A professor at Fordham University has been terminated after mixing up the names of two Black students.
According to The Observer, Christopher Trogan, a professor in the English department, lost his job because of his email regarding the incident on Sept 24th.
In the email, Trogan reportedly apologized for his actions and blamed it on his “confused brain,” while outlining “everything he has done for minorities.”
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“The offended student assumed my mistake was because I confused that student with another Black student,” Trogan said in the email. “I have done my best to validate and reassure the offended student that I made a simple, human, error. It has nothing to do with race.”
One of the students alleged Trogan constantly used the wrong name repeatedly in four classes. “I felt really disrespected,” the student said. “I did not feel heard because every time he (misnamed me) I would tell him, and it just seemed like he would brush it off or that he did not care.
The Observer also reported that Trogan stated in the email that his English class was “centered specifically and explicitly around issues of justice, equality, and inclusion.”
Trogan was told he was suspended with pay, while the incident was investigated. But was terminated just a few days after the incident.
In another email, Trogan stated he wasn’t aware he was under investigation. “I was never informed of the charges against me, nor of the nature of the investigation of which I was the subject,” Trogan wrote on Oct. 29. “I was kept completely in the dark.”
Trogan stated the email was the basis of his termination.
One of the students involved in the incident, Chantel Sims stated Trogan appeared to come across as a white savior. A simple apology would’ve sufficed.
“It seemed a little excessive, like all you needed to do was say sorry and it would have been fine,” Sims said. “We were not actually that upset about him mixing up our names. It was more so the random things he would throw into the response.”
Roomies, what are your thoughts?
