Emory professor will not lose tenure over accusations of using racial slur

ATLANTA - An Emory University professor, who became the source of controversy when he allegedly used a racial slur in class, will keep his position as a fully tenured professor, a committee has ruled.

Professor Paul J. Zwier was accused of using a racial slur during a conference in his law school office. (Emory University)

According to a statement provided to FOX 5 by Emory University, School of Law Professor Paul Zwier was accused of using the “n-word” in a classroom on Aug. 23, 2018 when lecturing first-year law students about a case stemming from the 1960’s civil rights movement in the South.

At the time, Zwier told the student newspaper The Emory Wheel that he used the racial slur while teaching the tort of offensive battery and he should have said "the n-word" instead of saying it in full.

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"The teaching point was to say that the racial slur makes the nature of the contact less important, until it might merge into another tort we will study called intentional infliction of emotional distress," Zwier wrote in an Aug. 25 email to the Wheel. "The case is not about condoning racial speech, but the opposite, the potential injury that can be caused by racist language and how the court might address it in tort law."

A few months later, interim Emory Law Dean James B. Hughes Jr. told FOX 5 that reports show Zwier "recently repeated the same racial slur."

Hughes placed Zwier on administrative leave after a student's claim that he used the uncensored phrase "n-word-lover" in his office "to describe insults he endured in his youth while working with African Americans and civil rights causes," Zwier's lawyers said in a statement.

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In June of 2019, Hughes requested a Faculty Hearing Committee approve his decision to end Zwier's tenure at the school.

After a hearing in October, the committee determined that Emory did not demonstrate that the school had adequate cause to revoke Zwier's tenure.

"There was no evidence that Professor Zwier's actions equated to moral delinquency and there was no evidence that called Professor Zwier’s competency as a teacher into question or evidence that he had neglected any of his academic duties or institutional responsibilities," Zwier's lawyers said.

"I am greatly appreciative of the thoughtful deliberations undertaken by both Dean Bobinski and the FHC in reaching the decision to return me to teaching, which I believe is my higher calling," Zwier said in a statement. "I am committed and look forward to returning to the classroom and working with the University, Dean Bobinski, the Law School faculty, and the student body to bring this matter to closure for our entire university in a thoughtful and healing way.”

School officials have not said when Zwier will return to teaching.