I am writing in response to Eva Roytburg’s editorial from November 15, 2019, “Teachers need to stop using the N-word”. I appreciate the editorial board of thenewspaper taking this issue head-on, but I do want to offer a clarification to Eva’s piece. It is the policy of the English Department not to read aloud or speak aloud any identity slurs.

Per a memo drafted on 10/31, the practice of the English Department is to skip such slurs in our classrooms when reading aloud, and not to use them during discussion.

That has been agreed to by 100% of the teachers of English on two campuses. I am including the full text of my and Ms. Gompers email to the department on this issue for context; now, I challenge you as a student body to do the same.

Just as we adults must help each other realize the impact of our language and learn what is and is not appropriate, do so with your friends and siblings. Do not let casual slurs go by without challenge or notice in your spaces when adults are not present.

But, as someone who lives in a mixed race home, and endeavors to raise two sons to see the world for all its complexity, I have learned one personal truth.Correcting people is not about pointing your finger at them and telling them they have done wrong; I have found that the surest way to push people away and polarize them, students and adults alike.

Instead, as a friend, I help them see how their language makes others feel. To point fingers and raise voices pushes people away and creates lines of division;instead, I try to bring people into a conversation and explain why language can hurt, and why it has no place in civilized discourse. And then, I am prepared to remind them when they slip up again, as I expect them to do for me. Note, even in Coates’ video clip, he uses two slurs orally while explaining why he can’t use them. No one is perfect.

We need to remember that accountability is not the same as punishment, and if we can hold each other in cordial accountability, we will achieve more than punishment ever will. If we do that for each other, we will all live in a better world.

– Ed Zwirner, English Dept. Chair