‘I recognize these comments caused harm and pain, while that was not my intent I do truly apologize’

Hunter College leaders are reviewing an incident regarding a tenured professor who was recently caught on a hot mic disparaging the intelligence of black students.

“Even as these remarks were made in the individual’s role as a private citizen … Hunter College is reviewing the situation under the university’s applicable conduct and nondiscrimination policies,” the school wrote in a statement obtained by the New York Post.

The controversy began during a Feb. 10 Community Education Council meeting “at which public school families on Manhattan’s West Side debated a contentious proposal by Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration to close or relocate several schools,” the New York Times reported.

As a black student addressed the meeting, praising her teachers and speaking against the closure of her school, Professor Allyson Friedman could be heard saying “they’re too dumb to know they’re in a bad school,” according to a recording of the meeting.

“She was attending virtually and was unaware that her microphone was turned on,” the Times reported, noting Friedman continued saying, “If you train a Black person well enough, they’ll know to use the back. You don’t have to tell them anymore.”

In a statement to the Times, Friedman, an associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, said her comments were taken out of context. She said she was “trying to explain the concept of systemic racism” to her child, who was in the room with her, “by referencing an example of an obviously racist trope.”

“My complete comments make clear these abhorrent views are not my own, nor were they directed at any student or group,” Friedman told the Times. “I fully support these courageous students in their efforts to stop school closures.”

“However, I recognize these comments caused harm and pain, while that was not my intent I do truly apologize.”

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