College professor put on leave after demanding student named 'Phuc Bui' 'anglicize' her name
Matthew Hubbard, a mathematics professor at Oakland's Laney College, has been placed on administrative leave after emailing a Vietnamese student and instructing her to "anglicize" her name against her wishes.
A series of emails between the professor and student shared on social media reveals that Hubbard reached out to a student named Phuc Bui Diem Nguyen, and wrote, "Could you Anglicize your name. Phuc Bui sounds like an insult in English."
In a response, Nguyen stated Hubbard's request "feels discriminatory" and warned the professor she would file a complaint if he refuses to refer to her by her given birth name. Despite the student's warning, Hubbard doubled down and repeated the request.
"Your name in English sounds like F— Boy," he wrote back. "If I lived in Vietnam and my name in your language sounded like Eat a D—, I would change it to avoid embarrassment both on my part and on the part of the people who had to say it. I understand you are offended, but you need to understand your name is an offensive sound in my language. I repeat my request."
The email chain went viral, and Laney College announced Thursday that Hubbard has been placed on administrative leave while the school investigates the incident.
"On the surface this incident is obviously disturbing and comes after decades of discussing and working to combat structural racism, xenophobia, and violence in both the Black and Asian Pacific Islander community," the college wrote in a statement. "While our mission has been bold and unrelenting, we also recognize that our college and its community is a reflection of broader society and we must actively fight ignorance with education. We do not tolerate racism, discrimination or oppression of any kind."
