Black Professor Fired After Saying White People Are Angry They Can't Use White Privilege to Get Into #BLM Event
Weeks after appearing on a Fox News show, an adjunct professor was fired from teaching at Essex County College in New Jersey.
During a tense back and forth on Tucker Carlson Tonight, adjunct communications professor Lisa Durden spoke in defense of an “exclusively Black” Memorial Day event hosted by a Black Lives Matter chapter in New York City.
When asked if it was appropriate for the group to exclude people from other races, Durden responded, “Boo hoo hoo. You white people are angry because you couldn't use your white privilege card to get invited to the Black Lives Matter's all-Black Memorial Day Celebration.”
Durden was referring to a party in NYC which was advertised as an 'exclusively Black space'
Newly appointed Essex County College President Anthony Munroe said Durden's June 6 appearance on Fox received much frustration from students
"While the adjunct who expressed her personal views in a very public setting was in no way claiming to represent the views and beliefs of the College, and does not represent the College, her employment with us and potential impact on students required our immediate review into what seemed to have become a very contentious and divisive issue," said Munroe.
"The college affirms its right to select employees who represent the institution appropriately and are aligned with our mission," Munroe added. "[The college] supports and affirms the right of free speech and independent views and expressions of those views for our faculty and staff."
Durden's attorney, Leslie Farber, said they are considering taking legal action over her firing.
"I believe their first suspending and then firing her was directly because of her appearing on the Tucker Carlson TV show, and is a violation of her federal and state constitutional rights to free speech," Farber told NJ.com
The public school, Farber said, "can't prevent (employees) from speaking out on something, whether politics or other subjects."
