How to Speak Up About Diversity Issues in the Classroom

One Young Woman’s Experience

Joanne Lewis* remembers her first semester at a prestigious university in the middle of Manhattan. Straight from the Midwest, she was thrilled to be in such an alive city, pulsating with creative energy and free-thinking people. But what she wasn’t prepared for was the blunt, often sexist comments she encountered from professors her first semester.

“Both New York City and academia are known for their bluntness -- and maybe it was the combination -- but I was always floored by what some of my professors said. I remember one morning in British Literature, bleary-eyed at 8am, clutching my coffee, and stumbling into the lecture hall as usual. A few minutes later, our professor rolls in -- he was this muttering, hunched over old guy with a cane -- and he points the cane in the air and starts shaking it. That morning we were studying sonnets, and I believe it was “Leda and the Swan“ ; anyway, it was a poem about the rape of Leda by Zeus (in the form of a swan). Suddenly, this old professor roars, ‘Rape…is a beautiful thing!’ I looked at my best friend sitting next to me, and said, ‘Did he just say…?’ She nodded yes; she looked horrified. No one had the guts to say anything. Everyone got really quiet. And he never explained what he meant; he just moved on.”

During that same semester, Lewis took an Eastern religion course and encountered a professor who claimed that the practice of sati (a wife burning herself on her husband’s funeral pyre), now outlawed in India, was acceptable. “It is not up to us to judge the laws and rituals of another country,” he said. “If it’s sacred to them, we need to respect it.”

“At that point, I’d had enough,” says Lewis. “Never mind the fact that India had outlawed it long ago and he didn’t seem to have gotten that memo. I raised my hand and said, ‘Okay, when it becomes a human rights issue, don’t you think it ceases to be within the confines of a country’s judgment?' He just smiled indulgently and moved on to something else.”

Should You Speak Up in the Classroom?

Lewis say she doesn’t regret speaking up the second time, even though she didn’t get the response she hoped she would. What she does regret is not speaking up the first time. “I was outraged,” she says. “But I said nothing.”

Because of the power dynamics between professor and student, students are often afraid to confront their professors’ statements in the classroom, even when they’re offensive to a particular gender, race, or nationality. But the truth is -- sometimes they’re meant to be. “It’s not unusual for professors to say things in the classroom for the sheer purpose of getting a rise out of students, particularly if the class is somewhat dead,” says Julie Mart,* a former English professor at the University of Cincinnati. “So, yes, it’s okay to speak up; in fact, that’s what they’re trying to get you to do -- to argue with them. I’m not saying you’ll win, but you might as well try.”

5 Ways to Confront Your Professors

Unlike some high school teachers, many college professors value debate and conflict over order in the classroom. So when you disagree with a professor about something you’re passionate about, it’s completely acceptable in many college classrooms. However, there are still right (and wrong) ways to go about this:

First and foremost, preserve your professor’s ego. One way to do this is to stick to the facts of the situation and don’t include references to “I” or “you.” For instance, you wouldn’t want to say, “You’re wrong. I think that Sotomayer was definitely scrutinized more than other Supreme Court Justice nominees.” Instead, you’d stick to the facts: “But isn’t it fair to say that some of the questions that were asked of Sotomayer, such as why she didn‘t vote with Judge Cabranes of Puerto Rican heritage, would not have been asked of other Supreme Court nominees? And isn’t this in itself bias?” If you stick to the details and facts, you’ll sound more intellectual and less emotional -- not only will this hopefully keep you from irritating your professor, you may even impress him or her.
Phrase your response as a question. This is basic academic discourse. It makes the response less personal and frames it more as a curious intellectual debate than as an overly emotional attack. (See above example.)
Use your professor’s title and ask his or her opinion. By doing this, you’re still sharing your opinion, but at the same time acknowledging that your professor is in control and running the show. Here’s an example: “But Professor Humbert, don’t you think that x, y, and z (whatever you’re arguing) are also true?”
Concede to part of the statement; disagree with the rest of it. This is a classic debate strategy and a brilliant strategy for diplomatic academic discourse (conversation). “While I understand what you said about x, y, and z, Professor Humbert, aren’t a, b, and c also true?”
Confront you professor later during office hours. If you’re not feeling brave enough to confront your professor in the classroom, but are bothered by something said in the classroom earlier, you can go (preferably by yourself, rather than in a group of outraged students) to your professor’s office and discuss it. Realize that a one-on-one interaction has a greater chance of becoming a heated exchange, with some personalities, so make sure to keep the interaction light and non-threatening, using the same strategies listed above. Or, you may instead decide to explain to your professor that you found the remark offensive and why. However, be aware that this person is responsible for your final grade in the course, and not all professors are as unbiased as they should be.
Make a formal complaint about your professor to the department. If a professor persists in saying offensive things about one particular gender, race, or nationality in the classroom, you can always make a formal anonymous complaint to the department. However, this should be a last resort, and only after your professor continues to make remarks regarding a particular gender, race, or nationality.

* This name has been changed to protect the privacy of interviewees.