A Black New York college student is going viral after posting a video showing an altercation between her and a math professor that started with a dispute about attendance and escalated into an alleged assault.
The student, who goes by @ke.barbie on TikTok, posted a video explaining the moments leading up to the confrontation at the State University of New York at Old Westbury in Long Island.
The student said she spoke with the professor weeks before the altercation to share her plans to drop the course. One morning, after taking time away from the class, she said she showed up before the 8 a.m. lecture began, put her belongings down, and then went to the bathroom.
By the time she returned, the class had started. After the lecture ended, the student said she approached the professor to sign the attendance sheet, as required by all students.
The professor told her she’d mark her late since she signed the attendance sheet after class was over, even after the student tried to explain that she was on time. The professor handed the student the sheet to write down the time she came to class. When she tried to write “8 a.m.,” the student said the professor snatched the attendance sheet and pen from her hands, dismissed her, and started speaking to other students.
The student said she tried to ask the professor to let her write in her arrival time, but the professor continued to dismiss her.
“She pulls out the same attendance sheet for another student. And I saw the opportunity to write that I came in at 8 a.m. on the dot,” @ke.barbie explained. “When I try to take the attendance sheet, Professor Chen hits me. She hits me twice. And then, after she hits me, she screams, ‘Record! Record!'”
The student said she backed up after the professor started screaming, and the professor ran after her. That’s when another student started recording the interaction.
The beginning of the video showed the professor closely following @ke.barbie and appearing to push and grab her. Viewers can hear a classmate start accusing @ke.barbie of attacking the professor. At no point can the professor or the student be seen hitting each other, but the professor did thank the student who recorded the video.
“I really had to take a break because this caused so much trauma, and I just felt alone, attacked, and like no one was on my side,” @ke.barbie said. “The fact that there was probably three or four students in the classroom that completely disregarded the beginning of how it all started to watching this professor chase me and grab onto my clothing and to point at me in the video and say I’m attacking the professor, I was super confused.”
At one point in the video, @ke.barbie confronts the student about the allegations.
“You didn’t see her hit me? You didn’t see her hit me?” she asks.
“I just saw you grab the paper from her,” the other student does replies, without saying yes or no.
Both the student and professor reported the incident. According to @ke.barbie, the professor’s report stated that she was the attacker, which other students reportedly supported. The student said her complaint was disregarded by school administrators and students who witnessed the altercation.
Atlanta Black Star reached out to SUNY Old Westbury for comment on this incident.
The student said she exhausted all options through the school and law enforcement to hold the professor accountable before turning to social media to tell her story.
“As a Black person, you already know how these things go,” @ke.barbie said. “You’re already in the system that’s built for you.”
Several people backed @ke.barbie for telling her story and expressed frustration after viewing the video. Many commenters were upset by the fact that a classmate took the professor’s side and started accusing @ke.barbie of assault.
“I’m mad and crying for you ’cause you didn’t deserve this at all,” one person commented.
“Sorry, you had to go through this. Life as a black woman in academia and the workforce will never be easy because no one will ever try to support you and hold other people accountable for their actions,” another person wrote.
