Racial slurs, offensive images shared during 'Zoom-bombing' incident at UBC law school

The University of British Columbia campus is pictured.

The University of British Columbia is investigating a so-called "Zoom-bombing" incident that disrupted a guest speaker's presentation at the Peter A. Allard School of Law with racial slurs and offensive images.

Zoom-bombing, sometimes known as Zoom-raiding, is when online meetings are hijacked, often by uninvited participants, and used to display obscene or offensive material to those in attendance.

The UBC incident happened last Thursday while Raymond A. Atuguba, dean of the University of Ghana's School of Law, was giving a lunchtime presentation to local students, both in person and over Zoom.

According to the UBC chapter of the Black Law Students' Association (BLSA), "one or several" of the online participants began drawing "lewd images" during Atuguba's presentation using Zoom's whiteboard function.

"Although attempts were made to erase the images by Allard faculty and staff, more images were drawn and eventually anti-Black racial slurs were written, at which point the Zoom was disabled while the presentation continued," the BLSA wrote in a statement.

The association said it was "profoundly saddened, embarrassed, and appalled" by what happened.

An email from the Allard dean, Ngai Pindell, to students the following day said UBC had already launched an investigation, in consultation with the university’s IT department.

"This was a horrific experience for the speaker, for the audience, and for our community. I am sorry that it happened, especially to our guest, and we will do everything that we can to prevent it from happening again," Pindell wrote. "The incident is a sad reminder of the racial animus that persists in our world."

 

 

 

 

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So far, it's unclear who was responsible for the disruption.

The university told CTV News it appears the Zoom link and meeting password were shared publicly on social media prior to the event, without the law school's knowledge.

The BLSA said that while the incident itself might appear isolated, it also "serves as a microcosm of the pervasive micro-aggressions, overt racism, and marginalization that Black students, faculty, and staff regularly experience."

A UBC task force on anti-racism and inclusion, convened in March 2021, identified “a deep-seated problem of institutionalized, systemic and other forms of racism” on campus, and put forward 54 recommendations to address those issues. Seven of those were adopted during the next academic year, including an initiative to increase the recruitment and retention of non-white faculty from underrepresented groups.

The BLSA ended its statement by expressing support and appreciation for Atuguba, whose presentation was on "Unconstitutional Changes of Governments in Africa Through Coup D'etats.”

"We wish to make it emphatically clear: we see, value, and celebrate your work and its profound impact. Witnessing the contribution of Black African schools such as yourself is profoundly inspiring and motivates us all to pursue our greatest aspirations, despite the challenges we encounter doing so,” the association wrote.