Professor accused of telling Asian student to ‘anglicize’ name on leave at CA college

A Laney College professor in Oakland, California has been put on leave after being accused of asking a Vietnamese student to “Anglicize” her name.

“Could you Anglicize your name. Phuc Bui sounds like an insult in English,” mathematics professor Matthew Hubbard wrote in an email to student Phuc Bui Diem Nguyen, as shared by Nguyen’s sister on Instagram.

“Your request for me to “Anglicize” my name feels discriminatory and I will move forward with filing a complaint with the Title IX Office if you can not refer to me by my given birth name,” she wrote back.

“Your name in English sounds like F—k Boy,” Hubbard wrote. “If I lived in Vietnam and my name name in your language sounded like Eat a D—k, I would change it to avoid embarrassment both on my part and on the part of the people who had to say it. I understand you’re offended, but you need to understand your name is an offensive sound in my language. I repeat my request”

Hubbard was put on administrative leave during an investigation, Laney College President Dr. Tammeil Gilkerson said in a statement on Thursday.

“On the surface this incident is obviously disturbing and comes after decades of discussing and working to combat structural racism, xenophobia, and violence in both the Black and Asian Pacific Islander community,” Gilkerson wrote. “While our mission has been bold and unrelenting, we also recognize that our college and its community is a reflection of broader society and we must actively fight ignorance with education. We do not tolerate racism, discrimination or oppression of any kind.”

Laney College’s student population for the 2018-2019 academic year was 26.7% Asian, 25.6% Latinx, 20% Black/African-American, 15.1% white, 5.5% multi-ethnicity, 2.2% Filipino, 0.6% Pacific Islander, and 0.2% Native American.