Megan Lee Neely, associate Professor of biostatistics, Duke University, resigned after the letter in which asked Chinese students use «English 100% of the time» during their stay in the campus or in the clinical setting.
«For international students: please, please, please remember the possible consequences when you decide to speak Chinese in the building,» wrote Neely January 25, the freshmen and the students of the 2nd course of the program Master of Biostatistics, where she directs in the School of Medicine, noting that she commended their efforts to adapt to American University.
According to screenshots of emails, Neely decided to send out this appeal after a colleague showed her a photo of the students, she helped to determine which of them «very loud» spoke Chinese in the area.
«Both teachers said they wanted to record the names, to remember these students, if they ever will ask about internships or ask about working with them on his master’s project, continued in the letter to Nikki. They were disappointed that these students had not taken the opportunity to improve their English and were so tactless that talked about the fact that nobody on the floor could no longer understand.»
This Megan Neely? pic.twitter.com/pMpgbx9Y14
— Selina Meyers 2020 (@WingersSo) January 27, 2019
The next day, the Dean of the medical faculty Mary Klotman apologized for the comments Nikki. She admitted that many were «hurt and angry» because of her words.
«I asked the Office for institutional equity University (OIE) to conduct a thorough analysis of masters program in biostatistics and to recommend ways in which we can improve the learning environment for students of all disciplines, wrote Mary Klotman. — In addition, Dr. Neely has been asked to immediately resign as Director of the postgraduate master program».
Klotman, stressed that the University does not restrict students ‘ communication in any language, and certainly it won’t influence their recommendations or future career.
In a separate message to the head of the Department of biostatistics and bioinformatics Professor Elizabeth DeLong also apologized to the students and included in the message handling itself Neely.
«I deeply regret the damage my letter— said the Professor. Please accept our sincere apologies».
The Committee of Chinese graduate students at the University has prepared a petition calling for the establishment of «an independent Committee to conduct a full investigation of the incident concerning emails Neely and actions of the unnamed teachers». At the moment it was signed by over 100 students.
Duke University is a private research University founded in 1838 in Durham (North Carolina).
