UCF students took to Twitter to call for action against a political science professor they claim is racist and said grades unfairly if they express different views than him.
Alvin Quackenbush, an adjunct professor in the UCF’s School of Politics, Security, and International Affairs, has worked at UCF since Sept. 2015, according to his LinkedIn. His profile states he is a professor at Valencia College and the Political Science Department chairperson, as well.
Knight News reached out to Quackenbush for comment on Friday evening but did not receive a reply by time of publication.
Rayanne Anid, a UCF political science major, tweeted that Quackenbush is a “racist who will deduct points from any students who express any views apart from his own and include very biased questions in his exams.”
Knight News has not been able to confirm that Quackenbush deducts points for individuals expressing different views — in an email to the professor on Friday, Knight News asked for clarification about grading and types of questions. He has not responded as of Sunday.
Anid told Knight News she’s taken numerous classes with Quackenbush and said she was tweeting on behalf of her experiences and the observations of other students. The thread of tweets can be read here.
Knight News obtained a copy of a message Quackenbush sent to his students in the spring semester, on April 16. In the message, he refers to the coronavirus as the “Wuhan Corona virus.”
The series of messages giving context can be seen below.
In September, the UCF Student Government Senate passed a resolution — a student-led advocacy effort — which calls for all UCF campus leaders to proactively address and condemn all forms of COVID-19 related anti-Asian sentiments.
The resolution states that in order to move toward racial equity, changes regarding representation must be made in order to establish and acknowledge all communities and races within the university.
“The importance of creating and providing space for all communities and races by amplifying their voices through racial equity is beneficial to the overall experience and atmosphere of the University,” the document reads.
UCF SG Senator Norynne Caleja contacted numerous campuswide leaders — including officials from the Office of the Provost and the Office of the President — to proactively address and condemn COVID-19 related anti-Asian sentiments, the resolution states.
The resolution states the use of anti-Asian terminology and rhetoric related to COVID–19, such as the “Chinese Virus,” “Wuhan Virus,” and “Kung-flu,” for example, have perpetuated anti-Asian stigma — the resolution states there has been a dramatic increase in reports of hate crimes and incidents against Asians and people of Asian descent since the start of the pandemic.
“Asian/Pacific Islander Americans are being harassed, assaulted, and scapegoated for the COVID–19 pandemic due to the increased use of anti-Asian rhetoric,” the resolutions states.
The Asian Pacific American Coalition at UCF published a statement of solidarity against anti-Asian racism and xenophobia on Feb. 7, according to the resolution.
UCF’s Elite Epsilon Chapter of Delta Phi Lambda Sorority addressed and condemned the anti-Asian sentiments related to COVID-19 on its social media over the summer.
It is not known at this time whether the university is aware, or has looked into, the professor’s use of the phrase in the announcement from the spring term — the SG Senate resolution was not passed until the fall semester.
Rep. Anna Eskamani, who serves much of downtown Orlando and Winter Park in District 47, jumped in the thread and said she would make sure a university official sees Anid’s tweet.
UCF freshman political science major Christopher Zoeller quoted Anid’s tweet and said he took Quackenbush this fall.
Zoeller said in the tweet no one should take the professor, and he called on the university to “do right by your own students” and “remove this racist professor.”
“I took his Mass Media and Politics class at UCF this semester and he continually questions the experiences and discrimination that students in his classes went through!” Zoeller wrote in a tweet.
UCF sophomore Daisy Guel said she loved Quackenbush’s class and said as a professor, he was nothing short of amazing.
Guel, who is double majoring in political science and communication sciences and disorders, said she took State and Local Government with Quackenbush this fall.
She said she did not see or experience any racist behavior described by others in tweets.
“I don’t see or have experienced any racist behavior and that’s coming from a person who is not white,” Geul said. “It’s unfortunate and sad to see him now be deemed as racists when his job is to challenge people’s beliefs and grow our minds but when he does this his name is slandered and he’s called a racist.”
Guel said Quackenbush’s class and his character should not be on the line.
“It’s sad to see my classmates turn this into something it’s not because they didn’t get the grade they wanted,” Guel said.
