Academia, Constitutional Law, Free Speech, Media, Society

Boston University Professor Saida Grundy Apologizes For Racist and Sexist Comments As “Indelicate”

GrundyPic-150x150Boston_University_seal.svgWe have been discussing the curious start of the academic career of Saida Grundy, an incoming assistant professor of sociology and African-American studies at Boston University, who released a series of tweets denounced by many as racist and sexist. “White masculinity isn’t a problem for america’s colleges, white masculinity is THE problem for america’s colleges.” In a January tweet, Grundy wrote: “Every MLK week I commit myself to not spending a dime in white-owned businesses. and every year i find it nearly impossible.” Previously, she posted comments like “Deal with your white sh*t, white people. slavery is a *YALL* thing.” With many objecting that the University would have fired a male or white professor for such comments directed against blacks or women, donors have begun to revolt and the University was forced to issue a statement condemning the comments. Now, after a surprisingly long period of silence, Grundy has apologized but may have aggravated the situation further. She has called the statements “indelicate” and says that they were in response to unidentified events. The response has been withering with many saying that few would view the comments “indelicate” if a white professor encouraged people not to buy things from black people or calling black males as the problem on colleges.


Boston University president Robert Brown expressed “disappointment” with her statements and his concern over “statements that reduce individuals to stereotypes on the basis of a broad category such as sex, race, or ethnicity. I believe Dr. Grundy’s remarks fit this characterization.”

Grundy wrote that the tweets were the result of “personal passion” to “events we now witness with regularity in our nation.” She added “I regret that my personal passion about issues surrounding these events led me to speak about them indelicately. I deprived them of the nuance and complexity that such subjects always deserve.” She further promised to be fair to whites and males in her classes, acknowledging her duty “to create an inclusive learning environment for all of my students. Both professionally and ethically, I am unequivocally committed to ensuring that my classroom is a space where all students are welcomed.”

My greatest concern remains the question of equal treatment for other faculty in making controversial statements. As previously discussed, we have seen actions taken against faculty for comments viewed as racist or sexist in social media. I believe that Grundy should be protected as a matter of free speech in such comments, but I also believe that Boston University has created a bright line here for future such cases. In such future cases of “delicate” speech, I hope that Grundy will now be the first to step forward and defend the right of those making such comments. With the new effort to punish “micro aggressions” on college campus and regulate speech, such macro aggressions can still be matters of free speech.

121 thoughts on “Boston University Professor Saida Grundy Apologizes For Racist and Sexist Comments As “Indelicate””

  1. sometimes when those ladies lock the door…next thing you know…off comes the bra…a black woman once told me, quite unabashedly…”it’s a status symbol for a black girl, to bag a cracker”…words to that effect…I briefly dated a black girl, woman rather…she was quite demure and almost self deprecating toward me…she and I could not click…she had a killer pair of legs and a gorgeous face…i really couldn’t get over the idea that my kids would look mostly white…with “frizzy” hair…i didn’t want my offspring despising me for making them an object of scorn or derision in our society…sadl,y society will subconsciously reject them…blacks are treated better than mulattos…

  3. JT did try and insert financial issues on this in an earlier post. I just don’t see this stuff hurting donations. I consider it a red herring.

  4. Hi, Bob. I believe that the Sterling matter was another instance in which overblown reactions to stupidity generated economic fears and, in the end, the primacy of financial concerns usually prevails.

    1. Mike A,

      Sterling’s comments were in private and on a strictly personal scale; i.e. not wanting his girlfriend associating with black people at Clipper games.

      Whereas Grundy’s comments were intentionally public calls for boycotting and disassociating from white people.

      The liberal lynch mob’s silence/hypocrisy re: Grundy is deafening.

  5. Stanton

    Look a little more carefully at the ‘fighter pilot’ Prez. Bush was a draft dodger. His dad got him pushed ahead of thousands of others that were vastly more qualified to join the Air National Guard. He got a 25 out of 100 on his qualifying exam. It was unprecedented for the Air National Guard to admit a completely inexperienced person into a position that had until then been reserved for ex military officers and pilots with four to five years experience. He also never showed up for over seven months. This was an immediate qualification for a trip to Vietnam. It is amazing that his Dad and Jeb can even keep straight faces. Bush was a failure up until then and aside from being the most embarrassing ‘straw man’ Governor and President in American history, is still a failure. Do you see him out there like Carter and Clinton working for a better world? No, Bush has enough smarts to hide out.

    You may disagree with and even detest Carter and Obama, however, that is more a difference of opinion than anything else. With Bush there is nothing that can save his legacy from being akin to some aberration that in time most if not all will avoid remembering. No, Bush was and is still a half wit.

