Hunter College professor placed on leave amid investigation into her ‘abhorrent’ Zoom remarks during public school meeting
A view of Hunter College of The City University of New York, April 10, 2017, in New York. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — A New York City college professor has been placed on leave amid backlash over what the school called her “abhorrent remarks” during a public school district meeting.
Hunter College associate professor Allyson Friedman made the remarks during a NYC District 3 Community Education Council (CEC3) meeting earlier this month that she was virtually attending as a parent in the Manhattan district, the university confirmed.
While an unidentified eighth grade student spoke against the potential closing of her school, Friedman can be heard saying in a video of the meeting, “They’re just too dumb to know they’re in a bad school. … Apparently Martin Luther King said it. Like if you train a Black person well enough, they’ll know to use the back, you don’t have to tell them anymore.”
Friedman appeared to be referencing remarks made earlier in the meeting by District 3 interim acting superintendent Reginald Higgins, who had quoted the Black scholar Carter G. Woodson: “When you can control a man’s thinking, you do not have to send him to the back door, he will go without being told.”
During Friedman’s remarks, other attendees could be seen reacting in shock and someone interrupts her to say, “What you’re saying is absolutely hearable here, you’ve got to stop.”
riedman has apologized for her remarks, which she said were taken out of context during an accidental unmute and did not truly reflect her own views.
“During a recent online CEC3 meeting, I was trying to explain the concept of systemic racism to my child by referencing an example of an obviously racist trope,” Friedman said in a statement to ABC News. “Due to an inadvertent unmute, only part of that conversation was captured. My complete comments make clear these abhorrent views are not my own, nor were they directed at any student or group. I fully support these courageous students in their efforts to stop school closures. However, I recognize these comments caused harm and pain, while that was not my intent I do truly apologize.”
Hunter College said earlier this week that it is “reviewing the situation under the university’s applicable conduct and nondiscrimination policies.” On Wednesday, Hunter College President Nancy Cantor updated that Friedman, associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, has been placed on leave while the school investigates the incident.
“This painful incident unfolded at a meeting where Black History Month was being celebrated and the pernicious and enduring effects of anti-Black systemic racism were being discussed, especially with regard to the role of educational institutions in addressing them,” Cantor said in a statement. “Hunter has long embraced such a role, which requires constant vigilance to remain attentive and responsive to the ways in which we continually draw and redraw discriminatory social lines.”
ABC News has reached out to Friedman for comment on Thursday, following the update from Hunter.
CEC3 has condemned Friedman’s remarks as “racially offensive.”
“Regardless of intent, these comments were deeply harmful and wholly unacceptable,” CEC3 said in a draft statement. “That such remarks were made while a student was courageously offering public comment makes this incident even more troubling.”
New York City Public Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels has also condemned her remarks, saying at an unrelated press briefing on Tuesday, “It was abhorrent to listen to. And our students deserve so much better.”
Spencer and Monique Tepe are seen in this undated photo. (Courtesy Rob Misleh)
(COLUMBUS, Ohio) — The family of slain Ohio couple Monique and Spencer Tepe is speaking out about Monique Tepe’s ex-husband, who is accused of shooting the young parents in their home.
“She just had to get away from him,” the Tepes’ brother-in-law, Rob Misleh, told ABC News’ “Good Morning America” of Dr. Michael McKee.
McKee, 39, is charged with premeditated aggravated murder for allegedly gunning down the Tepes at their Columbus home on Dec. 30, according to police.
Columbus Police Chief Elaine Bryant on Wednesday called it a targeted and “domestic violence-related” attack. She said multiple weapons were taken from McKee’s property and one of those weapons has preliminarily been linked to the crimes.
McKee appeared in court on Monday. He did not enter a plea but assistant public defender Carie Poirier told the judge he intended to plead not guilty.
Misleh said that Monique Tepe told him that McKee was emotionally abusive.
“Myself and many others were well aware of, kind of, the negative impact that he had on her. And the abuse that he put her through, the torment that he put her through,” Misleh said. “She was willing to do anything to get out of there.”
“She was a very strong person,” Misleh added.
McKee and Monique Tepe were married in 2015 and divorced in 2017, according to divorce records obtained by ABC Columbus affiliate WSYX. They did not have any children together, according to the records.
Spencer Tepe, a dentist, married Monique Tepe married in December 2020, according to their obituary.
“They were some of the kindest and just most inviting people,” Misleh said. “… I think it speaks really loudly that their funeral had over 1,000 people there.”
