Lecturer suspended over racist Muhammad email
A local politician who also lectures at a university in central Sweden has been forced to leave his post after sending a new student a racist email lampooning him as being "Muhammad from Mecca".
"Hello Anneli, can you help Muhammad? He's probably come straight from Mecca," wrote Swedish lecturer and local Centre Party politician Hans-Erik Hellborg after receiving a request for guidance from newly admitted student Merhan Mahmoudi.
However, the email never went to the colleague, as Hellborg apparently hit the reply button by mistake, instead sending the note to Mahmoudi.
"I was shocked and disappointed. This is unacceptable," the 23-year-old, who was inquiring about how to register for a course at Dalarna University (Högskolan Dalarna), told the TT news agency.
Mahmoudi uploaded a screenshot of the email exchange to Facebook, which prompted the creation of an online group calling for the fumbling teacher's resignation.
Hellsborg, meanwhile, has quickly backtracked and referred to the incident as a joke.
"It was a bad, crude joke," he told the Nyheter24.se news website.
"I wrote back to him: 'I'm truly sorry - it was an error of judgement. It was supposed to be taken as a joke, but unfortunately it wasn't funny at all. I apologize. Welcome to the course.'"
Hellborg's attempt at being funny, however, has caused university officials to react.
"We're following our procedures and we're conducting an investigation that we hope won't take too long," Högskolan Dalarna principal Marita Hilliges told Sveriges Television.
"Until we have concluded our investigation, he has been relieved of teaching duties."
TT/The Local/og
Comments
See Also
"Hello Anneli, can you help Muhammad? He's probably come straight from Mecca," wrote Swedish lecturer and local Centre Party politician Hans-Erik Hellborg after receiving a request for guidance from newly admitted student Merhan Mahmoudi.
However, the email never went to the colleague, as Hellborg apparently hit the reply button by mistake, instead sending the note to Mahmoudi.
"I was shocked and disappointed. This is unacceptable," the 23-year-old, who was inquiring about how to register for a course at Dalarna University (Högskolan Dalarna), told the TT news agency.
Mahmoudi uploaded a screenshot of the email exchange to Facebook, which prompted the creation of an online group calling for the fumbling teacher's resignation.
Hellsborg, meanwhile, has quickly backtracked and referred to the incident as a joke.
"It was a bad, crude joke," he told the Nyheter24.se news website.
"I wrote back to him: 'I'm truly sorry - it was an error of judgement. It was supposed to be taken as a joke, but unfortunately it wasn't funny at all. I apologize. Welcome to the course.'"
Hellborg's attempt at being funny, however, has caused university officials to react.
"We're following our procedures and we're conducting an investigation that we hope won't take too long," Högskolan Dalarna principal Marita Hilliges told Sveriges Television.
"Until we have concluded our investigation, he has been relieved of teaching duties."
TT/The Local/og
Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.
Please log in here to leave a comment.