Duke Professor Megan Neely Resigns Director Post Over Students Speaking Chinese Controversy

An assistant professor from Duke University, North Carolina, resigned from the post of director of graduate studies Saturday after she faced backlash for sending an email to her students asking them to speak exclusively in English while on campus. In the email, Dr. Megan Neely informed students that two faculty members had complained to her about some students speaking in Chinese in the public areas of the department. It further warned the students of “unintended consequences” if they continue to not speak in English.

Neely, who was also the director of the graduate studies for the Masters in Biostatistics program, sent the email to the first and second-year students of the program Friday afternoon. The email encouraged them to “commit to using English 100 percent of the time” while they were in Hock Place — the department building, or in any other professional settings.

The screenshots of her email went viral on social media and she has since stepped down from the director's post. In the mail, Neely wrote that two faculty members had approached her and asked to see photos of the first and second year biostatistics masters students so they could identify the students who were speaking in Chinese “very loudly” in a lounge or study area.

“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,” the email read.

Mary Klotman, the dean of Duke School of Medicine, which oversees the biostatistics program, wrote to the students, “There is absolutely no restriction or limitation on the language you use to converse and communicate with each other. You career opportunities and recommendations will not in any way be influenced by the language you use outside the classroom. And your privacy will always be protected. I have asked the University’s Office of Institutional Equity to conduct a thorough review of the Master of Biostatistics Program.”

A committee of Chinese graduate students at Duke drafted a petition calling for the University to set up an “independent committee to conduct a full-scale investigation into the incident surrounding Neely’s emails and the actions of the unnamed faculty members.” The petition was signed by more than 2,000 students by Saturday evening. A graduate student from the biology department, Songhui Zhao, said the committee sent the petition to several administrators.

Some of Neely’s students from ethnic minority department, however, described her as a supportive program director and someone who definitely wasn’t a racist. After the screenshots were shared on Twitter and Weibo, a Chinese social media app, one user suggested the email may have opened up deeper issues on the program.

“I think this professor’s actions may have been well intentioned, instead it might be the two faculty members who asked [for names and photos] who are the real racists,” the user said.

Another student said, “When some people talk loudly in foreign language, other people [in the lounge] are definitely disturbed. Some of my Chinese friends also told me they are worried that if they support Megan in the public, they might be regarded as ‘people who betrayed their country’ by other Chinese students in the United States.”