The University of British Columbia has apologised to a visiting law professor whose hybrid lecture ended when offensive images and an anti-black racial slur appeared on the zoom portion of the lecture.
According to Ngai Pindell, dean of the Peter A. Allard School of Law, Professor Raymond Atuguba of the University of Ghana gave a lecture in UBC’s Allard Hall on 9 November, which was attended by 40 people in the hall and 177 people on Zoom (an online meeting platform).
“During Dean Atuguba’s presentation, one or more Zoom participants began drawing offensive images and text using Zoom’s annotation feature,” Pindell said.
“Allard Law staff attempted to remove the offensive material, but were unsuccessful. An anti-black racial slur was then added to the screen, at which point Allard Law personnel terminated the Zoom meeting.
Atuguba continued to deliver the lecture in person.
“We are appalled, horrified and deeply sorry that this incident took place and take responsibility for it happening in our space,” said Pindall.
“We apologise unreservedly to Dean Atuguba for the humiliation he suffered during this lecture. We also apologise to those in the room in Allard Hall and those online, including Dean Atuguba’s students, colleagues and friends who were watching the lecture from Ghana or elsewhere, for the harm caused by the incident.
Pindall said that shortly before the lecture, the Zoom meeting ID and password were made public on X (formerly Twitter) without the consent of the law school.
Pindall did not say whether the law school had identified the participants who posted the racial slurs and inappropriate comments.
In the future, the law school will change the settings on Zoom so that the host has the option to allow participants to make comments.
The law school will also use Zoom webinars (where participants cannot interact) instead of Zoom meetings.
“Over the past week, I have met with representatives of the UBC Black Law Students Association, as well as graduate students who have been particularly affected by this incident,” said Pindell. “Details of an upcoming listening session for any students who would like to discuss this incident of anti-black racism and its impact on them will be announced soon.”