The Ithacan

Accuracy • Independence • Integrity

Racial epithets have a space in the classroom
Mahad Olad
Paul Zwier is a law professor at Emory University.

Do racial epithets have any place in the classroom? They certainly should. Classes are spaces where no controversial topic is off the table.

Necro. Niger. Negro. Nigga. Black. The word “nigger” has never had a positive connotation.

I will probably never be comfortable with nonblack usages of n—a and especially n—er, even if they’re merely referring to it and not using it.