Gordon Klein’s day in court began July 1, finally going before a judge four years after he sued UCLA for a whopping $22 million in damages for his brief suspension that occurred in 2020.
That eye-popping figure comes from Klein’s claim the racial controversy five year ago ended his side career as a sought-after courtroom expert. That lucrative side job earned him as much as $1 million annually, he told the court.
At that time, the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis caused anger and turmoil for what looked like a cruel murder caused by a callous police officer, Derek Chauvin.
Back at UCLA, where Klein teaches at the Anderson School of Management, he ran into trouble when a student emailed to ask for leniency for black students during the racial turmoil.
According to a College Fix story, what appeared to get Klein in trouble was his blunt reply that was filled with a logical rebuttal. The lecturer pointed out the class is online, making it hard to identify which students are black. He also asked how much leniency he should give to any half-black students, and he wondered if he should also be lenient if there is a white student from Minneapolis in his class.
The emailed reply was shared among students, who were upset by it, and it found its way to a college dean, Antonio Bernardo. He apologized for the “troubling conduct” that caused “pain and anger,” and suspended Klein during an investigation.
According to the Fix story, Klein was reinstated within weeks and, in fact, is still employed at UCLA today.
Terris Todd is the director of outreach and coalitions for Project 21 Black Leadership Network. He tells AFN the lecturer’s punishment reminds him of the phase “soft bigotry of low expectations,” because Klein was being asked to create a lower grade system based on race.
“Now that, my friends, is Racism 101,” Todd argues. “Because what happens is, in the event you are lowering it for one class or one group of people, then you hold a higher standard to others.”
Looking beyond the issue at the time, the death of Floyd and race riots, Todd says minorities must resist the liberal mindset that believes minorities are less capable of academic success. That sets them up to fail later in life.
“What you do is you don't do them any favors,” he warns, “and you certainly don't do the broader community any favors.”
