Grad Professor asks Chinese students to Speak English only

[DolphinGremlin]

Duke professor warns Chinese students: Speak English on campus or face ‘unintended consequences’

 

 

A Duke University professor stepped down from her position as director of graduate studies in the biostatistics department after an email she sent discouraging Chinese students from speaking in their native tongue went viral. (iStock)

By Amy B Wang

January 27 at 6:18 PM

The email that landed Saturday afternoon in dozens of Duke University students' inboxes — but that would soon spread across the world — started out innocuously enough.

“Something to think about . .. †the subject line read.

The sender was Megan Neely, an assistant professor at Duke and then-director of graduate studies in the biostatistics department. The message was addressed to all first- and second-year biostatistics graduate students at the North Carolina university.

Neely said in the email that two faculty members had visited her office earlier that day, asking for pictures of biostatistics graduate students. She said she obliged, then asked why they wanted to know.

According to Neely, her colleagues wanted to identify students they had observed “speaking Chinese (in their words, VERY LOUDLY)†in the student lounge and study areas.

“Both faculty members replied that they wanted to write down the names so they could remember them if the students ever interviewed for an internship or asked to work with them for a master’s project,†she wrote.

Neely underlined the next part of her email in bold: “They were disappointed that these students were not taking the opportunity to improve their English and were being so impolite as to have a conversation that not everyone on the floor could understand.â€

If the implication wasn’t clear enough — that Neely was encouraging students to speak only English or else face unseen barriers to future opportunities within the department — she spelled it out in her next paragraph:

Neely closed her message by noting she was copying second-year biostatistics graduate students on the email “as a reminder†because they were in the process of applying for jobs.

“To international students, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE keep these unintended consequences in mind when you choose to speak in Chinese in the building. I have no idea how hard it has been and still is for you to come to the US and have to learn in a non-native language. As such, I have the upmost [sic] respect for what you are doing. That being said, I encourage you to commit to using English 100% of the time when you are in Hock or any other professional setting.â€

 

“Happy to discuss more,†she wrote. “Just stop by my office.â€

Images of Neely’s email soon hit the Internet and were widely shared, sparking outrage. Many pointed out that the students were conversing with one another during what appeared to be their own time, outside the classroom — and that the United States does not have an official language anyway.

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Others accused Neely and the unnamed faculty members of racial discrimination and questioned whether the students had been targeted because they were speaking Chinese as opposed to another foreign language.

“I’m an international student. Let’s guess how many times I’ve been asked not to speak French,†one Twitter user wrote, appending three eye-roll emoji to the message.

Mary E. Klotman, dean of the Duke University School of Medicine, emailed all biostatistics graduate students on Saturday to say Neely had “asked to step down†as director of graduate studies for the master’s program, effective immediately, and would be replaced by an interim director.

Klotman said she had asked Duke’s office of institutional equity to conduct a thorough review of the master’s program, adding a “personal pledge†that the matter would be “addressed quickly and sensitively.â€

“I understand that many of you felt hurt and angered by this message,†she wrote. “To be clear: there is absolutely no restriction or limitation on the language you use to converse and communicate with each other. Your career opportunities and recommendations will not in any way be influenced by the language you use outside the classroom. And your privacy will always be protected.â€

Duke spokesman Michael Schoenfeld confirmed in an email to The Washington Post that the images of Neely’s email Saturday were legitimate. He also confirmed that images of an additional email from Neely that had surfaced, from February 2018, were legitimate and under review. 

 

 

In a February 2018 message to biostatistics students (subject line: “To Speak English or To Not Speak English . . ."), Neely said faculty members were complaining about international students not speaking English in the department’s break rooms, although she did not specify the offending foreign language or languages.

“I don’t like being the language police, but I have gotten these comments enough times in the past few weeks that I feel like I should share them with you,†Neely wrote then, noting that the most recent complaint was from the department chair. “Beyond the obvious opportunity to practice and perfect your English, speaking in your native language in the department may give faculty the impression that you are not trying to improve your English skills and that you are not taking this opportunity seriously.â€

She again warned that not speaking English could have the “potential downstream effects†of not getting research opportunities in the program, because faculty members would be hesitant to hire international students.

Neither Neely nor the biostatistics department chair responded to requests for comment Sunday.

Asked whether any action would be taken against the unnamed faculty members who were complaining about students not speaking English, Schoenfeld said the matter would be part of the university’s review.

By Sunday, news of the email had spread on Weibo, a Chinese social media site similar to Twitter, with the hashtag “Duke University bans speaking Chinese†viewed more than 6.7 million times on the platform, according to the South China Morning Post.

Stateside, a petition started by “concerned students†at Duke urging the university to investigate Neely’s emails and the unnamed faculty members had more than 1,900 signatures as of Sunday afternoon.

“We are disheartened . . . when Duke’s faculty members implied that students of diverse national origin would be punished in academic and employment opportunities for speaking in their native language outside of classroom settings,†the petition stated. “We are demoralized even more that a Duke graduate program director explicitly condones and even encourages such discriminatory practices by our faculty members.â€

 

 

[BakedOrbit]

you have to be extremely close minded to think this way.. and an idiot to try to make it a rule.

I speak spanish and when there were exchange students from english speaking countries in my campus. i would take every opportunity to practice with them and they also practiced their spanish with me. This is so fucked up.