Gabriel Gomez, a UCF student who took Quackenbush’s Florida Politics class in fall 2019, shared a photo he took after leaving suggestions during the evaluations for the professor to improve on.
Gomez retweeted Anid’s tweet with the photo dated Nov. 29, 2019, and said he fully supports the statements made in Anid’s tweet.
“Besides indifference to his students, the instructor would also tend to comment on controversial political topics without opening the floor for debate or clarification,” Gomez wrote during the fall 2019 feedback for Quackenbush.
The Florida Politics course is a three credit hour section that examines the foundations of Florida government and political behavior, political institutions, and public policy, according to UCF’s Courses and Descriptions website.
In the suggestion box, Gomez wrote that Quackenbush called Trump’s family separation policy “smart.”
The family separation policy, or the “Zero-Tolerance Policy,” prohibits both attempted and successful illegal entry into the U.S., according to the U.S. Department of Justice. This results in the separation of adult parents from minor children.
‘[He] made an ill-informed, tone-deaf joke about the use of tear gas on the border,” Gomez wrote in the feedback box on Nov. 29, 2019. “I hope Professor Quackenbush takes his feedback seriously because there are many things he could do to be a better teacher. Step 1: Care.”
This is not the first time UCF’s administration has addressed concerns with handling feedback left in the suggestion box of a faculty member’s course evaluation.
During a June protest of associate psychology professor Charles Negy, UCF interim Provost Michael Johnson said he believes students previously filed complaints in the feedback forms of course evaluations.
Johnson said the feedback forms are designed for faculty to review and that could be why university officials did not hear students’ concerns expressed about Negy.
Negy made headlines in June after controversial tweets claiming Black privilege exists in America sparked outrage and some of UCF’s community called for his firing. Some of Knight News’ previous coverage can be read here:
- Does the First Amendment stop UCF from firing Charles Negy?
- UCF refuses to accept profits from ‘White Shaming’ book, professor says he will donate to charity
The university has not responded to Knight News’ emails on Sept. 17 or Nov. 6 asking for updates on the inquiry into Negy. UCF has not acknowledged the public records request regarding the inquiry into Negy, which was also included in the email on Nov. 6.
The College Democrats at UCF quoted Adin’s tweet and said it is not surprising to see UCF allows individuals like Negy and Quackenbush “to run wild with bigotry.”
The university replied to Adin’s tweet and asked her to complete a formal report.
Negy taught four courses this fall and is scheduled to teach three in spring 2021, according to myUCF.
Quackenbush taught two sections of Mass Media and Politics, and one section of State Government and Local Policy during the fall semester, according to myUCF.
Knight News obtained a recent announcement Quackenbush sent to his State and Local Government class on Dec. 5, where he said he was surprised “so many students think” the state is not handling the pandemic well.
“I find it interesting that so many students criticize the Governor’s response to the COVID pandemic relative to other states,” he wrote in the post. “Many students point to statistics like we have the third most cases of COVID in the US or we have and we have 19K dead. However you MUST look at population when looking at deaths. You cannot compare states with different populations.”
Quackenbush said in the announcement that individuals must look at deaths or cases per 100,000 people to allow for a proper comparison. He listed the following states as the top three with the most deaths: New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts.
Quackenbush said Florida ranks No. 16 on the list in the Dec. 5 announcement, but as of Friday, Florida is ranked No. 18 in terms of state death rate of COVID-19 in the U.S.
He also listed the top five states with the highest number of cases per 100,000 people through Dec. 5 — the top five remain unchanged: California, Texas, Florida, Illinois and New York.
He said Florida has been open and free of severe lockdown policies for the past several months, while other states like California, Illinois and New York lead in the number of cases, in the Dec. 5 announcement.
While not a statewide lockdown, Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings announced he is working within the means of the state executive order to send compliance “strike” teams to businesses within the county to ensure COVID-19 guidelines are followed.
As of Dec. 6, these teams are able to issue warnings or citations to businesses found not be in compliance with COVID-19 guidelines. Through Thursday, 11 businesses have been issued warnings and five have been issued citations.
