LAWRENCE, Kan. — A white University of Kansas assistant professor who used a racial slur during a class discussion on race will not have her contract renewed. Andrea Quenette, an assistant professor of communication studies, told The Lawrence Journal-World Monday the university notified her last week that she would not be reappointed to her position at the end of the spring 2017 semester.
Some graduate students complained about Quenette after she used the racial slur in November, a day after the university held a contentious forum on race and discrimination.
“I said, ‘I don’t see the N-word spray painted on buildings here,” Quenette said.
She said the backlash came in the form of an open letter. The letter, drafted by students, calls for Quenette’s termination for racial discrimination, calling her “racially insensitive and unprofessional.”
A number of students took to Twitter and used the hashtag #FireAndreaQuenette.
“I understand it’s an offensive word, I didn’t think in the context I used it in that it was, it wasn’t directed at anyone. It wasn’t meant to relate to or refer to anyone. It was simply a re-telling of an example, so I didn’t intend it to be offensive to anyone,” Quenette said.
She said she never had an opportunity to apologize to the students in her class at Bailey Hall because they walked out of the next class she had with them after they had her read her letters.
After that, she said was investigated by the Office of Institutional Opportunity and Access, but she said the case was dismissed, and so was her employment.
“This was supposed to be forever,” Quenette said as she teared up.
Quenette said she only published one research paper during her three years at KU, while most professors write one or two a year.
A university spokesman wouldn’t confirm or deny Quenette’s employment situation, saying it is a personnel matter.
Her biography on the University of Kansas website shows Quenette has a Ph.D. from Ohio State University.
Dr. Andrea Quenette earned her Ph.D. from Ohio State University where she served as a graduate fellow at the Ohio State School of Communications. Her research interests focus on how citizens understand and use political news content to help them navigate the political system. Her current research has focused on how political cynicism and political trust relate to citizens’ political news use, the influence of framing in political news content, the role of citizens’ emotions about politics, and the role of source characteristics in citizens’ perceptions of trust and credibility of news sources using satire. Dr. Quenette teaches classes such as Media, Communication and Terrorism, Persuasion, Political Communication Campaigns and others.