Southern Utah University Economics Department chair and professor David Berri is under fire after a video recording of his class was posted online. The video from Aug. 29 showed Berri making comments about older faculty that some students deemed as discriminatory.
In the clip, which was taken from an online lecture, Berri talked about accommodating the younger professors in the economics department rather than the senior or tenured ones. He said four younger professors were recently hired and as department chair. He gave them preference with scheduling.
“I don’t care if [older faculty] are happy, because they’re old,” Berri said in the video. “What do I care if you’re happy? The younger faculty have options in life, they can leave. In academia, if you’re in your 50s, you ain’t going anywhere. No one’s hiring you. I have one senior faculty member who complains and I’m like, ‘You’re not going anywhere, so I’m OK with you being unhappy.’”
SUU is currently conducting an equity investigation into Berri.
“Southern Utah University is aware of the video and takes all reported concerns from our campus community seriously, following standard policies and procedures to provide a thorough review,” the university said in a statement. “SUU strives to foster a supportive and caring campus community.”
The clip was upload to online social media platform Reddit by David Lawrence, a 49-year-old student in the class. The clip was met with backlash and accusations of discrimination toward Berri. Many people responded with concern.
“Are heads of departments not forced to do basic employee discrimination training?” One user said.
Lawrence has not made a formal complaint to the school, but believes he has been discriminated against for his age by Berri on multiple occasions.
In the first class of the semester, Lawrence was one of around 20 students who joined online, but Berri allegedly only mentioned Lawrence by name when welcoming the video call students. In the lecture the viral clip was taken from, Berri singled out Lawrence again.
“David, I’m going to guess you’re not young,” Berri said. He also allegedly called out Lawrence in the next class for turning his camera off, who said he transferred out of Berri’s class and attended counseling sessions after the incidents. His therapist shared the video with the dean of students, prompting the investigation.
Berri’s comment to Lawrence about his age came after talking about an experience teaching an online course to students in Thailand. The students were logging on in the evening when Berri started class in the morning in Utah. He found the video conference technology impressive for the time, but said that was only because of his age. Berri is 56 years old.
Then he mentioned Lawrence’s age, saying the latter probably remembers the 1960’s cartoon “The Jetsons” and how amazing the technology in the show seemed to kids who grew up watching it.
“I don’t think this older student understood what I was saying,” Berri said in an interview with The Salt Lake Tribune. “What I was saying is ‘Hey, you’re like me. We’re the same people.’ I’m sorry that I troubled him like that.”
Some students and people online echoed this sentiment, saying the clip was taken out of context and that Berri was joking. Berri said later he counts himself as one of the older faculty members and that he gave himself a less-desirable class time to prioritize the younger professors.
“The younger faculty, they’re the ones doing all these exciting things and research,” he said. “The older people, including me, should take a back seat.”
Berri apologized for his wording, and said he didn’t mean to imply a lack of care for the happiness of any professor. He mentioned how he teaches about inclusiveness in his economic history class and didn’t intend to offend anybody.
Though the investigation is ongoing, Berri does not think he will be found to have been discriminatory.
Author: Payson Davis
Photo courtesy of SUU
Editor: Hannah Clove
news@suunews.net
