USC Admin Defends Investigation of Prof over Use of Chinese Word for ‘Um’

An administrator at USC recently defended the university’s decision to investigate a professor over his use of the Chinese word for “um” during an online lecture. Professor Greg Patton was placed on leave after students complained that a Chinese word used by Patton sounded like an English-language racial slur. According to the university, using a common Chinese word during a discussion of cross-cultural communication is a “polarizing example.”

According to a report by Campus Reform, the USC is defending its decision to launch an investigation into Professor Greg Patton over his use of a Chinese word during an online class session.

Breitbart News reported at the beginning of September that USC Professor Greg Patton had been placed on leave over his use of the Chinese word “nèi ge.” Some offended students told administrators that Patton had used a word that sounded like a racial slur.

Patton was discussing the use of “filler words” in speech. “If you have a lot of ‘ums and errs,’ this is culturally specific so based on your native language. Like in China, the common word is ‘that, that, that.’ So in China it might be ‘nèi ge, nèi ge, nèi ge,’” Patton says in the recorded lecture.

In a letter to sent to students, USC Provost Charles F. Zukoski defended the decision to remove Patton from the class. Zukoski claimed, however, that Patton agreed to step down from the class.

We appreciate your concerns and take them seriously. In this particular case at the Marshall School, the course was scheduled to run for three weeks and, after student complaints were lodged, the professor volunteered to step away for the final two weeks. He was not dismissed nor suspended nor was his status changed. We are required to investigate all complaints and have a thorough process for doing so which we began immediately.

Zukoski referred to Patton’s use of the Chinese word as a “polarizing example.”

The complaints occurred in a course in communication across cultural lines. Its purpose is to prepare students to be successful in business around the world. There is no intent to impose U.S. cultural norms on communications in other languages and cultures. Indeed, this situation arose when students questioned the polarizing example chosen to illustrate a reasonable and important point about communication and had nothing to do with the Mandarin language itself. As the professor said in his apology, the example used in this lecture could have been better chosen.

Breitbart News reported that a group of USC alumni compared the administrators behind the decision to remove Patton to China’s Chairman Mao, who frequently accused innocent people of crimes.

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