Professor no longer teaching education class after quoting the N-word during a lecture

A George Washington University professor recently stepped down from teaching “Anti-Racist STEM Education” after reading the N-word aloud during the class when discussing the 1964 Norman Rockwell painting The Problem We All Live With.

The incident occurred Jan. 18 at GWTeach University, the institution’s teacher training college geared towards STEM majors. The incident was brought to the attention of the university after students filed numerous complaints, as reported by The Hatchet.

Professor Alicia Bitler reportedly said the N-word during a discussion of the painting that depicts Ruby Bridges, the first African-American child to attend a white school in Louisiana. In the painting, the N-word can be clearly seen in the background in the form of graffiti on a wall.

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Alicia Bitler reportedly described the incident as an “oops-moment” soon after it happened. Bitler then continued to teach the class. Three days later, university officials acknowledged the students’ complaints.

Incidents like these have been around the country for years. In 2020, Campus Reform reported that a law professor at Emory University was suspended for using the N-word in an “academic context to illustrate the effect language has on the severity of a civil wrong” during a lecture. 

As reported by Inside Higher Ed, University of Southern California Professor Greg Patton was suspended for “saying a Chinese word that sounds like a racial slur in English” during a lecture on Chinese “filler words.”  

Unlike professor Bitler’s case, students signed a petition supporting and defending professor Patton. But even with support, Patton ended up apologizing, as Inside Higher Ed reported.

There has been no student support for professor Bitler, who has already apologized. 

In emails obtained by The Hatchet, Bitler apologized to the students through email the day of the incident, and in another email sent the next day said. 

“The more I am educating myself, the more I am becoming aware of how damaging it can be to hear that word in a space that is supposed to be safe,” she reportedly wrote. 

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University spokesperson Crystal Nosal wrote in an email quoted by The Hatchet, “The faculty member has asked to be relieved of their teaching responsibility in the class, and [the Graduate School of Education and Human Development] began actively assembling a number of options to minimize further disruption”.

Student blowback included a statement published by the GWU Black Student Union (BSU) via Instagram, condemning Bitler for using the N-word. 

“Derogatory expressions have no place in our community under any circumstances,” reads the statement. “BSU acknowledges the immense harm that was done to our community”.

Interim University President Mark Wrighton responded to the student’s complaints through a letter obtained by The Hatchet, which read, “I am deeply troubled by your expression of hurt, disappointment and frustration.”

Campus Reform has contacted Alicia Bitler, George Washington University, and BSU for comment. BSU declined to comment further on this issue. The article will be updated accordingly.