Professor Nancy Shurtz from the University of Oregon wore a black face mask to a Halloween Party. To celebrate the spirit of Halloween, she came dressed as one of her favorite authors which was a black man.
According to reports, she was unaware of the term “black face.” After being tagged as violating the school’s harassment policies, the professor was then suspended. It appears that although her actions were done off campus, her actions were shown to be negative and may reflect badly upon the school, as reported by USA Today.
Now, Professor Nancy Shurtz is fighting back. She points at the University of Oregon as publicly shaming her and calls it a supreme public retaliation after the school published a report, as told by Seattle Times.
…show more content…
She has now contacted an attorney to consult on the next steps. According to reports, Shurtz wanted to correct the information before it was released. Because of the report issued, her actions were allegedly taken out of context.
Nancy Shurtz still insists that she went to the party dressed as Dr. Damon Tweedy, an African-American psychiatrist. He was the author of the memoir “Black Man in a White Coat.” The book detailed his experiences with racism while studying in medical school. While she admits that her costume was intended to provoke a discussion about racism, she stresses that she did not mean to violate any harassment policies. There were 13 students, 3 university staff members and 2 alumni present at the party. All of them allegedly did not approach her about her choice of costume.
Other reports indicate that although this happened off-campus, the University of Oregon still feels responsible for maintaining a balanced atmosphere. News reports surrounding the controversy also indicate that her actions had caused serious damage to race relations at the law