full concession or just half?”
Asking if any students in the class were from Minneapolis, Klein said “a white student from there might be possibly even more devastated by this, especially because some might think that they're racist even if they are not. My TA is from Minneapolis, so if you don't know, I can probably ask her.”
Requesting guidance -- apparently facetiously -- on the “‘no-harm’ outcome, since our sole course grade is from a final exam only,” Klein next invoked Martin Luther King Jr.
“Remember that MLK famously said that people should not be evaluated based on the ‘color of their skin.’ Do you think that your request would run afoul of MLK's admonition?”
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