[Ddeona Oneul Bame]

Whew, this professor would hate my campus~

[Susu]

Thats discrimination and those students should sue Duke and that Professor. wtf  

[DolphinGremlin]

Honestly, it's freaking so wrong and inappropriate. I went here for undergrad which makes this news even more disappointing. This absolutely bigoted woman and the other faculty members who wanted to take names should all be fired immediately. You can't ban people from speaking their native languages. What makes me mad is this woman should be a representative for the students and represent their interests given her position. But she did the exact opposite. 

[OutroTear]

this is gross

[LaLisaMakesUSingLaaa]

Absolutely disgusting behaviour coming from a professor.  Telling students to not speak their own language is wrong. If it's to make them better english speakers still it's disgusting. 

[Rose.]

It's not as bad as that person that ranted about Asians in UCLA

 

The respond to that is just as hilarious

 

 

[YuMing]

 

 

Neely underlined the next part of her email in bold: “They were disappointed that these students were not taking the opportunity to improve their English and were being so impolite as to have a conversation that not everyone on the floor could understand.â€

 

"impolite" LMFAO yeah as if everyone on the floor needs to understand what everyone else is saying all the time

 

 

 

“To be clear: there is absolutely no restriction or limitation on the language you use to converse and communicate with each other. Your career opportunities and recommendations will not in any way be influenced by the language you use outside the classroom. And your privacy will always be protected.â€

 

“Beyond the obvious opportunity to practice and perfect your English, speaking in your native language in the department may give faculty the impression that you are not trying to improve your English skills and that you are not taking this opportunity seriously.â€

She again warned that not speaking English could have the “potential downstream effects†of not getting research opportunities in the program, because faculty members would be hesitant to hire international students.

 

"Your career opportunities and recommendations will not in any way be influenced by the language you use outside the classroom." 

 

r i g h t

[Fatalite]

It's not as bad as that person that ranted about Asians in UCLA

 

The respond to that is just as hilarious

 

 

 

I'd say it's even worse because this is coming from a professor plus two other faculty members who might be in charge of acceptances for internships and jobs

[YuMing]

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-47022374

 

and she's gone

[JihyoStoleMyHeartAYAYAY]

  

[Pseudo]

This exclusion? At a top level university? BEFORE tenure? Bad move, sis.

 

That said, this attitude isn't anywhere near uncommon in the south where this professor grew up and studied. As an Asian guy myself who speaks Viet with his family in public, I get it's frustrating to not be able to understand a language, but try to understand other people's points of view too. Being away from home and not being able to speak a language you're fluent in all the time can be hard and finding other people who can speak your own is a major relief. International students and immigrants don't owe it to anyone to speak in a language a native is "comfortable" with. 

[Rose.]

I'd say it's even worse because this is coming from a professor plus two other faculty members who might be in charge of acceptances for internships and jobs

At least she's been requested to step down.

 

I'm pretty sure the woman felt that they were talking about her, but then again, she could have also directed it to every foreign student 

[ChooChoo]

Ok as long as all Americans in other countries speak the native language all the time 

[DolphinGremlin]

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-47022374

 

and she's gone

 

I read the bottom half of the article where some Chinese students said she was not racist. But even if that's true, if two faculty members are complaining about grad students speaking in Chinese, why would you go and try to help punish those Chinese students? That makes you complicit. 

[YuMing]

I read the bottom half of the article where some Chinese students said she was not racist. But even if that's true, if two faculty members are complaining about grad students speaking in Chinese, why would you go and try to help punish those Chinese students? That makes you complicit. 

 

exactly, she didn't do anything to stop the complaining students and instead encouraged them (apparently more than once)

 

anyways I doubt she was "flat-out" racist but she definitely has some questionable views on things, and she sent more than one email on the subject so it's not just a one time accident either

[DolphinGremlin]

exactly, she didn't do anything to stop the complaining students and instead encouraged them (apparently more than once)

 

anyways I doubt she was "flat-out" racist but she definitely has some questionable views on things, and she sent more than one email on the subject so it's not just a one time accident either

 

She sent two emails. I have no idea what she is thinking. Like what??? She honestly could have handled this far differently. Just saying whoever is speaking loudly in the break room, can you please tone it down. Instead of you shouldn't speak your native language at all and I'm taking your names down to affect possibly your future careers. 

[DolphinGremlin]

It's not as bad as that person that ranted about Asians in UCLA

 

The respond to that is just as hilarious

 

 

 

I actually watch some of this guy's videos. He's really funny.

 

Honestly, why the heck did UCLA even admit this girl into their school? Even more confusing, why attend UCLA which is full of Asians when you don't like Asians in the first place???

[YuMing]

She sent two emails. I have no idea what she is thinking. Like what??? She honestly could have handled this far differently. Just saying whoever is speaking loudly in the break room, can you please tone it down. Instead of you shouldn't speak your native language at all and I'm taking your names down to affect possibly your future careers. 

 

exactly lmao

[JunChanHun]

This is no different from my old high school when a teacher told some Spanish-speaking students who talked in Spanish with each other, to speak English.

[Raosei]

It's their own break time why can't they speak Chinese? They only speak Chinese with each other and switch to English when they have to, why is she implying that it's rude and also that their English isn't good so they have to speak it all the time? That's unnecessary.

[SWASH]

If I had power I'd revoke this professor's title for racial discrimination.

[Oli London]

It's a free country. They can speak whatever language they want.