As some of you may know, a controversy erupted over a tweet I wrote about the coronavirus that offended some of UCLA’s Asian and Asian-American students (among others) and drew a formal complaint from the UCLA APILSA student organization. I have apologized both via email to the leaders of the organization and publicly on Twitter. I do so again here unreservedly.
I very much regret having given offense and contributed—albeit unintentionally and inadvertently-to a challenging time. There are unquestionably far too many strains of xenophobia in this country right now, especially taking the form of anti-Asian and anti-Asian American sentiment. In this context, my tweets were thoughtless and unfortunate. Put bluntly, they were stupid and insensitive.
Unfortunately, this is not the first time one of my tweets have offended some of our students. If I were a professional pundit, such controversies would be grist to my mill. But I am not.
I am educator and, more important, an educator who stands as a witness for Christ in a very secular place. I have had students of every race and ethnicity, and from many nations around the globe and I certainly want all of my students of all races to feel welcome in my class and at UCLA Law in general. I failed, especially with respect to my Asian and Asian-American students. Sadly, the legitimate criticism of the recent tweet has driven home that my participation in Twitter has impeded my ability to educate and to act as a witness for Christ. Accordingly, this morning I deleted my account.
As a colleague of mine likes to say, thanks for listening.
P.S.: I remind you of my longstanding blog policy:
This blog is a personal, extracurricular activity. The blog is not affiliated in any way with the UCLA law school or university. The blog receives no support--financial or otherwise--from the UCLA law school or university.
The opinions expressed herein are mine alone and do not represent the opinions of the law school or university administration, faculty, students, or alumni. They should not be attributed thereto.
The same was true of my Twitter feed.
Update: I have dipped a toe back into Twitter, but at this point almost exclusively as a feed for my blog posts. (See this announcement.) I remain am very aware that my previous participation in Twitter impeded my ability to educate and to act as a witness for Christ. It is my hope and intent not to let that happen again.
