From Johns Hopkins:
https://www.jamesgmartin.center/2017/07/johns-hopkins-university-professor-treated-like-criminal/
It was an incredibly stupid thing to say. I love it how people say something awful and then to try to get away with it they claim “it was only a joke”.
I don’t know if the reaction by the college was correct. Would I have him back for another semester? No
I had to look up the James Martin Center for Academic Renewal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_G._Martin_Center_for_Academic_Renewal
Pretty stupid joke but not a fireable offense, IMO. People are just too sensitive nowadays.
I would love to hear Johns Hopkin’s version of the story. Somehow, I would guess that there’s more to this than one offensive “joke.”
Not a fireable offense in my estimation either. A warning yes.
That “joke” was in incredibly poor taste, and I don’t see how calling all Pakistanis terrorists as a “joke” (which is essentially what he did) contributes to a discussion of offshoring. A lot of people are oversensitive these days but yeah, that was a stupid and fairly offensive thing to say.
He seems to have a history of joking. I wish we had access to an official Hopkins report on this. I looked through four pages of google search and couldn’t find anything.
Here’s an article on the firing from the John Hopkins News-Letter:
http://www.jhunewsletter.com/2016/12/13/university-suspends-professor-for-hostile-classroom-environment/
Bertrand was an adjunct (IOW, non-tenured) professor who had made other racist jokes in the past.
At least one student complained about the Pakistani call center joke in the prior year. It also sounds like he didn’t do himself any favors by going on the offensive when he was told there would be an investigation.
I wonder if there is more to this story than meets the eye.
This story published just after the adjunct professor was suspended provides some additional context. Something serious must have prompted his removal from class shortly before the semester’s end.
His university did the right thing.
From the link in post 6::""Additionally, the administration had looked through past course evaluations of International Trade and found comments accusing Bertrand of being “a blatant racist.” "
The Hopkins student paper version of the story
You can find news reports with opposite spins on this story. I can’t find an official statement from JHU, though I would guess it exists and my research skills are just lacking.
Whatever else is going on, an adjunct with bad course evaluations, for whatever reason, may be let go. It was a year to year contract. I don’t think I have read enough to have an opinion on whether he should have been fired. I’m not even sure “fired” is the correct description.
He actually said “You all look the same to me” to a group of Asian students? And he would pick on them when talking about the Chinese economy?
Wow.
No wonder the university wanted to fire him, there’s no excuse for that kind of talk.
He seems to try and explain it as challenging the students to encourage them to think more deeply about controverial issues.
However, based on what I’ve read, I would certainly prefer not to pay for him to teach my children.
Since he wasn’t tenured, he knew the risks. Students had complained to him directly and to the administration.
Maybe the headline in the OP was his goal. He could have anticipated that outcome. Maybe he is a brave free speech fighter. I can spin too.
Free speech is wonderful. He’s legally entitled to be as much a bigot as he chooses.
But Johns Hopkins is under no obligation to pay him to be a bigot.
https://www.thefire.org/can-we-take-a-joke-new/
It seems to me this is a big issue.
To be clear, I do not want him teaching my children.
@Zinhead You found the story and posted it. What are your views?
Judging by the JHU Newsletter story…Good riddance.
An educator that is intentionally offensive, and tells students to “get over it” when they call out insensitive comments, is not creating an atmosphere for challenging beliefs. They’re just being rude.
@Snowball City - My view is the professor is an idiot for telling a joke like that in class. It is well known that many professional comedians will not play on college campuses anymore due to the hypersensitivity of today’s college students, and any professor that ignores that puts his career at risk.
I do find it interesting that the one case of a professor being fired is when he makes a culturally intensive joke about Pakistanis. There have been plenty of documented cases of liberal professors making fun of or saying derogatory things about Christians, Republicans or conservatives, but it seems impossible to fire any of them.