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University of Pennsylvania teaching assistant. Stephanie McKellop, has been criticized for having a system when calling on students in their class. In a now private tweet, they wrote, “I will always call on my Black women students first. Other POC get second tier priority, WW come next. And, if I have to, white men.”
Screenshot of their tweet has been making the rounds on Twitter. A lot of people are claiming their actions as racist. McKellop, a Ph.D. student and graduate teaching assistant. According to Bustle what McKellop was doing is actually a teaching tactic called progressive stacking.
Dear @Penn: Every single person who is attacking Stephanie McKellop in my TL have tweeted out radical right-wing statements elsewhere.
— David Walsh (@DavidAstinWalsh) October 20, 2017
Progressive stacking is giving marginalized students in classrooms a great opportunity to talk. Based on undergraduate stats in a classroom of 100 students about 58 will be white, 19 will be Hispanic, 14 will be African-American, seven will be Asian and two will be another ethnicity or biracial.
https://twitter.com/AnnaNReser/status/921027825955508224
By giving African-American women and other WOC the opportunity to speak first it gives them a platform to speak their mind. An opportunity they might not get in other classrooms. Their actions aren’t racist because you can’t be racist to white people and it’s undoing the racism that exists that allow classrooms consist of more than half white students.
I have rarely seen a teacher who more fully advocated for their students than @McKellop, who has taught me so much about teaching. I hope @Penn and @PennHistory give Stephanie their full support.
— Elizabeth Picciuto 🌱 (@epicciuto) October 19, 2017
A lot of people don’t see McKellop’s actions as doing a justice, but rather an injustice to the white men in the classroom. Kate Needham, a Yale University graduate student, came to McKellop’s defense saying her presence is “a lifeline for other queer, disabled, and low-income students in academia.”
https://twitter.com/goelittlebooke/status/921062378246156288?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sacbee.com%2Flatest-news%2Farticle180416296.html
University of Pennsylvania is looking into McKellop’s actions and they have allegedly canceled their class.
