[Pharylon]

Maybe not an active KKK-rally attending racist, but a soft racist? There's a reason why two identical resumes for post-graduate work get rated differently when the names are "Chad" vs "Shaniqua".

The fact is, when you really get down to it, most people are subconsciously racist. Not a joke - most people. There have been studies on it and everything.

[HarryHirsch]

If you replace the names with "MIT" and "mediocre four-year institution that no-one ever heard of" suddenly it becomes less straightforward. Race is a proxy for education, and that's where the real injustice is.

[kaitai]

Race is not just a proxy for education. Racism affects Asian-Americans, despite their good educational track record as a broad group; African immigrants, despite the fact that Nigerian immigrants and Nigerian-Americans make up the immigrant group with the largest number of PhDs per capita in the US immigrant landscape; and British immigrants, who everyone thinks are smart because of the accent (despite no better educational attainment than anyone else).

The real injustice is that my black students cannot earn or learn their way out of being black in America. A Caltech education doesn't help when you're pulled over by the cops. This blogger's ability to use "Hence" in a literature review won't help either.

[IsaacL]

"The fact is, when you really get down to it, most people are subconsciously racist. Not a joke - most people."

If this is true, why the moral outrage towards the professor?

[CuriousCosmic]

Because everyone has some amount of racism whether they realise it or not but it still is not acceptable to display that racism. Sure having some racist thoughts isn't great but just like with almost every other unacceptable topic, everybody thinks about it sometime. It is only a problem when it becomes verbal/affecting others. That is why people are upset with him.

[kaitai]

1) Polite people try to cover up their racism; it's not socially acceptable in the US. This is not the case in all countries -- I've been in other countries where certain levels are racism are really still A-OK. For instance, in some Scandinavian countries it's not unusual to have a housing contract that says the place can't be rented or sold to Roma/Gypsies. Few people see anything wrong with that -- it's something you just obviously wouldn't want to happen!

2) The professor should be better at their job (I say as a prof). I accuse students of plagiarism only if I have proof, and the last 4 times it's happened I've been able to highlight passages and provide the citation of the original paper, with the page number. Or I can show the student their peer's paper with the same exact sentences and typos. I'm sure it's plagiarism. If I can't prove it, I poke around. I ask the student to come in and describe their process to me, talk through their notes. This works. People crack, or they reveal their legit process. Sometimes that legit process includes a crappy first draft that got immensely better via four sessions with the Writing Center. Great. Sometimes their not-quite-legit process involves too much help from their girlfriend. Then we have a talk about what's appropriate and how they can rectify the situation.

[danharaj]

Because the professor is in a position of power and they abused that power because of their biases. Prejudice is far more damaging when paired with power than without. It is injustice. If injustice is not worth moral outrage, what is?

[GunboatDiplomat]

If we're all racist, and that racism is enough to condemn any of us at the whim of someone else, what's the point in trying to not be racist?

[krapp]

Unlike many other animals, humans have the capacity for abstract thought, moral consideration, and behavior not entirely driven by instinct.

As such, we can recognize the harmful effect of fallacies such as racial prejudice, both on ourselves and on society as a whole, and utilize our ability as sentient beings to avoid such behavior.