Identity of Speakers
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Lawrence Rosen
Faculty/Staff
OtherLawrence Rosen is a professor emeritus of anthropology at Princeton University.
Resources
Additional Information
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Incident Nature:
Classroom
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Incident Political Orientation:
Neither -
Incident Responses:
Rally or Protests
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Incident Status:
No litigation
- No protest Occured
- Did not involve Speech Codes
Summary
Lawrence Rosen is professor emeritus of anthropology at Princeton University. For the 2017-2018 school year, Rosen offered a course called Anthropology 212: Cultural Freedoms: Hate Speech, Blasphemy and Pornography. In February, 2018, during a class session, Rosen prompted students to think about cultural taboos by asking them which is worse—a white man physically assaulting a black man or calling him the N-word. Rosen used the full term more than once, causing a small group of students to walk out or formally complain. Rosen had taught courses in law and anthropology many times throughout his career and used similar examples. This was the first time that students had reacted so strongly to Rosen’s use of the term. Although there was no organized call for the cancellation of Rosen’s course, Rosen cancelled the course soon thereafter.
