University professor fired for saying that her worst students are almost always Black

A university professor in the United States has been fired from her position after she said on a Zoom call that her poorest performing students are nearly always Black.

Professor Sandra Sellers who worked at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington DC told her colleague David Batson that she has an ‘angst’ every semester that her “lower ones” i.e. students that will achieve the lowest grades will be “Blacks.”

In a video of the call she says “I hate to say this. I end up having this angst every semester that a lot of my lower ones are Blacks. Happens almost every semester. And it’s like, oh come on. You get some really good ones, but there are also usually some that are just plain at the bottom. It drives me crazy.”

The clip has since been viewed thousands of times on social media and the university has since decided to fire Sellers, who had worked at the institution for 20 years. Batson, who didn’t say anything about Sellers’ remarks during the call has been placed on administrative leave.

ABC 7 News reports that the university’s office of diversity, equity and affirmative action are investigating what happened. The school added that it is taking “significant steps to ensure that all students in this class are fairly graded without input” from the aforementioned teachers.

Georgetown Law School Dean William Treanor released a statement about the incident on Thursday. In it, he said, “I recognize how hurtful this incident is to members of this class, to the members of the Black community, and to members of our community as a whole. I am committed to taking steps to support students through this and to addressing racism and bias wherever they appear. There is no place for bias in our grading process or anywhere in our community.”

In a resignation letter, Sellers said that she was “deeply sorry” for her “hurtful and misdirected remarks.” Batson is yet to release a statement.

More: The tweet that made me think of the realities of racial insensitivity in the guise of jokes