Parents, students, and city officials in New York are demanding accountability after a Hunter College professor was caught on a hot mic making racist comments about Black students. The incident happened during a public Zoom meeting about school closures. 

According to NBC News, on Feb. 10, Hunter College associate professor Allyson Friedman joined a Community Education Council District 3 meeting as a parent, while Black middle schoolers pleaded with leaders not to close their school. 

As one eighth grader spoke, Friedman, unaware that she was unmuted said, “They’re too dumb to know they’re in a bad school,” according to a recording of the meeting. She also referenced a Martin Luther King quote saying, “Apparently, Martin Luther King said it. If you train a Black person well enough, they’ll know to use the back. You don’t have to tell them anymore.”

Someone on the call quickly jumped in to warn her that everyone could hear her.

The clip spread online, sparking outrage from parents, students, and lawmakers, and drawing coverage on national platforms and social media. 

At a recent follow-up meeting, NBC shared that the mood was tense as the council voted to denounce the comments and push for anti-bias training and stronger protections for students. Two Black students also held up signs that read, “Student dignity. Accountability is not optional.”

“The anti-Black words spoken by an adult have been heard ’round the world,” said council Co-President Jill Rackmill, as she opened the nearly two-hour meeting by reading the eighth grader’s speech that had been interrupted weeks earlier. “But the words of the student who courageously came to what should have been a safe and affirming space have not been. They have been drowned out. Adults failed her.”

Friedman has not responded to NBC News but told The New York Times she was trying to explain systemic racism to her child and that her full remarks weren’t heard.

Hunter College’s Black Student Union also issued a joint statement with four other student groups condemning the remarks and rejecting her apology. “This rhetoric is incompatible with the responsibilities of an educator entrusted with molding young minds,” said the Black Student Union’s statement.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani condemned the remarks as racist. Hunter College President Nancy Cantor called the remarks “abhorrent” and confirmed Friedman has been placed on leave pending an investigation under the school’s conduct and nondiscrimination policies.