Class Canceled After Princeton Univ. Professor Used Racial Slur

A class on "offensive speech" was canceled this week after a Princeton University professor used a racial slur, according to the university.

Lawrence Rosen, the professor who used a racial slur during a class this past week, announced Monday that the course will be canceled, according to the University Press Club. The UPC group is a collection of undergraduate students who write professionally for regional and national newspapers and magazines.

“I have reluctantly decided to cancel this year’s offering of Anthropology 212,” Rosen wrote in an announcement to students in the class that was published in a UPC blog post.

The cancellation came after backlash from students and others in the Princeton community, even as the university defended him in a statement released to the media:

"The values of free speech and inclusivity are central to Princeton University's mission and critical to the education we provide to our students, including in Anthropology 212. The conversations and disagreements that took place in the seminar led by Prof. Rosen (last week) are part of the vigorous engagement and robust debate that are central to what we do."

Four students walked out of Rosen's anthropology class on Feb. 6 after he used the n-word multiple times during a lecture on free speech, according to DailyPrincetonian.com.

"What is worse, a white man punching a black man, or a white man calling a black man a n----r?" Rosen said, according to the Daily Princetonian.

Rosen made the decision to cancel the course, acting University spokesperson Michael Hotchkiss wrote in a statement to the UPC. “There was no pressure from the University,” Hotchkiss wrote.

The UPC noted that many students objected to Rosen’s use of the word, saying that it was offensive and prevented them from learning.

Carolyn Rouse, chair of the anthropology department, defended Rosen in an editorial published by The Daily Princetonian: "I write to provide important context to the events reported on Feb. 7 in The Daily Princetonian story 'Students walk out of anthropology lecture after professor uses the word 'n****r.' "

Rosen, according to Princeton University's website, is a professor of anthropology who is both an anthropologist and a lawyer. His main interests are in the relation between cultural concepts and their implementation in social and legal relationships.

Here is a video of him discussing "communicating across cultures:"

YouTube photo/video