Reporting an incident

[studentbear, CNA]

I am trying to determine the appropriate course of action for this situation. My A&P2 professor (middle aged, white male) said multiple discriminatory and suggestive comments toward multiple students during a lab period. This is a hybrid class, so this incident occurred during 1 of our 2 on campus meetings for the term and it was my first interaction with this prof.

Incident #1: We were talking about heart sounds during lab. The professor turned toward a POC woman (She appears Hispanic and I believe Spanish is her first language) and said something to the effect of "Well, your heart probably says lubb dupp in Spanish, right?" and "What's lubb dupp in Spanish? Your heart has to say it in Spanish." Multiple students appeared surprised that he made this statement, my lab partner and I just looked at each other. Another POC student said in response, "Nope, our hearts sound the same as yours" and my lab partner said "Actually, we are all the same." The professor then turns to 2 Sikh students and says "What about you guys over there? What's your heart sound like?"

Incident #2: Lab was nearing the end, only a few students left. My lab partner and the professor were conversational about roller derby, because my lab partner used to be in roller derby. Another student, a young female, turned in her assignment to the professor. The professor says to her "You'd look really good in a roller derby outfit."

WHAT? How is this okay in 2016? These were racially discriminatory and sexually suggestive comments. Our school, a community college, is a very diverse school committed to social justice. We are proud of being multi-cultural, we have a large number of exchange students, and the city we are in is very culturally diverse. I did not misinterpret the situation, I know that these statements were not okay.

Do I go to the dean? I am assuming that I should wait until the end of the term to avoid any possible recourse from the instructor, but I also don't want to sit by while he continues to say these things to students. This is my last class at this school before I move to another state for nursing school.

[Emergent, RN]

The comments sound socially clumsy. I don't see how asking how lub dub is said in Spanish is discrimination. I'm interested in linguistics myself. For instance, in Polish sheep don't say 'baa baa', they say 'maa maa'. Other animal sounds are interpreted differently as well.

The comment about the young woman would only be viewed as sexual harassment if it were a pattern of repeated behavior.

A good rule of thumb is to not make any comments about race or ethnicity, esp if you are a white male.

[Evening_Primrose, ADN, RN]

Wow, he does sound like kind of a jackass oaf.

While the first example shows signs of him being completely tone deaf to cultures other than his own (most likely because of the privilege has has and doesn't consider), I'm not sure it would rise to discrimination. Part of me even wonders if he thinks he's being inclusive by acknowledging their culture in the learning?

The second comment I find more repulsive because (it seems to me) he should know exactly how that comes across and simply doesn't care that it makes him sound like a creeper weirdo. I think my reaction would have been a loud "Woooooow" with a shake of my head and my mouth hanging open while looking at him. Maybe on the wrong day I might have even said "I hope for your sake she doesn't think that's as offensive at it sounded to the rest of us because she might be on her way to report you." I doubt he'd care, but maybe he'd think twice for the future.

Maybe an email to the department chair might be an idea if it's still bothering you.