Christopher Trogan Fordham professor fired after mixing up names of two black students in class. Did a school seeking to avoid being decried as racist go too far?
Did one school go too far? A Fordham University professor was fired after mixing up the names of two black students in class, according to reports.
Hours after what he called an ‘innocent mistake,’ English lecturer Christopher Trogan, 46, sent a nine-page email to students in his Composition II classes explaining the faux pas — in which he defended, his ‘entire life’ of working on ‘issues of justice, equality, and inclusion,’ the campus newspaper reported.
The ‘offensive’ episode led to ‘outraged’ students sending Trogan an email after class, expressing their concern that the educator had mixed up the two black students’ names, with claims that he did so because they were both Black.
‘The offended student assumed my mistake was because I confused that student with another Black student,’ Trogan wrote, according to a Nov. 29 article in the Fordham Observer. ‘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.’
What may have seemed a well intentioned effort to mend concerns of sublime racism only seemingly served to further ignite concerns that the professor may have indeed been racist.
‘I may — or may not — be your professor in class next week’
The educator blamed the mistake on his ‘confused brain’ when the two students arrived to class late on Sept. 24, while he was reading a classmate’s work.
Several students said Trogan’s overreaction, rather than making a simple apology, made matters worse for him.
The email was ‘a little excessive,’ one of the two black students involved, freshman Chantal Sims, told the Observer. ‘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.’
In the email, Trogan urged any students upset by the incident to to complain to the school. ‘Depending on your response to the officials above, I may — or may not — be your professor in class next week. It’s all up to you,’ the educator wrote.
Sims told the paper Trogan’s email stressed ‘everything he has done for minorities.’
Trogan was placed under investigation and suspended for two days after the mix-up. Nevertheless, come Oct. 29, the educator was fired.
‘Trogan was a nice teacher for the 5 classes that I had him for, but he never attempted to get to know me personally (in a 14 person class),’ wrote one newspaper commenter who claimed to be in the Composition II class. ‘I don’t think he deserved to get fired, but his response to a small issue was what blew the entire thing up.’
Professor Christopher Trogan. The bimbo offered himself up and the left obliged. One woke professor down, thousands to go.
— DognPonyShow (@mizzusapat) December 1, 2021
Woke professor, woke school?
According to the Observer, both pupils whose names were mixed up, accused Trogan of having a ‘white saviour complex.’
Responding to the fracas, Eva Badowska, dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at the NYC elite private school insisted the educator was fired due to his class-wide email, and not the name mix-up.
Fordham spokesman Bob Howe told nypost the school ‘takes personnel matters very seriously,’ while claimed ‘media representations regarding this issue do not reflect the facts in Dr. Trogan’s case.’
A regard of reviews on Rate My Professor revealed Trogan was well like and a popular instructor.
‘He doesn’t quite let on how much he knows and what he’s accomplished, but he is quite brilliant but humble and not stuck up,’ a former student wrote.
Posted another, ‘Chris is literally the best professor I have ever had and probably will ever have. He is extraordinarily helpful and willing to meet with students.’
Which is to wonder, despite school officials insisting the educator was not fired for the mix up involving the black students but rather as a result of the teacher’s subsequent email response, one is wanton to wonder would any of this had made national headlines had Trogan confused say the names of two white students, or two Asian students or even the names of two Hispanic students …?
