Hilarious and Sickening at the same time. And yes great for GW.

FredD wrote:

Hilarious and Sickening at the same time. And yes great for GW.

I agree about the sickening part.  If this story gets any traction on Fox, the conservative/right will frame this abuse as a reason to shut down a program aimed at helping lift up the black community.  Question: how is it that Professor Krug hasn't apologized, and is still employed by the university?  

Dr Mike wrote:

Well, this is interesting. It is very complicated, so I would urge caution. Did the professor lie about her identity-Yes; Did she lie about her ethnicity-Yes; Did she mispresent herself-Yes. 

Has the miss-representation impact her scholarly work? Probably not. Did her ethnicity lie make her any less of an accomplished professor? Probably not. Did her miss-representation of herself make her cause harm to the students who enrolled in her class? Probably not. 

Did faculty and staff and other academics embrace her because of her skin color? Probably Yes. Did the same academic community connect her skin color and scholarly work in the field? Probably Yes. 

It is given she lied and misrepresented her ethnicity. 

But, does this make her any less of a scholar? Does this mean her academic credentials make her any less of an effective professor?  Probably not. Unless people believe the only one capable of teaching on Latino and Afro-American studies must be of the same ethnicity. 

It is nearly impossible to prove in court that lying about one's ethnicity caused harm to the students or the university.  Plus, we should be careful in moving too quickly to the purist philosophy that people should automatically be condemned and terminated. 

She did wrong. But, I think this is a case the university should stand by her and not throw her under the bus. Students will determine her future. If they sign up for her class, students will signal a willingness to move forward. If students decide to not sig up for her class, then the university will cancel the class. 

There is a big unknown is it not clear if she has tenure. If she does this complicates this case. 

Dr. Mike, I feel the professor's own words best describe why she should have been immediately terminated.  She wrote that her assumption of a Black Caribbean identity, was “not only, in the starkest terms, wrong — unethical, immoral, anti-Black, colonial — but it means that every step I’ve taken has gaslighted those whom I love.”

Also, according to Hari Ziyad, the editor in chief of RaceBaitr, Professor Krug didn't come forward out of benevolence, but instead, because she had been found out!  There is plenty evidence in several things I've read to support this assertion.  

So, not only didn't she apologize, she only came forward because she was going to be exposed!  I feel Professor Krug's dramatic level of insincerity and lack of apology is disgusting.  Couple that with both the harm she did certainly bring to people of color (and especially black people) and the shame and embarrassment she has brought to GW, and I can't see how she could remain employed at GW.

Dr. Mike, if you seriously don't see how Professor Krug has hurt so many black people, there's absolutely nothing I could say to change your mind.  And, trust me, I understand that you are not alone in your feelings. That make me truly sad, but I also know that's my problem and not your problem.

 

If this helps, Jessica Krug's GW ties are only being played up here locally, nationally she is just being roasted for pretending to be black. Channel 5 in D.C. did a segment on this earlier today and they interviewed some GW students(a student who took her class last fall, a writer or editor for The Hatchett and 2 members of GW's black student union), all of them expressed the same type of anger/disappointment as 22ndandF. The one student who took her class last fall mentioned that she actually spoke with a "black dialect" and said she was an Afro-Latina!! That makes it 100 times worse, I don't see how GW can keep her around even though she is currently teaching a course this semester as The Post article points out. I assume Jessica Krug can still be an activist for black causes but she'll just have to do it as a white woman now!!!

I certainly worry about her mental health - a lot.

22ndandF wrote:

Thomas wrote:

If this helps, Jessica Krug's GW ties are only being played up here locally, nationally she is just being roasted for pretending to be black. Channel 5 in D.C. did a segment on this earlier today and they interviewed some GW students(a student who took her class last fall, a writer or editor for The Hatchett and 2 members of GW's black student union), all of them expressed the same type of anger/disappointment as 22ndandF. The one student who took her class last fall mentioned that she actually spoke with a "black dialect" and said she was an Afro-Latina!! That makes it 100 times worse, I don't see how GW can keep her around even though she is currently teaching a course this semester as The Post article points out. I assume Jessica Krug can still be an activist for black causes but she'll just have to do it as a white woman now!!!

Thomas, thanks for letting me know I'm not totally crazy!  

To me, what Jessica Krug did kind of comes across as a more civilized version of Al Jolson's blackface, especially when a student mentioned that she put on a "black dialect"!!! Also, her black colleagues/friends were hurt by what she did, so there's nothing wrong with how you feel about this. 
 

As crazy as this may sound she is only reflecting society. I have heard stories of kids listing themselves as African-American on college applications because 23 and me came back and told them they have 3% ancestry that traces back to Africa. She is not the first or probably the last. Rachel Dolezal and Shaun King have all had issues or questions raised. Don't know why we are all that shocked in the Age of Narcissism. Elizabeth Warren told people in academia it was ok.

Sorry Thomas, every story I have seen (BBC, AP, heck even the local rag here) has mentioned her being a member of the GW faculty in the lede (opening graph). Clearly, GW is one of her victims, but it is also a sign of failure of the University´s due dilligence (the same due dilligence that hired someone fresh from suggesting how Michigan St could keep hidden its role in covering up the Nasser sexual abuse of olympians scandal, the same due dilligence that fudged data passed on to US News and World Report, the same due dilligence that allowed a coach to hide criminal sexual assault charges against a scholarship athlete, etc...). Any students paying full price tuition for her online course deserve not only a refund but a really sweet compensation...

Last edited by GW Alum Abroad (9/04/2020 12:54 pm)

While working at the Tennessee Department of Transportation there was a story of a lady claiming her college degree was from Pepperdine University. A lot of the people in the East are not familiar with the school. Apparently this women was using this school as her alma mater for years. Pepperdine is unique because it is a Church of Christ school in California (Malibu) The Church of Christ is a very strict, fundamentalist  denomination, strongly represented in Tennessee and Kentucky. It was a fact that if a student was caught DANCING at a local disco/bar etc. they were expelled. 
The lady was quickly  fired because when she was asked once what it was like to attend a Church of Christ school in liberal California she responded she didn't know it was a Church of Christ school. Of course someone at the State knew something was amiss and knew administrators at Pepperdine. One phone call was enough to discover she never went to Pepperdine.