Scandal! Racist and sexist comments by a Hungarian professor
Four students filed a complaint against a university professor for his racist, sexist, and homophobic comments.
The issues of migration and sexuality sometimes cause serious scandals in Hungary or even on an international level, like in the case of
As szeged.hu reported, on February 17,
László Gulyás, a historian and university professor, had a wide variety of sexist, homophobic, and racist comments during his online class
in the afternoon. We do not know yet if it was only a one-time occasion, but after the class, four students wrote a letter about the incident, filing a complaint. According to their knowledge, the Juhász Gyula Faculty of Education hiring the professor is already investigating the issue.
The historian, who at the same time is also
an academic advisor at the Institute of Hungarian Research, has just become a Knight of Cross of the Hungarian Order of Merit in March.
Gulyás was giving an online lecture to almost 60 students with the title “Migration and refugee issues in the 20th century”. According to students, here are some examples of what he said.
“The American nigger culture is built on rap”
and that “English soldiers are chopping niggers.”
“There is no African civilisation. The blacks, the niggers were doing nothing, they were doing sh*t in the jungle”.
Then he proceeded to talk about “very ugly niggers”.
One of the students connecting to the class had the face of a well-known celebrity of Roma origin as his picture. The professor ordered the student to get rid of the picture saying
“So I hate gipsies, let alone him, I do not want to look at his picture.”
He called President Joe Biden a “half idiot” before offending American Vice President Kamala Harris by saying
“I do not even remember the name of that woman….Kamala Harris, I just call her the black b*tch…”
He added some homophobic and sexist comments to his racist ones, for instance, when he said “the poor Neanderthal would turn back after seeing One Direction…”.
He even went as far as involving some students. “It would be nice not to only see the faces of …. The ladies as well could turn on the cameras, at least I would have something to look at” or that “the lady with a creole complexion could come back”.
After taking a break, he asked whether everyone had reconnected to the lecture. He then reacted to a student’s answer by saying something like “as a heterosexual, I do not get excited by the fact that a male student returned”.
Naturally, professor Gulyás was also asked about the issue, but he avoided giving an answer to any of the questions posed by szeged.hu. Nevertheless, he did not deny the allegations made by the students or the fact that he made the aforementioned comments during his class.
However, he did write a letter to his students attending the course. He was quite upset and offended by the complaint and by the fact that the basis for the students’ letter was his view on the world and on history, and his ideology.
He advised students who do not like his opinion to drop his otherwise elective class.
Gulyás was right in his letter in saying that a professor has the right to have his own ideology and values, together with the right to teach according to these. However, on the condition that they give their knowledge objectively by a multilateral approach. Most importantly, respecting all rights and the dignity of students. The Code of Ethics of the University of Szeged directly states that the institution is not committed to any religion, Church, or ideology. When it comes to these topics, it is tolerant and neutral, and it is committed to facts, scientific truths, and data obtained by scientific methods. Conclusions drawn by these facts need to be presented with professional decency.
Based on all this information, the faculty investigating the issue will have quite a lot of work to do.
Source: szeged.hu