Melbourne university tutor under investigation for using the ‘n-word’ and racial slurs in class

A college tutor is under investigation after he allegedly used the n-word during his classes, claiming it was “fine” due to his background and the ethnicity of his wife.

Monash University Associate Professor Gary Lacey has been accused of using the n-word in his ‘From Freud to Friends: Ethnic Identity in Popular Culture’ tutorials on the Clayton campus on Monday.

He explained that the word was used for the ‘purpose of analysis’ in the context of what he was teaching, and that he was ‘allowed’ to say it because his wife was Kenyan.

Mr. Lacey’s class explored the ways that different ethnic identities have been portrayed in popular culture and used case studies involving Jews, Italians, African Americans, and Asian Americans.

But his alleged use of racial slurs during his tutorials made students “uncomfortable,” prompting several to come forward, the report reported. herald sun.

Meredith Leviston, who attended Mr. Lacey’s second class that day, claimed that the associate professor had already received a complaint from his first class about the use of insults, but continued to use them in his second class regardless.

“The tutor received a phone call from the unit coordinator, who hung up after being informed that the tutor was in the middle of teaching,” he told the publication.

“After that, he told the whole class ‘it was probably a student who took offense at my use of the n-word’…then he proceeded to tell us about the incident.”

She said his liberal use of the n-word made students “very uncomfortable” as there was “too much stigma” around the word “even in an academic context.”

Ms Leviston alleged that Mr Lacey deliberately used the word knowing it was “likely to offend someone”.

He added that it was “not necessarily used in the context of discussion” when he was teaching.

The unit coordinator sent an email to the students Monday night, revealing that the university was investigating the conduct of the associate professor.

“I am writing to let you know that I have been made aware of an incident that occurred in a tutorial today and is currently being investigated,” the email read.

Mr. Lacey allegedly uttered the n-word multiple times in his ‘From Freud to Friends: Ethnic Identity in Popular Culture’ tutorials on the Clayton campus (pictured) on Monday.

A Monash University spokesperson confirmed to Daily Mail Australia that complaints about Lacey were being investigated.

‘The University is investigating student complaints of a recent tutorial,’ they said.

‘An alternate tutor has been assigned to tutoring while the matter is investigated.’

“Monash University is committed to fostering a safe, inclusive and respectful environment for all and is proud of our richly diverse and culturally inclusive community.”

Monash does not tolerate racism of any kind. We encourage our staff and students to report any type of behavior they deem inappropriate to our Respectful Communities team or to the appropriate authorities.’

In a response to Daily Mail Australia, Lacey said the use of the word had come during a class on the US version of The Office TV show in which the main character was accused of racism, for which he submitted to all the office to some sensitivity training, which he ended up kidnapping.

Lacey said she also made references to when the word was used by former US President Barack Obama, American comedian Dave Chapelle and a friend of hers in class.

‘I did not use a euphemism for the word in question, but the word was not used as a racial slur. It was directly mentioned that it was used by Obama, the comedian I know and Dave Chapelle,” he said.

‘I was born in Kenya, and I have a black Omogusii wife, a black son, a black daughter and 2 black grandchildren, with another due to be born at any moment. I don’t use racist language and I don’t use the word in question except when referring to it for a specific purpose.’

Mr Lacey said he told his wife about the “incident” and was surprised that she had caused any offence.

“I spoke to a few others from Kenya and one of my Omogusii friends in Melbourne to gauge their sentiments and no one felt I had used the word inappropriately,” he continued.

‘That made me reflect deeply on why this had caused so much offence. I came to the conclusion that I had assumed that the cultural attitudes of my black Kenyan community would fit this cohort of students. That was clearly a mistake.

Mr. Lacey said he made “several apologies to all the students” and “agreed not to use the word in the future.”

Mr Lacey has worked at Monash University as a Lecturer, Tutor and Coordinator since March 2000.