London university director under fire for using N-word in video call with students

The director of a renowned London university has sparked a racism row after using the N-word in an online meeting with students.

Professor Adam Habib was responding to a complaint at an all-students meeting that the N-word had been used in a lecture at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) when he himself repeated it.

After two people in the meeting told him they found it unacceptable, he defended his use of the word by arguing he “comes from a part of the world where we actually do use the word.” He also apologized for causing offense.

Students were quick to condemn Habib’s use of the word, and criticism of his defense has spread through social media in his homeland South Africa.

Use of word ‘unacceptable’

The meeting between students and Habib, who took over as director of SOAS at the beginning of 2021, took place on March 11.

As he and the students discussed the university’s approach to race, representation of Black students, and the funding of African studies at the university, one person raised the issue of a racist term being used by a member of staff without consequences.

In video footage from the meeting, Habib responds: “The issue around that is... I personally on the [N-word] ... somebody making that allegation, then just bring it to me. I don’t know the case. This is the first I’ve heard of it.”

Immediately afterward, a female student confronts him to say she “cannot believe” he used the word in a meeting and that she finds it “unacceptable.”

In reply, Habib says: “I don’t actually. I come from a part of the world where we actually do use the word.”

After another male student tells Habib it is not acceptable for him to use the term without having lived the experience of a Black person, he says: “I am sorry I offended you. I come from a part of the world where, when somebody uses it, I use it, the context matters.”

Criticism from students and South Africans

The backlash to Habib’s comments began on the same evening, with the Students’ Union releasing a statement shortly before midnight.

The Union called what happened in the meeting “unacceptable, disgusting and to be unequivocally rejected.” It also said there was resistance to addressing “institutional racism” at SOAS and that they were disappointed no other staff members spoke up during the meeting.

Students are holding a meeting today to discuss the comments further.

The university’s Philosophy Society went further, decrying “structural racism” at SOAS and demanding Habib’s resignation.

The statement read: “We find Adam Habib’s racist language to irreparably undermine the anti-racist and decolonial efforts made and supported by the student body, there is no other fitting disciplinary action: Habib must go.”

The left-wing Economic Freedom Fighters party in South Africa also called on Habib to resign. In a statement from the party, which has long been critical of Habib, said his comment that the word is commonly used in South Africa “a blatant and filthy lie.”

Professor Habib hits back

Habib posted his response to the claims early on Friday morning, stating that “the video is deliberately cropped in a way to misrepresent” what he said.

He added: “I did not say we use the word in [South Africa]. This is a deliberate distortion used for despicable political agendas.”

Habib also emphasized that he apologized for causing offense and that if the word was used against another person at the university, there would be consequences.

He then went on to question: “Why is it that after this apology, some are still politicizing the issue?”

In a statement provided to DW by SOAS, Habib said: “I do not think it is fair to describe SOAS as institutionally racist or as an institution which fails black students.

“SOAS is working deliberately to address the challenges of racism in our world.”

SOAS in the headlines

SOAS was founded in 1916 and is recognized as one of the world’s leading institutions for studies in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

The university last hit the headlines in December, when it was ordered to repay the tuition fees of a student who complained of a “toxic anti-Semitic environment.”