Professor didnt know her mic was on..said about a black student "They're too dumb to know they're in a bad school"

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/22/nyregion/hunter-college-professor-remarks-students.html

Hunter College to Review Professor’s ‘Abhorrent’ Remarks at Meeting
A student objected to the potential closure of her New York City middle school. The professor, speaking on a hot mic, said, “They’re too dumb to know they’re in a bad school.” The comment was assailed as racist.


The comments were made at a Feb. 10 Community Education Council meeting at which public school families on Manhattan’s West Side debated a contentious proposal by Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration to close or relocate several schools.

As one student, who attendees said was Black, spoke out to praise her teachers and lament the potential shutting of her school, another attendee — identified as Allyson Friedman, an associate professor at Hunter College who was attending as a public school parent — cut in.

“They’re too dumb to know they’re in a bad school,” Ms. Friedman said, according to a recording of the meeting.

She was attending virtually and was unaware that her microphone was turned on. “If you train a Black person well enough, they’ll know to use the back,” Ms. Friedman continued. “You don’t have to tell them anymore.”


https://www.ilovetheupperwestside.com/video-and-multiple-witnesses-identify-person-behind-racist-remarks-made-during-student-testimony/

When the remarks were made, multiple attendees could be seen on the Zoom call with visibly horrified reactions.

In response, a man who appeared to be the moderator said: “Allyson Friedman, what you’re saying is absolutely hearable; you’ve got to stop.”

Click play to listen (the recording stops at around the 43 second mark; also, try listening on desktop if you’re having trouble hearing it on mobile):

[malaise]

1. How do they know her comment was meant to be

Off mic?
Racists will be racists.

[delisen]

2. Dr. Friedman too dumb to know mic was on?

I am sure she can “be trained” to check this!

Seriously, I think this attitude is what many people are sensing when they talk about elitism

I have observed that bias exists against poor or less privileged white students also.

Class consciousness continues to hold us back as a country.

[Kid Berwyn]

3. Allyson Friedman certainly knows a bad teacher when she sees one.

She’s in the mirror, about the worst possible.

[Bettie]

4. She teaches at a college and no doubt has Black students

now, they can know how she feels about them, though, to be honest, they probably already know, since racist dickheads aren't as subtle as they think they are.

[Demsrule86]

5. Hunter is not a bad college...it has been around for years...fire the racist.

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

8. She was referring to the middle school..the focus of the zoom call

[Mz Pip]

9. Hunter College High School

7-12 grade program is harder to get into than Harvard. WTF is she talking about? Regardless, she needs to go. Racist and unprofessional comments are unacceptable.

[Mysterian]

6. Brilliant totally not dumb professor Friedman

[Sympthsical]

7. This story was a journey

“They’re too dumb to know they’re in a bad school,”

Well that's not too bad. Asshole person says asshole thing. Don't see what the big deal is.

“If you train a Black person well enough, they’ll know to use the back,” Ms. Friedman continued. “You don’t have to tell them anymore.”

Oh.

What is wrong with people. My biggest Zoom mishaps generally run along the lines of people inadvertently seeing my cat's butthole during post-conference because he's jumped on my desk.

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

11. Apparently went on to satly that the students would only get jobs as cleaners

[RoseTrellis]

10. Rate my professor

She’s not doing very well on RateMyProfessor!

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

12. I can imagine

[DET]

13. Huh?

“If you train a Black person well enough, they’ll know to use the back,”

What the heck does that mean?

[ecstatic]

14. So the professor assumed that the student was dumb

Did it ever occur to this professor that both things could be true: that you could want a low-performing school to stay open but also want more funding and resources for that school so that it is not low performing?

Professor Friedman is dumb, prejudice/ racist and too stupid to mute her mic on zoom. I hate that people like her are bringing their disgusting biases into the classroom. There's no telling how many students have been screwed over by her.