- A lecturer at
UCLA 's Anderson School of Management has been placed on leave after students condemned his response to a request for final exam accommodations amid nationwide protests following the death ofGeorge Floyd . - A screenshot of Gordon Klein's email to a student revealed that the accounting lecturer viewed granting academic accommodations to black students as "special treatment" — and was antithetical to the values of Martin Luther King Jr.
- After screenshots of the email made waves on Twitter, one UCLA student started a petition to have Klein fired for his "woefully racist" response.
- UCLA told Insider that allegations of conduct involving discrimination, harassment, or retaliation are investigated and addressed in published reports on complaints.
A UCLA lecturer in the Anderson School of Management has been placed on leave and his classes have been reassigned following a student-led online campaign to have him removed from his position. Gordon Klein, who is listed as a Lecturer in Accounting on his faculty page, outraged members of the UCLA community after responding sarcastically to students' requests for academic accommodations amid ongoing nationwide protests over the death of George Floyd, NBC News reported.
"The lecturer is on leave from campus and his classes have been reassigned to other faculty," the Anderson School of Management confirmed in a statement to Insider.
"Due to confidentiality and privacy laws and concerns, we are unable to comment further on this matter at this time," the statement continued. "That said, UCLA and UCLA Anderson are committed to creating a learning, working, and living environment that is free from discrimination, harassment, or retaliation."
The controversy surrounding Klein's behavior began in early June when Cydni Willhite, a second-year UCLA student studying English, received a screenshot of an email from Klein and shared it on Twitter.
The screenshot, which Willhite received through a group chat for black students, revealed that Klein responded to a student's request for final exam accommodations during a time of civil unrest by sarcastically thanking the sender for suggesting that he give black students "special treatment." He then asked how he should identify the black students, and if students of "mixed parentage" should be given "full concession" or half.
Klein went on to ask if accommodations should apply to students from Minneapolis and white students who might "possibly be even more devastated by this, especially because some might think they're racist even if they are not."
"One last thing strikes me: remember that MLK famously said that people should not be evaluated based on 'the color of their skin,'" the email concluded. "Do you think that your request would run afoul of MLK's admonition?"
Klein, NBC reported, said he was following the orders of his direct supervisor by denying the request, adding that he has extended or eliminated final exams under extraordinary circumstances in the past.
"When I was sent the screenshot, it truly disgusted me. When you're Black, it's very easy to sense micro-aggressions and condescending messages, even through email," Willhite told Insider. "A simple 'no' would have sufficed, but the fact that Klein used certain diction to try to infer that he was giving 'special treatment' to Black students by [providing] slight accommodations to a final was absolutely ridiculous."
Willhite added that she reported the email to the university along with several other instances of
"I know a lot of media attention is the ONLY way Black people are given some type of justice," she explained.
—cyd (@willhitecydni) June 3, 2020
Within a day of posting the screenshot, Willhite's tweet was liked and re-shared over 1,000 times, the Daily Bruin reported.
After seeing the tweet, Preet Bains, a fourth-year UCLA student, looked into the matter further.
After doing some investigating, he got in touch with the student who originally contacted Klein and read over the correspondence. The original email, which Klein told NBC and Bains confirmed to Insider, was sent by non-black students.
"We are writing to express our tremendous concern about the impact that this final exam and project will have on the mental and physical health of our Black classmates. The unjust murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd, the life-threatening actions of Amy Cooper, and the violent conduct of the UCPD in our own neighborhood have led to fear and anxiety which is further compounded by the disproportionate effect of COVID-19 on the Black community," the email text, which Bains provided to Insider, reads. "As we approach finals week, we recognize that these conditions will place Black students at an unfair academic disadvantage due to traumatic circumstances out of their control. We cannot begin to understand the pain that our Black classmates are going through. As we work to advocate in our communities and become better allies, we ask that you, as administration, do your part and prioritize equity in our learning environment."
The email went on to request that Klein's final exam be "structured as no-harm," where it would only benefit students' grades if taken. Additionally, the email requested "shortened exams" and extended deadlines for final projects.
"We believe that remaining neutral in times of injustice brings power to the oppressor, and therefore, staying silent is not an option. This is not a joint effort to get finals canceled for non-Black students, but rather an ask that you exercise compassion and leniency with Black students in our major," the email concludes. "The voices of the student body demand action within our academic environment, and we would be grateful to hear from you regarding the ways our department will respond."
As the widely circulated screenshots suggest, Klein responded sarcastically and suggested that the request was antithetical to the principles of Martin Luther King Jr.
"On top of his uncalled for sarcasm and mockery, I thought his email was disrespectful to all students and people who are currently fighting to end systemic racism in America. As a professor at such a prestigious institution and in a position of influence, he should have been more cognizant of the current civil unrest," Bains said. "But the most inflammatory statement he made was suggesting that a white person accused of racism might be going through a more difficult time than a black person."
The response, which Bains described as a "complete disconnect from reality," inspired him to start a change.org petition calling for Klein's firing.
"We ask for your support in having Professor Klein's professorship terminated for his extremely insensitive, dismissive, and woefully racist response to his students' request for empathy and compassion during a time of civil unrest," the petition reads.
The petition goes on to say that Klein's behavior is "not reflective of the equity, respect, and justice that UCLA stands for as an institution." It even references the quote listed on Klein's faculty page — "Learning accounting or any quantitative discipline, without a concomitant emphasis on ethical behavior, is not a true
The petition has received over 20,000 signatures as of Wednesday morning — and its supporters have circulated the link on Twitter.
— (@gabrielitaa___) June 3, 2020
Bains says that while the petition has inevitably solicited the feedback of some "critics and trolls," he's "really proud" of his fellow students who have spoken out against Klein's behavior.
Amid the intense online backlash, UCLA is investigating the situation. All reports of discrimination, harassment, or retaliation, UCLA's Anderson School of Management said in a statement to Insider, are "carefully and impartially reviewed."
"The Discrimination Prevention Office and Title IX Office process all such claims in accordance with published procedures that protect both the integrity of the investigation and the due process interests of all parties," the statement reads. "These offices take every report seriously while ensuring that no case is prejudged. To promote transparency, the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion also publishes annual public reports with aggregated data on complaints, investigations, and findings."
While Bains says he's been pleased "so far" with the University's response in placing Klein on leave and conducting an investigation, Willhite wants to see more action.
"When it comes to underrepresented communities on campus, I don't feel as though UCLA puts their best foot forward like they do for the majority on their campus. It goes to show how little UCLA cares about not only the Black community but other minority groups on campus as well," Willhite said. "Only placing Klein on leave when he has negative reviews from past AND present students about his behavior in the classroom is ridiculous."
She added that UCLA's handling of the lecturer "will never be sufficient until he's fired" and that she believes the university's decision to place Klein on leave was only based on public outrage.
"They don't do ANYTHING unless they're bombarded," she said. "Things like this shouldn't happen — care about the well-being of ALL your students, especially when we pay you thousands every year to ensure we're receiving the best of the best. It's just principle."
Gordon Klein did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
Read more:
Police brutality imagery on social media can cause lasting trauma, especially for black people