Fire Hunter College Professor Allyson Friedman For Racist Remarks
Fire Hunter College Professor Allyson Friedman For Racist Remarks
The Issue
"Officials of the Upper West Side School District 3 posted a video this week of a meeting earlier this month in which a racist remark was made by an adult as a child was speaking. The February 10th meeting related to schools on the Upper West Side, and the remark prompted a response from the New York City Department of Education.
The comment came during a hybrid meeting concerning the possible relocation or closureof three Upper West Side schools — The Center School, The Riverside School for Makers and Artists, and the Community Action School. Participants, some in person at the Joan of Arc school building at 154 West 93rd Street, and many others on Zoom, were parents, students, and teachers of all three schools. The session was hosted by the Community Education Council for the UWS’s School District 3, along with members of the Department of Education, including neighborhood Superintendent Reginald Higgins; the CEC posted the video on its siteon Wednesday.
As an eighth-grade student from the Community Action School was speaking about not wanting to lose her school, the following remarks were made by a person seemingly unaware that the meeting’s participants could hear them:
“They’re too dumb to know they’re in a bad school,” the voice said. “If you train a Black person well enough, they’ll know to use the back. You don’t have to tell them anymore.” There were a handful of words WSR was not able to make out between the first and second sentence quoted above
In the video of the Zoom call, the faces of several participants register shock. An organizer of the meeting can be heard telling the speaker: “What you’re saying is absolutely hearable here, you’ve got to stop.”
Immediately after that, the video goes silent for 14 seconds.
“I’m sorry sweetie, go ahead baby, I’m sorry,” a woman then said to the child, who finished her remarks with, “We might not be able to have these safe spaces anymore and we should be able to keep our school open.”
Allyson Friedman, a professor at Hunter College, sent a statement in an email to West Side Rag at 6 p.m. on Saturday acknowledging she was the one who made the remarks at the Upper West Side schools meeting on February 10 that have been condemned by various schools officials, including members of the New York City Department of Education."
People who make remarks like these should not be in positions of power like this. Racism is never okay, and I want and need Hunter College to be a safe space for ALL students, and this includes people of color!
3,252
The Issue
"Officials of the Upper West Side School District 3 posted a video this week of a meeting earlier this month in which a racist remark was made by an adult as a child was speaking. The February 10th meeting related to schools on the Upper West Side, and the remark prompted a response from the New York City Department of Education.
The comment came during a hybrid meeting concerning the possible relocation or closureof three Upper West Side schools — The Center School, The Riverside School for Makers and Artists, and the Community Action School. Participants, some in person at the Joan of Arc school building at 154 West 93rd Street, and many others on Zoom, were parents, students, and teachers of all three schools. The session was hosted by the Community Education Council for the UWS’s School District 3, along with members of the Department of Education, including neighborhood Superintendent Reginald Higgins; the CEC posted the video on its siteon Wednesday.
As an eighth-grade student from the Community Action School was speaking about not wanting to lose her school, the following remarks were made by a person seemingly unaware that the meeting’s participants could hear them:
“They’re too dumb to know they’re in a bad school,” the voice said. “If you train a Black person well enough, they’ll know to use the back. You don’t have to tell them anymore.” There were a handful of words WSR was not able to make out between the first and second sentence quoted above
In the video of the Zoom call, the faces of several participants register shock. An organizer of the meeting can be heard telling the speaker: “What you’re saying is absolutely hearable here, you’ve got to stop.”
Immediately after that, the video goes silent for 14 seconds.
“I’m sorry sweetie, go ahead baby, I’m sorry,” a woman then said to the child, who finished her remarks with, “We might not be able to have these safe spaces anymore and we should be able to keep our school open.”
Allyson Friedman, a professor at Hunter College, sent a statement in an email to West Side Rag at 6 p.m. on Saturday acknowledging she was the one who made the remarks at the Upper West Side schools meeting on February 10 that have been condemned by various schools officials, including members of the New York City Department of Education."
People who make remarks like these should not be in positions of power like this. Racism is never okay, and I want and need Hunter College to be a safe space for ALL students, and this includes people of color!
3,252
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Petition created on February 22, 2026