Hunter College professor placed on leave after hot-mic racist remarks spark backlash

The controversy escalates days after the associate professor was heard making racist comments during a Manhattan Community Education Council meeting.

The fallout is escalating for a Hunter College professor whose comments about Black students were caught on a live microphone during a virtual public education meeting in New York City.

Allyson Friedman, an associate professor in the biological sciences department at Hunter College, has now been placed on leave as the university reviews the incident, according to new reporting from the New York Daily News.

“We are investigating this matter under the university’s applicable conduct and nondiscrimination policies,” Hunter College president Nancy Cantor wrote to students and faculty on Wednesday. “Pending the outcome of our investigation, the employee has been placed on leave.

The incident took place during a Feb. 10 Community Education Council meeting on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. An eighth-grade student was speaking about fears their school might close when Friedman, participating remotely as a parent, was heard making remarks she appeared to believe were private.

According to video recordings and multiple reports, Friedman said Black students were “too dumb to know they’re in a bad school” and invoked a distorted historical reference about segregation.

🧵As a child was speaking about not losing her UWS school, an adult cut her off, unaware that the whole meeting could hear them.

“They’re too dumb to know they’re in a bad school. If you train a Black person well enough, they’ll know to use the back."https://t.co/h0uH80AfF2 pic.twitter.com/stD6YsKkbM— Gus Saltonstall (@GusSaltonstall) February 20, 2026

Participants quickly realized her microphone was not muted and interrupted her during the meeting.

The recording spread rapidly online, prompting condemnation from parents, elected officials, and education leaders across the city.

As theGrio previously reported, Hunter College called the remarks “abhorrent” and confirmed it was reviewing the situation under nondiscrimination policies.

Friedman later apologized, saying she had been attempting to explain systemic racism in a side conversation with her child and that the remarks did not reflect her beliefs.

“Regardless of context, my words were wrong and caused real harm,” she said in a statement.

She also said the comments were not directed at the student speaker and that she took “full responsibility for their impact.”

Black parent leaders and elected officials called for accountability, while city education officials said racism “has no place in our school communities” while working to support affected students and families.

The meeting itself centered on a proposal to close or relocate certain middle school programs.

Hunter College has not announced a final disciplinary outcome, but the review is ongoing.