An online post by a University of Pennsylvania teaching assistant noting that she calls on black women and people of color in class ahead of white people has sparked calls for her removal.
Stephanie McKellop, a Ph.D. student and teaching assistant for a history class titled “Sinners, Sex and Slaves: Race and Sex in Early America,” posted Oct. 16 on her personal Twitter account that “I will always call on my Black women students first. Other POC get second tier priority. WW come next. And, if I have to, white men.”
McKellop’s Twitter account has since been set to private, but numerous news outlets, including The Daily Pennsylvanian, have posted screenshots of her tweet. In later posts, according to the screenshots, McKellop said she had learned the strategy, intended to redress a lack of opportunities for non-whites to speak up in normal life, as an undergraduate student from a professor.
The posts sparked an almost immediate backlash, with some accusing McKellop of racial discrimination, while others – particularly in academia – rallied to support her position.
A Reddit post that called McKellop “racist” and called for her dismissal drew hundreds of responses. On Friday, InfoWars, a conspiracy site run by Alex Jones, posted a report on McKellop, calling her policy a “discriminatory practice.” The story also links to McKellop’s Facebook profile and encourages readers to “ask her if she supports open discrimination against white people in her classrooms.”
