Using the N-Word . Instructor suspended after using slur. Does it matter if he was singing along to a song a student played in class?

Inside Higher Ed reports:

Eric Triffin is known for singing and dancing in New Haven, where since 1986 he has been an adjunct in public health at Southern Connecticut State University. He typically begins his classes by asking a student to pick and play a song. Many times he joins in the song and dances to it.

Triffin was suspended this week when he sang along to a song that a student played at the beginning of class, a rap song that featured the N-word. Some black student leaders are calling for the university to punish Triffin for what he did in class that day.

Via Facebook message, Triffin confirmed that he has been suspended and why. "I was singing along with the chorus line ('I am a happy nig-gah'), of a song a student had put on," Triffin said.

Triffin said that his union has advised him not to talk further. But Triffin, who is white, added that he wished to be seen as if he "were neither white nor black, just human."

Playing a song may get you fired in today's America!