Prominent African-American scholar Dr. Carol Swain says she believes it is “totally appropriate” for white professors to use the “N-word” in academic contexts.
This comes amid multiple controversies at Canadian post-secondary institutions involving white professors and lecturers being cancelled for using the word in class as part of their curricula.
“I think it’s totally appropriate,” said Swain in an interview with True North. “Where you have free speech, I would hope that people would be able to use that (word).”
Swain says the “N-word” has evolved to have several meanings, and continues to be frequently used by black people.
She also previously wrote in a column for Arizona Daily Independent that it’s “impossible to teach African American history without dissecting the N-word and its complexity within and outside the black community.”
Swain told True North, “anyone can be cancelled over anything these days,” but she would hope that “a teacher who’s been teaching a subject for many many decades would not lose their job just because they don’t conform to what the latest politically correct standards are.”
The debate over the use of the “N-Word” in academic settings rose to prominence in Canada in the fall of 2020 after University of Ottawa professor Verushka Lieutenant-Duval was suspended for using the word in her Art and Gender class while explaining how certain marginalized groups have reclaimed slurs.
The white professor’s use of the word caused fury among students and left-wing activists, who rallied for her to be disciplined. Lieutenant-Duval says she was also doxxed by a disgruntled student. Her treatment was condemned by several politicians and scholars.
Meanwhile, a senior City of Markham human resources employee was placed on leave last month after she said and displayed the “N-word” in a presentation to George Brown College students.
CBC News reported that the lecturer was providing students with a real-world case study of two firefighters losing their jobs over offensive social media posts, and quoted one of the posts which contained the “N-word”. The latter led to students being triggered.
Following the incident, the college president offered students trauma counselling and told them they could file a human rights complaint.
Swain told True North she finds the cancelling of white professors and lecturers over their use of the “N-word” in an academic context to be “horrible,” adding that she feels reactions from woke students are knee-jerk.
“It’s the most hurtful word in the universe, yet it’s okay if black people use the word?”
Dr. Carol Swain is a former political science and law professor at Vanderbilt University and a former politics and public policy associate professor at Princeton University. She has become known in the United States for her vocal opposition to the Black Lives Matter organization and the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (EDI) agenda.
True North’s full interview with her will be released later this week.
