Duke Official Steps Down After Telling Students Not To Speak Chinese
Megan Neely, an assistant professor at Duke University in North Carolina, said in an email to students that two unnamed faculty members of the biostatistics Masters programme had complained to her about students speaking Chinese in public areas in the department.
“They were disappointed that these students were not taking the opportunity to improve their English and were being so impolite as to have a conversation that not everyone on the floor could understand,” a bolded portion of Neely’s email stated.
Neely said her colleagues asked her for help identifying the students in case they ever applied for an internship or were interviewed by them.
In the email, Neely said that she “recognized how hard it has been and still is for you to come to the US and have to learn in a non-native language” but she asked students “to commit to using English 100% of the time when you are in Hock or any other professional setting.” The department is located in Hock Plaza.
After the screenshot of the emails went viral, it was revealed that this wasn’t the first time that Neely had warned students against speaking foreign languages. In February 2018, Neely said she had received complaints from faculty members about international students not speaking English in break rooms. “I don’t like being the language police, but I have gotten these comments enough times in the past few weeks that I feel like I should share them with you,” Neely wrote in the email she sent almost a year ago. “Beyond the obvious opportunity to practice and perfect your English, speaking in your native language in the department may give faculty the impression that you are not trying to improve your English skills and that you are not taking this opportunity seriously.”
