Bay Area professor apologizes after email exchange of xenophobic comments goes viral

OAKLAND, Calif. (KRON) — An email conversation between a Bay Area college professor and a female Vietnamese student has gone viral.

“Could you anglicize your name, Phuc Bui sounds like an insult in English.”

According to the person who posted the tweet, that request was made by Laney College math professor Matthew Hubbard.

The female student had this response: “Your request to anglicize my name feels discriminatory and I will move forward with the Title IX Office if you cannot refer to me by my given birth name.”

Hubbard is now taking to social media to publicly apologize.

“I apologize for my insensitive actions which caused pain and anger to my student, and which have now caused pain and anger to an unfold number of people who read my two inappropriate emails on the Internet,” he wrote.

For many people, nothing I have done in my life or will do in the future will ever signify, and that makes me sad.

I do not know that I can change a single heart or mind in the countless number of people who now hate me.

— Matthew Hubbard (@ConfidenceOfVic) June 20, 2020

The president of Laney College told KRON4 that Hubbard has been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation.

Many are now questioning whether Hubbard is fit to be a professor.

“You should not be an educator,” one user wrote.

Another said he should be fired, not placed on administrative leave.

While going back and forth with people on Twitter, Hubbard also claimed he was getting death threats online and had people coming to his door.

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