Georgetown Law has launched an investigation after a video of a white professor complaining on Zoom that black students were predominantly at the bottom of her class was widely shared on social media.
The video shows the professor, named by the Black Law Students Association (BLSA) as Sandra Sellers, talking with fellow professor David Batson in what she believed was a private conversation about the performance of a black student in a class they both teach.
‘They were a bit jumbled. It’s like let me reason through that, what you just said,’ Sellers says of the student’s performance, who BLSA claims is the only black person in the class.
‘You know what? I hate to say this, I end up having this angst every semester, that a lot of my lower ones are blacks,’ the adjunct professor of mediation and negotiation continues.
It is unclear why she began discussing black students in general as they spoke about the student in their join class.
‘It happens almost every semester, and it’s like, oh, come on. You know, we get some really good ones but there also usually some of them that are just plain at the bottom.’
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The Black Law Students Association has called for Professor Sandra Sellers to be terminated after the video in which she said black students were the bottom of her class
Georgetown Law has launched an investigation into the video and her comments
Alumni took to social media to call for Sellers’ resignation (as pictured)
Batson, also a mediation law expert, does not initially respond but simply looks down and nods in the short 43-second clip, which was allegedly leaked by a student.
He subsequently returns to discussingt he student in question, stating, ‘what drives [him] crazy is…the concept of how that plays out in whether that is [his] own perceptions playing in here with certain people’ or ‘[his] own unconscious biases playing out in the scheme of things’.
The Zoom call was filmed and posted to online database Panopto, where students, who have been attending classes virtually because of the pandemic, can access the recordings.
It was removed this week after being discovered and reported by a student after several weeks online, with the BLSA among the groups calling for Sellers’ resignation and an apology from Batson.
The group issued a statement on Wednesday in which they claimed that the recorded conversation is proof of Sellers’ bias in her grading of black students.
‘These racist statements reveal not only Sellers’ beliefs about black students in her classes, but also how her racist thoughts have translated to racist actions. Professor Sellers’ bias has impacted the grades of black students in her classes historically, in her own words,’ the statement said.
The school also issued a statement after the video went viral but did not name the professors involved.
‘We learned earlier this week that two members of our faculty engaged in a conversation that included reprehensible statements concerning the evaluation of Black students,’ Dean Bill Traynor said on Wednesday as he promised a full investigation into the video.
‘We are responding with the utmost seriousness to this situation. I have watched a video of this conversation and find the content to be abhorrent.
‘It includes conduct that has no place in our educational community. We must ensure that all students are treated fairly and evaluated on their merits.’
There are also calls for Professor David Batson to apologize after he failed to condemn Sellers’ remarks in the Zoom conversation that had been posted to the school’s database
Dean Bill Traynor issued a statement Wednesday calling the comments ‘abhorrent’
The Black Law Students Association has issued a list of demands following the video
The Dean said that he had contacted the University’s Office of Institutional Diversity, Equity & Affirmative Action to undertake the investigation and that the Law School would also be looking to take swift action to address the incident.
‘I recognize how hurtful this incident is to members of this class, to the members of the Black community, and to members of our community as a whole,’ Dean Traynor added.
‘I am committed to taking steps to support students through this and to addressing racism and bias wherever they appear. There is no place for bias in our grading process or anywhere in our community.’
However, the BLSA claims that an investigation is not enough as they called for the immediate termination of Sellers.
‘We demand nothing short of the immediate termination of Sandra Sellers as adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center. Not suspension. Not an investigation. The University must take swift and definitive action in the face of blatant and shameless racism,’ it said.
‘Not only is this situation revealing of Sellers’ true beliefs about Black students, it is also illustrative of the conscious and unconscious bias systemically present in law school grading at Georgetown Law and in law school classrooms nationwide. The difference is that Sellers was caught, and her racism was broadcast for the world to see.’
Alumni criticized Georgetown Law for not immediately firing Sellers
‘The despicable sentiments of these #GeorgetownLaw professors are most certainly felt by their Black students,’ wrote Janai Nelson from the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund.
Some social media users accuse Sellers of bias in her work
There were many calls for Sellers to be fired after the comments
Others criticized Batson for not responding to the statements
The association also called for an apology from Batson for failing to condemn Sellers after she made the comments, a review of Sellers’ past grading, and a commitment to hiring more black professors.
It said that Batson’s comments showed more awareness but that ‘his actions were still altogether insufficient to address the blatant racism that he was an audience to’.
‘He had an obligation to report her, and he did not. We demand that Batson publicly apologize for his role in enabling and supporting Sellers’ behavior,’ the group added.
Their statement was supported by other BLSA chapters from universities around the country and by other minority law groups within Georgetown, as well as being signed by hundreds of students and alumni.
Georgetown Law alumni were also among those who hit out at the video on social media.
‘This “message” is inadequate @GeorgetownLaw. Fire her,’ wrote graduate Natalie Smith.
‘I graduated from @GeorgetownLaw in 2004. How is this being addressed?’ another wrote on Twitter.
‘This will definitely have bearing on my decisions when Student Giving calls me asking for money. I’m also rethinking my decision to assist with admissions interviews. I’ve got questions.’
Other social media users claimed that it showed Sellers’s bias in her classes.
‘Narrator: ‘She didn’t hate to say it,’ one commenter joked.
‘The despicable sentiments of these #GeorgetownLaw professors are most certainly felt by their Black students,’ wrote Janai Nelson, Associate Director-Counsel of NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund.
‘Blk ppl know when we are under-estimated, stereotyped & mocked even when the mask is up. That we still succeed in these environments is a testament to pure grit and will.’
And other commenters had criticism for Batson.
‘Watch how the other professor just sits idly, offering no rebuke, content to let the lady’s racism stand. A wasted Batson challenge if I’ve ever seen one,’ wrote civil rights lawyer Angelo Guisado.
DailyMail.com contacted Professor Sellers for comment but the request has not yet been returned.