A professor sent out a syllabus apologizing to her students for “being white,” claiming that she has benefits and privileges she wishes she didn’t. Fortunately, the school was happy to oblige her.
In a bid to virtue-signal her moral superiority over her white peers, professor Crystal Duncan Lane published a lament in her syllabus for Virginia Tech’s Department of Human Development and Family Science. Unfortunately for her, it didn’t receive the praise she expected.
Ironically but not unsurprisingly, the equity movement is led by mostly white female leftists. While they publicly denounce their identity as evidence of their dedication to the marginalized, they hypocritically continue to enjoy all the benefits they claim directly stem from their privilege.
Campus Reform published Lane’s self-deprecating preface to her syllabus, which not only included an apology for her skin color but an admission of her own racial bias.
“I am a Caucasian cisgender female and first-generation college student from Appalachia who is of Scottish, British, and Norwegian heritage. I am married to a cisgender male, and we are middle class. While I did not “ask” for the many privileges in my life: I have benefitted from them and will continue to benefit from them whether I like it or not. This is injustice.”
Lane went on to label herself and all white people as inherently racist, including many of her own students.
“I am and will continue to work on a daily basis to be antiracist and confront the innate racism within myself that is the reality and history of white people. I want to be better. Every day. I will transform: Every day. This work terrifies me: Every day. I invite my white students to join me on this journey. And to my students of color: I apologize for the inexcusable horrors within our shared history.”
Shortly after decrying the privileges she has that she “will continue to benefit from” no matter what happens, Lane was freed of one of her biggest benefits. Virginia Tech University confirmed that the professor was removed from teaching two of her classes.
Assistant Vice President of University Relations Mark Owczarski confirmed to Campus Reform that “Ms. Duncan Lane began the fall term teaching four classes; she is now teaching two classes.”
April Few-Demo, who is the head of the department in which Lane teaches, sent a message explaining to students that their professor was removed due to “a special circumstance.”
“I am Dr. April Few-Demo and I’m the head of the Department of Human Development and Family Science. I am writing today to inform you that due to a special circumstance, the department will need to assign a different instructor to your section,” the message read.
Upon reading Lane’s “apology,” students were frustrated over its obvious political undertones. They expressed their fear of speaking out in class because they aren’t the right color.
Virginia Tech student Natalie Rhodes told Campus Reform, “It is a class about disabilities, not political opinion, affiliation, nor judgment in any sort. If you are discussing disabilities, stick to your course. It hurts that someone says I was born with ‘innate racism’ because of my skin color. [It] makes me feel like I should hide and worry about everything I say.”
Others reiterated that they pay a lot of money to go to college in order to excel in academics, not receive judgmental lectures about their identity.
Scott Mckisson, a senior at Virginia Tech, told Campus Reform that Duncan Lane’s apology was “hurtful and simply not true. School is about learning and studying for a degree to excel down a career path, not to be forced into some agenda where I feel compromised just for being born with the wrong color skin.”
Lane’s classes were cut in half. She no longer had one of the biggest privileges she boasted about. Even more satisfying is the fact that she proved herself wrong: her skin color wasn’t enough to secure her privilege as a prominent professor.
If Lane was sincere about her hatred of the privilege and racism she harbors, she would’ve stepped aside to give the marginalized an opportunity at her job. Instead, she pretends to be one of the virtuous while actually practicing impartiality toward certain races. Luckily, she was held to her own moral standard.
