CONTENT WARNING: Please note that this story contains transphobic slurs.
A professor from the State University of New York (SUNY) in Geneseo is under internal investigation after a recent lesson on transgender women received heavy backlash.
Professor David Sorbello displayed a quiz on a screen for sociology students, titled "Female or Shemale", where students were asked to pick which women were transgender, and which were cisgender.
A student in class, Jillian Sternberg, took a photo of the presentation, and it was then tweeted by Janice Cui, who added the caption, "RT if you think the sociology department @SUNYGeneseo needs to rethink its approach to teaching about trans issues":
The tweet has now received over 3,000 retweets, and nearly 3,500 likes, with many social media users expressing shock over the presentation.
A number of trans and non-binary students at SUNY spoke out about the incident as well, with many giving statements to The Tab, calling the incident "disheartening". One student said the story "greatly upset [them]", and another called for the teacher's dismissal.
Sternberg told BuzzFeed that throughout the lesson, Sorbello had also made transphobic comments about trans women: "He said something along the lines of, ‘Be careful not to get too drunk or you’ll take the wrong one home!'. He would comment on some of the pictures like, ‘I’m definitely not going to the bar with you.’"
“After we took the quiz, he even said, ‘I know a lot of you guys look uncomfortable'.”
Speaking to 13 ABC WHAM, Sternberg said she confronted Sorbello about the issue after the lesson has concluded, and he was "very defensive" and told her the quiz had been "partly for humour".
Cui, who tweeted the photo, also released an update after her initial tweet, saying that after backlash has begun and the college had been notified of the offensive lesson, Sorbello sent his students an email about the lesson. Rather than apologise, he reprimanded the students for using phones during class, saying there was a "zero tolerance policy" on taking photos with camera phones during class.
Cui also alleged via Twitter that Sorbello has "a history of using POC & women as punchlines", adding: "This is not a first offence".
The GLAAD media reference guide advises that the word used in Sorbello's quiz is defamatory, stating that it "dehumanises transgender people and should not be used".
Since the backlash, SUNY president Denise A. Battles released a statement about the incident, explaining that the matter has been taken very seriously by the university.
“The classroom is an environment in which students and faculty can and should discuss challenging topics and ideas, which makes it all the more important that we gather and fully review the facts in this case,” said Battles. “As we review this situation, let me say unequivocally that SUNY Geneseo has a steadfast and uncompromising commitment to diversity and inclusivity.
"We work diligently to sustain an inviting and supportive environment for people of all gender identities, gender expressions, sexual orientations, races, religions and other identities.”