The Tepes are survived by their two young children who were found safe inside the house on Dec 30.
“We just want justice,” Misleh said.
“We want this person that took so much from, not just us as a family, but so many more people. And obviously the kids, especially. We want this person to pay for what they did,” he said.
“Our hearts remain with Spencer and Monique and their loved ones, and especially the children impacted,” Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther said at a news conference on Wednesday.
(WASHINGTON) — Authorities are set to hold a press conference Thursday morning after two National Guard members from West Virginia remain in critical condition after a gunman opened fire on them in an apparent “targeted shooting” near the White House, officials said.
The gunfire broke out around 2:15 p.m. Wednesday, when the unidentified suspect rounded a corner, near the Farragut West Metro station in Washington, D.C., raised his arm with the weapon and opened fire, Metropolitan Police Department Executive Assistant Chief Jeffery Carroll said.
Other National Guard members quickly responded to the shooting and helped subdue the suspected shooter, Carroll said.
“They heard the gunfire and they actually were able to intervene and to hold down the suspect after he had been shot on the ground,” Carroll said of the responding Guard members.
Law enforcement officials, including FBI Director Kash Patel, are scheduled to hold a news conference at 9 a.m. ET on Thursday at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro is expected to be present.
The White House was briefly put on lockdown on Wednesday but that the order was lifted at about 5 p.m. President Donald Trump and the first lady are in Florida, where they are spending Thanksgiving at his Mar-a-Lago club.
The suspected gunman has been identified by law enforcement as 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal, multiple law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation told ABC News.
Lakanwal is believed to be from Afghanistan and came to the United States in 2021 under the Biden administration, the sources said. He applied for asylum in 2024 and was granted asylum in April 2025, under the Trump administration, according to three law enforcement sources.
Several sources told ABC News that the FBI is investigating the shooting as a potential act of international terrorism, suggesting authorities are trying to determine if it may have been inspired by an international terrorist organization.
The National Guard was deployed to the nation’s capital as part of Trump’s federal takeover of the city in August. According to the most recent update, there were 2,188 Guard personnel assigned to D.C.
On Tuesday, during the traditional turkey pardoning at the White House, Trump touted his administration’s takeover of D.C. streets. He said it was “one of our most unsafe places anywhere in the United States. It is now considered a totally safe city.”
“You could walk down any street in Washington and you’re going to be just fine. And I want to thank the National Guard. I want to thank you for the job you’ve done here is incredible,” Trump said at the event.
ABC News’ Ahmad Hemingway contributed to this report.
(LONDON)– It is one thing to make a New Year’s resolution. It is, however, a very different thing to be able to keep it.
Every year they are made with the best of intentions — with the hope and desire to become a better version of ourselves — so why is it that millions of people make New Year’s resolutions knowing the odds of them ever following through with them are minimal?
Jasper Rook Williams — fitness expert, online coach and owner of JRW Fitness — has made a successful career so far working with hundreds of clients around the world on improving their nutrition, training and lifestyle calibration. He has a good idea why.
“The goals, if sometimes a little ambitious, are rarely the problem and they are all set with best intentions,” Rook Williams tells ABC News. “The issue is there’s rarely enough thought put into the approach. People have high ambitions hinging on mostly unrealistic and unsustainable methods. Rather than just thinking ‘I’ll eat salads and join a gym’, people need to prioritize achievable routines, sustainability and lifestyle changes from a broader and more holistic perspective.”
According to research, Rook Williams isn’t wrong. The failure rate for New Year’s resolutions is said to be an estimated 80% with most people losing their resolve and motivation just weeks later in mid-February, according to U.S News and World Report.
“Changing your habits is very difficult, including finding the right moment to make a change,” Bas Verplanken, professor of social psychology at the University of Bath, said in a report released by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology in 2017. “Changing from December 31st to January 1st is not a dramatic discontinuity. Many resolutions are made on December 31st, and go down the drain on January 2nd.”
Psychologically speaking, the beginning of a new year is often viewed as a seminal moment — a time to reflect on the previous year and look ahead to the new one. But this doesn’t necessarily translate to immediate change and action just because of timing.
“Anything worthwhile is never without obstacle” Perhaps unsurprisingly, the top three New Year’s resolutions made each year are living healthier (23%), personal improvement or happiness (21%) and losing weight (20%), according to a report published by Statista in Nov. 2022.
“A great question to ask yourself when starting out is “does this feel sustainable?” Rook Williams explains to ABC News. “If you can’t keep up the routine then you definitely won’t keep the results.”