    1. issac – two things 1) Clinton was a Fulbright scholar, not a Rhodes scholar. Clinton worked for Fulbright. 2) Clinton dodged the draft by staying in England and avoiding classes while on his scholarship.

  6. Bob Stone, I need to research the Sterling post. I’m guessing JT wanted him forced to sell? My thoughts on that was the NBA has clauses that cover their image. Their league, their rules. We’re talking $’s, and I am an unabashed capitalist.

  7. Donald Sterling reprise:

    “The tape begins in the middle of an argument between Sterling and his girlfriend, V. Stiviano. Sterling appears to be upset that Stiviano, who is black and Mexican, has been posting photos to Instagram of herself with black people — in particular, with Magic Johnson.

    “It bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that you’re associating with black people,” he is heard saying. “Do you have to?”

    Stiviano says that all she did was take a picture with someone she admires. “I think the fact that you admire [Magic] — I’ve known him well, and he should be admired,” Sterling replies. “And I’m just saying that it’s too bad you can’t admire him privately. And during your ENTIRE [F’n] LIFE, your whole life, admire him — bring him here, feed him, [F] him, I don’t care. You can do anything. But don’t put him on an Instagram for the world to see so they have to call me. And don’t bring him to my games. OK?”

    Sterling and the Clippers organization issued a statement to TMZ on Saturday evening in response to the recording. “We have heard the tape on TMZ. We do not know if it is legitimate or it has been altered,” the statement said. “We do know that the woman on the tape — who we believe released it to TMZ — is the defendant in a lawsuit brought by the Sterling family, alleging that she embezzled more than $1.8 million, who told Mr. Sterling that she would ‘get even.'”

    “Mr. Sterling is emphatic that what is reflected on that recording is not consistent with, nor does it reflect his views, beliefs or feelings,” they added. “It is the antithesis of who he is, what he believes and how he has lived his life.”

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/26/donald-sterling-racist_n_5218572.html

  8. MikeA, Myself and some others here did not want an apology. What I wanted was the opportunity for someone to respond w/ a Rock like tweet. That opportunity does not exist on college campuses today. You answer speech, w/ more speech.

    1. Nick – I wanted her a** fired. There was no way she was going to be a fair teacher at any University. Maybe set her up at a HBC.

  9. Bob, I simply want the right for people of the opposite political view to also speak as they wish. PC makes that impossible. Protected groups make that impossible. Comedians have NO protected groups. Speech is truly free w/ comedians. A black comedian can skewer whites, white comedian blacks, men can blast women, etc. I see that @ the core. Terminate, sanction, suspend, I consider that the micro issue. I’m much more concerned w/ the macro issue, the First Amendment and the DEATH of PC and speech rules on our campuses.

    If you ever go to see standup comedians, which I do all the time, you see heckle and sometimes walk out when it gets rough. I doubt some of the folks here would last 10 minutes w/ some comedians.

  10. Kick her INDELICATE ass to the curb. She may have a right to speak her mind, but, the last time that I checked, she didn’t have a RIGHT to be employed by BU, in any capacity. Glad to see the benefactors showing some balls and voicing their displeasure over her despicable statements. The university is a business, and the uproar by the contributors is, unfortunately, the only impetus to rid the faculty of this racist.

  11. Female half breed mulatto chased after me at Ft Bragg, NC. Yeah, another love story.

    This Army girl out ranked me. Hot, jet black hair, brown skin, blue eyes, athletic and built.
    She looked more Indian, but declared herself as black woman. She always makes calls for help at night.
    Get on helicopter to site. I go into communications center and find no problem. She locks the door and says you’re the problem. Oh boy.

  13. The only thing more cynical than Prof. Grundy’s apology was the demand for it.

    1. Mike – there was nothing cynical about threatening to withhold funds from the University unless Grundy did something. In fact, I think some will not be satisfied with this PR touch.

  14. Not for nothing, but this is an important topic and Chris Rock has nothing to do with it.

    Take a step back.

    These were INTENTIONALLY PUBLIC COMMENTS made by a member of the faculty of Boston University.

    They were public calls for boycotting and disassociating from white people.

    For example:

    “Every MLK week I commit myself to not spending a dime in white-owned businesses. and every year i find it nearly impossible.”

    I think Prof. Turley’s search for a bright line here is questionable considering his previous analysis of the Donald Sterling affair.

  18. Too bad he hasn’t heard some of the nonsensical arguments here from some men, lol.

  20. Chris Rock on SS.

    “You don’t get the money till you’re 65. Sh!t, black men die @ 54. We should get SS @ 29!”

    Obama has helped take care of that by opening the floodgates to SS Disability, raiding the earnings tax trust fund to pay for it.

Comments are closed.