An Iowa State University professor is under fire for saying she intentionally avoids interactions with white people “as much as possible.”
Professor Rita Mookerjee, who was a panelist during the student government’s “Diversity and Inclusion” panel in March, reportedly tweeted that she tries to limit her conversations and encounters with white people because she can’t deal “with the self-importance and performance.”
— Young Americans for Freedom at ISU (@IowaState_YAF) March 7, 2021
Mookerjee also complained last year about how “whyte men with dirty hair and wrinkled clothes will always be liked and higher ranked,” according to Campus Reform.
She then said she changed her profile picture on Facebook after a person mistook her for a white person.
“Someone called me white the other day so #NewProfilePic because I think the f*** not,” she wrote.
— Young Americans for Freedom at ISU (@IowaState_YAF) March 7, 2021
In a statement, the university’s student government said Mookerjee’s remarks do not “reflect the views of the student government,” but refused to remove her from an upcoming Women’s Week panel.
“Student government does not agree with the content of the comments that were made—no one should be reduced to the color of their skin,” the group said.
“We have decided that the professor will still be invited to participate in the panel; it is important to allow ideas to be shared, even if [we] find the comments to be wrong,” the student government added. “In order to have a true free marketplace of ideas, we must not rescind an offer to speak based on our objection to someone’s personal speech.”
