A New York City university professor was forced to apologize after she was busted on a hot mic making a “blatantly racist” remark about black students — as calls for her to be fired continued to escalate.
Allyson Friedman, an associate biology professor at Hunter College, sparked widespread fury after she inadvertently interrupted a black eighth-grade student’s concerns about the potential shutdown of her Upper West Side school during a public Community Education Council meeting on Feb 10.
“They’re too dumb to know they’re in a bad school,” Friedman reportedly said on Zoom while her mic was live.
Allyson Friedman, a Hunter College professor, sparked outrage with her comments made on a call about school closures. Hunter College“If you train a black person well enough, they’ll know to use the back,” she continued. “You don’t have to tell them anymore.”
Friedman, who was attending the meeting virtually as a parent, has since claimed she was actually trying to explain systematic racism to her own child “by referencing an example of an obviously racist trope” — but her full remarks weren’t completely audible.
“My complete comments make clear these abhorrent views are not my own, nor were they directed at any student or group,” Friedman told the New York 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,” she added.
The backlash against Friedman was swift as education officials blasted her remarks and as calls for her to be ousted from Hunter College continued to mount.
The comments left students horrified. CEC3“@Hunter_College must fire Allyson Friedman immediately,” City Council member Chi Osse said on X.
“@CUNY cannot apply one standard for political speech and another for explicit anti-clack racism. A university that moved swiftly to discipline pro-Palestine activism cannot turn around and excuse racist vitriol directed at black children.”
City Council education chair, Rita Joseph, ripped Friedman’s remarks as “blatantly racist and harmful.”
“During a moment when a student bravely decided to testify about their school community, Allyson Friedman chose to respond with dehumanizing and racist language,” Joseph said in a statement.
A Hunter College spokesperson described the remarks as “abhorrent.” Christopher Sadowski“These comments are vile, offensive and rooted in the same hateful ideology that has harmed generations of black and brown children in this country.”
“Let me be clear: I unequivocally condemn these racist remarks,” she added.
Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman Sigal also called Friedman out, saying it was “particularly despicable that these vile words were uttered while children were giving testimony at the meeting, exposing them to this hatred.”
Friedman has a PhD from NYU and researches and teaches cellular neurophysiology, which explores “the neural adaptations that are responsible for aberrant social behaviors,” according to her bio.
“It was a reprehensible comment and indicative of the exact kind of language that makes students feel as if they don’t belong in the public school system,” Mayor Mamdani said at an unrelated Brooklyn press conference Tuesday afternoon.
NYC Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels agreed saying that students deserve better and that they will be investigating the necessary next steps — stopping short of calling for the teacher to be fired.
