A Hunter College associate professor is facing intense backlash after she was caught on a live microphone making comments widely condemned as racist during a New York City Community Education Council meeting.
Allyson Friedman, an associate professor at the City University of New York’s Hunter College, made the remarks during a Feb. 10 meeting of Community Education Council 3, where students and parents were discussing the possible closure of schools in Manhattan’s District 3.
According to reports, Friedman interjected while an eighth-grade Black student was speaking about concerns over her school potentially shutting down. With her microphone live, Friedman was heard saying, “They’re too dumb to know they’re in a bad school.”
She then added, “If you train a black person well enough, they’ll know to use the back. You don’t have to tell them anymore.”
The remarks appeared to reference a quote cited earlier in the meeting by Reginald Higgins, the district’s interim acting superintendent. Higgins had invoked a passage from Carter G. Woodson’s 1933 book The Mis-Education of the Negro, in which Woodson wrote: “If you make a man think that he is justly an outcast, you do not have to order him to the back door. He will go without being told.”
Despite that context, education officials and elected leaders swiftly condemned Friedman’s comments.
A university spokesperson described the remarks as “abhorrent.” City Council Education Chair Rita Joseph said she was “deeply disturbed by the blatantly racist and harmful remarks made during the CEC3 meeting.” Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman Sigal called the comments “outrageous” and “particularly despicable,” noting that children were present and testifying at the time.
Students participating via Zoom were reportedly stunned by what they heard.
Friedman later issued an apology, attempting to clarify her intent. “My complete comments make clear these abhorrent views are not my own, nor were they directed at any student or group,” she said. She added that she supports the students opposing school closures but acknowledged that her words “caused harm and pain,” for which she expressed regret.
The controversy comes amid ongoing debate over potential school closures in Manhattan District 3, where officials are evaluating under-enrolled campuses following enrollment declines. Black students make up roughly 20% of New York City public school enrollment. At Hunter College, more than 17,000 undergraduates are enrolled, with Black students comprising approximately 11.5% of the undergraduate population.
It remains unclear whether Hunter College or CUNY will pursue disciplinary action. The incident has intensified tensions around the school closure debate and reignited broader concerns about bias and accountability within educational institutions.