One of the things that Rook Williams has found leads to people maintaining their success is when people have — or are given — a sense of accountability.
“You have to bear in mind that creating new habits is hard and progress for anything worthwhile is never linear,” he said. “There will be times when either you want to stop or results seem to have stopped and that can be hard to deal with. That’s when having someone to guide you can keep you accountable can be invaluable in the process of change.”
Ultimately, to successfully make a change for the better, it comes down to striking the right balance, according to Rook Williams.
“In the case of fitness, it’s not just the food or training or wider lifestyle that will create the change but all three of these things working together,” he continued. “They’re not mutually exclusive. Lacking motivation is common and, in my experience, is something that comes when you don’t have a plan. Whether you hire a professional or not, just removing the guesswork and gaining a sense of direction always helps the individual on their path to success.”
“Motivation is temporary” One of the biggest obstacles to maintaining resolutions, particularly when it comes to fitness objectives, is to choose goals that are both achievable and sustainable.
An estimated 12% of all new gym memberships per year occur in January, according to a study done by IHRSA, the fitness industry’s only global trade association that represents health clubs worldwide. Another study indicates that four out of every five people who join the gym in January will actually quit within five months.
“Motivation is temporary for everyone,” says Rook Williams. “So the best thing you can do is use that time to create the habits and routines needed to see you through once it wanes. And it will wane. It always does. The classic thing new gym starters do in the new year is go from zero to 100 mph … They want to go from not working out at all and eating what they want to training five, six, seven days a week and eating like a rabbit. This just sets them up for failure because it’s just not realistic.”
One of the biggest reasons why Rook Williams’ clients often succeed when it comes to setting goals is the focus on maintaining a healthy outlook every day and “saying no to short-termism.”
“Being new at something and hoping to be perfect straight away is a sure fire way to give up on anything very quickly,” Rook Williams explains. “Be sure to cut yourself some slack. If you planned to train three days one week but only managed two, that doesn’t make you a failure. It’s still two more than you were doing before, so just wipe the slate clean and try it again without holding on to guilt or punishing yourself.”
“Everyone falls off the horse at some point, even the pros,” Rook Williams continued. “What’s important is how quickly you dust yourself off and get back to work. Those who make it do this right away. But those who let one mistake spill over into more mistakes are the ones who are most likely to give up and start again next year.”
“Never just one solution” No matter what resolution you may make in the New Year, for Rook Williams, success is all about perspective and making changes in incremental ways that suit your lifestyle rather than completely disrupting it.
“There is never just one solution to a problem, whatever that problem might be,” he continued. “Your goal might be set in stone, but how you achieve it shouldn’t be. Don’t get married to just one method. Finding sustainable success is all about finding the method that is easiest and most maintainable for you.”
Unrealistic expectations and the dangers of expecting to get it right the first time are one of the main things that Rook Williams warns his clients about.
“With so much conflicting information out there and each of us having our own unique goals, schedules and responsibilities, the chance of getting your nutritional approach spot on when going alone immediately is incredibly slim,” Rook Williams explains. “Even if it is working, it might not be sustainable so be prepared for a period involving a lot of trial and error.”
For Rook Williams this was a huge reason why he became a coach in the first place. “It took me ages to piece it all together and, once I had, I wanted to help others do the same and in far less time.”
Research actually backs this up. According to a 2012 study conducted by the University of Pennsylvania’s Weight and Eating Disorders Program, 65% of dieters return to their pre-diet weight within three years and only 5% of people who lose weight on a restrictive diet, such as a liquid or no-carb, manage to keep the weight off — just one out of every 20 dieters.
“Carbs are tasty, alcohol can be fun, food is for eating and going without all these things forever is, for most people, totally unrealistic. When you think about it logically like that, it’s no surprise the majority of people fail to keep off the weight they lose.”
Ultimately, making any major change in your life requires more than just the desire to do so. It requires a goal, determination and a willingness to learn all mixed with a heavy dose of reality and a well-constructed approach to change.
“If you have a day where you feel like you can’t be bothered with anything, remember you are running your own race,” Rook Williams explains. “Success isn’t made by being perfect everyday but by doing your best everyday, whatever that looks like to you. What I have learned myself — and what I have really seen leads people to success — is if you have good habits and routines in place that you have created over time, that’s what is going to get you to where you want to be.”
Said Rook Williams: “It’s not just the food or training or wider lifestyle that will create the change but all three of these things. They’re all connected.”
