I am a university student, and have a professor who has some very retrograde ideas about a lot of minority groups. Over the course of only a couple of months she has spent a decent amount of class time pitching a fit about having to learn peoples' pronouns, expressing her frustration with indigenous rights movements in the place I live, and not bothering to learn the names of African American artists we study in class. She loves to open these discussions to the class and it always ends with everyone agreeing with her. I have spoken to one other not straight person in the class who says the teacher makes them uncomfortable, but they still tend to agree with the teacher on racial issues so I effectively have no allies in the class. I have taken to zoning out during group discussions in an attempt to disengage and not hear her tirades, but that may end up effecting my participation grade in the class. I am not sure how to engage, I leave that class every day feeling emotionally exhausted and angry. My displeasure is so evident to the people around me that my family have asked me to consider dropping out of University and attending a technical school instead. However, I don't think it's an issue with university, just with this class. Any advice on how to proceed would be greatly appreciated.
I'm sorry you have to endure this. If your university has an Ombudsman, you could file a complaint with that office and you should be able to do so confidentially. Your university might have a way of filing an anonymous complaint online. In the meantime, be sure to protect your GPA and try not to let your displeasure with the professor hurt your grade. I know that may not be easy. Perhaps take notes on exactly what the professor says, note the date and time. That may be used evidence. Good luck.
Thank you for the advice! Noting what she says is a good idea, except that I'm not sure that she isn't allowed to say what she says. As far as my grades are concerned, it doesn't help that she also isn't a good teacher. I think that her poor teaching might make a more convincing report against her if I do make one. Other students also seem to have issues with her teaching but not her ideologies, so maybe that is the most productive route to go?
Is it possible to get your schedule changed so that you can get a different teacher? Have you thought about withdrawing or dropping the class?
Yes but the issue is that I missed the no penalty drop date, since she hadn’t really shown what type of person she was at that point. I can’t withdraw from the class either, since it’ll affect my scholarship qualifications to have that on there. There are only like 6 weeks left in the semester, and after that I’m transferring to a different school, so I figured it would be for the best if I just stuck it out.
I would definitely report her and on the basis that she is racist and homophobic. It doesn't matter if others or most agree with her or stay silent. For me not standing up or remaining silent when you see something wrong occurring is as bad as being racist/homophobic. I would 100% write down or record what she says and make and official complaint and if the school didn't take it seriously I would hit above them. It's not about whether or not it bothers students it's about her inability to do her job properly without letting her racist/homophobic views impact her work and how she does her job. Reporting it is the only right thing to do imo.
Thanks for your input! I will definitely make a note of anything she says that is racist/ homophobic. I also learned just recently that one student in my class has already reported her for making homophobic comments directly to that student. The University hasn’t taken any action towards her yet but if my report will help that then I’ll certainly make it.
I'm all for standing up and pointing out she's wrong, but I also agree that you need to protect yourself and your GPA. Some professors/teachers can be very vindictive and twisted, screwing with the students' GPA simply because they can. You did say you have about 6 weeks left in the program. So maybe you can continue to gather evidence and write the complaint, but turn it in only in your last week or so? That way, your grades will be out of the professor's hand by the time the complaint goes through and the administration investigates (If they choose to).
Arg! Stuff like this really gets under my skin because I am an educator. Yes, at the high school level, but nonetheless. It's our job to educate and present facts in a neutral presentation. Could you imagine if I told my students that rap is stupid and going to corrupt their brains? Yes, we're always s going to have personal opinions about everything — this is normal human behavior. But you also should be able to learn in an environment that's not hostile. Your school should have a policy about creating a hostile environment. Is there an option of anonymously reporting her? If not, I'd maybe wait until closer to time for you to transfer then report so that hopefully she can't take it out on your grades.
Ah ok. Then I agree with the rest of theme. Just write down anything she says that’s homophobic and racist. And like on your last day or week, report it
I'm looking into reporting her. I agree that it's very unprofessional of her, but the university system where I live is very underfunded, and probably can't afford to replace her with a better teacher. It just makes me angry because on top of being unprofessional and ignorant, she isn't a very good teacher.
I've heard that she regularly deducts points from people who disagree with her, so I definitely am going to steer clear of direct conflict with her. My preference would be anonymous report to the head of her department if I can do that, I'll just have to figure out how.
Report her. True, protect yourself, but definitely report her. You think underfunding is bad? What do you think would happen if someone in that class is very sensitive, and ends up committing suicide or doing the school shooting thing? Her attitude is dangerous. If you could, I'd make sure to record a bit of her rhetoric, so there's undeniable proof. Yes, there's witnesses, but they may not come forward. Send the proof and a letter of complaint.