Shooting the Analyst

 

                Shooting the Analyst

Professor Sandra Sellers of Georgetown Law School, in what she thought was a private conversation with a fellow faculty member after a virtual class, said, after discussing the performance of a black student in her mediation class:

"You know what? I hate to say this, I end up having this angst every semester, that a lot of my lower ones are blacks. It happens almost every semester, and it’s like oh, come on. You know, we get some really good ones but there also are usually some of them that are just plain at the bottom."

Unbeknownst to the professors, the conversation was still being recorded and was uploaded, along with the rest of the class, into a digital database.

Georgetown Black Law Students Association (BLSA) became aware of the conversation and immediately BLSA claimed:

"These racist statements reveal not only Sellers’ beliefs about black students in her classes, but also how her racist thoughts have translated to racist actions. Professor Sellers’ bias has impacted the grades of black students in her classes historically, in her own words."

In fairness to Sellers, that looks like a bit of a reach. Sellers' statement looks like an observation, not a conclusion. No matter. Off with her head. Georgetown fired Professor Sellers and put the other professor on leave.

The lesson here is uncertain. Silence? Uninvolvement? Take no notice? And is the endpoint here that the Good Samaritan should turn a blind eye?