SDSU lecturer who made disparaging remarks about white student not teaching
Oscar Monge, a SDSU lecturer who has pushed the school to drop the Aztec as its mascot because it believes its racist, has been found by the state to have committed racial discrimination against one of his students.
A San Diego State University lecturer who made disparaging remarks about white people won’t be teaching during the spring semester, the campus said in a statement to the Union-Tribune.
University officials would not confirm a story in the campus newspaper Daily Aztec that Oscar Monge had been scheduled to teach this semester.
An investigation by the California Attorney General’s office concluded that Monge sent at least 15 offensive Facebook messages to student Crystal Sudano last year, when she was a student in his Native American studies class.
The report, dated Dec. 20, 2017, states that Monge referred to Sudano as a “white savior,” a term that can be used to refer to a white person who disguises their racism by aiding minorities. Sudano is white. Monge is Native-American Chicano.
“All in all, Monge uses ‘white” whenever he wishes to explain someone who has done something wrong, or bad,” the report said. “Indeed, in an essay to the investigator, Monge wrote, ‘It is quite easy to argue that ‘whiteness’ is synonymous with evil.’ “
In recent years, Monge has publicly pressed SDSU to stop using the Aztec as a mascot, claiming that it is a racist thing to do.
Monge has not responded to four emails from the Union-Tribune seeking comment.
Sudano said in a message Wednesday night that she is “relieved” that Monge will not be teaching during the spring semester.
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