Dean who told Honduran student to go back to Mexico fired for not knowing her geography
By ONANTZIN News
2015-11-29
Los Angeles, CA -- The dean of students at Clearview McKinley College was fired this past Thursday after embarrassing the Southern California college with her display of geographic ignorance during a forum to address concerns that the college overlooks issues affecting students of color.
During the meeting, organized by the school organization Latinos Unidos, a Honduran student said that he often felt excluded from activities at the school. He attributed this to his skin color and added that he'd never felt like that in any other setting, including when he lived in Honduras, despite being a black Honduran living amongst lighter skinned Hondurans. Dean Miranda Smith, who attended the discussion to show Latinos students that the school takes their concerns seriously, responded by suggesting that non-white students don't necessarily fit the school's mold, and that maybe he'd be better off going to college in his home state of Honduras, Mexico.
News of the incident spread quickly throughout social media and within hours school administrators had issued an apology on behalf of the university.
"We are terribly embarrassed and apologize for the comments made by Dean Smith," stated president Howard Robinson. "While we cannot speak for Dean Smith, we believe that what she meant to say was for the student to go back to his country of Honduras, not Mexico."
"We expect the highest level of excellence from our staff, and not being culturally sensitive enough to know the physical differences between two countries is unacceptable and not representative of the type of values that this college promotes," stated the president.
Members of Latinos Unidos were not immediately available for comment, but school officials assured us that the decision to fire Dean Smith sends a clear signal to Latino students and that things should smooth over once the news reaches Latino students and they see that the school is in tune with their needs.