‘Anti-Blackness and Classroom Racism’: Senators Condemn Professor’s Repeated Use of Racial Slur

The Undergraduate Senate on Tuesday approved a resolution condemning assistant art history professor Rose Salseda for writing the N-word twice in a Canvas discussion board on Monday after saying the word in a class guest lecture last Tuesday. The resolution also calls on Stanford to begin departmentalizing the African and African-American Studies (AAAS) program.

“The fact that she repeated the N-word yesterday is just her intentionally trolling us,” said Senator and resolution author Kobe Hopkins ’22. “Why do we have to put up with that kind of racial violence?”

Salseda used the racial slur while writing the full name of the group N.W.A. and when discussing one of its albums on the class Canvas for AFRICAAM 291: “Riot!: Visualizing Civil Unrest in the 20th and 21st Centuries.” Salseda deleted the comment on Tuesday evening after several students raised concerns and The Daily reached out to her. Later that night, she wrote a note to the class that she wanted to be “in dialogue” with students about their concerns.

“I want to listen, answer any questions I can, and work toward and reshape the next steps I’ve been working so hard on over the past week regarding accountability and healing,” Salseda wrote.

Senate Chair Munira Alimire ’22 said the academic context of the slur was not sufficient justification for its use: “No matter what you say or do, the N-word is still a slur, and you can’t reclaim it if you’re not a black person,” she said.