In a public statement released Monday, a University of Wisconsin professor denied making several controversial statements about Hmong culture attributed to him in a February lecture.
In his letter to UW Law School Dean Ken Davis, law professor Leonard Kaplan said an official letter written by three students in his class misquoted him.
"Many of the statements attributed to me in press accounts and emails are hateful," Kaplan said in the statement. "Had I made the hateful comments wrongly attributed to me, I would repudiate them without hesitation. I did not make them."
According to an e-mail sent to several Hmong students and obtained by The Badger Herald, Kaplan allegedly spoke for 10 minutes using "racist and inappropriate" remarks. The e-mail quoted Kaplan as saying, "Hmong men have no talent other than to kill," and "All second-generation Hmong end up in gangs and other criminal activity," among other comments.
During a public forum held March 1, several students and community members expressed their anger at the alleged comments. Although invited, Kaplan did not attend the public forum, and instead sent a statement saying that he felt his presence would shift attention away from the forum's stated purpose.
After being contacted by The Badger Herald, the students who originally challenged Kaplan's alleged statements issued a brief, one-sentence statement.
"We are disappointed in his response," Kanha Vuong said in an e-mail. Vuong was in Kaplan's class and attended a private meeting with the professor after the contested lecture.
In his letter, Kaplan went through several statements attributed to him and clarified both the context and the different language he used when discussing Hmong culture.
Fellow law professor Ann Althouse said the response was what she expected from the professor in order to clarify his comments.
"I didn't think the students' version was quite right, but his version seems quite credible," Althouse said in an interview. "He was trying to teach something about the facts in the world and how it relates to law. The way the students presented it, he was just spouting stereotypes."
Kaplan opened the letter by saying that during the "last two very painful weeks," he gained a better understanding of the "rawness of the wounds sustained within the living memory of our Hmong neighbors."
Although Kaplan said he was "doing [his] job as a professor of law," he recognized limits in language and law to bridge "certain gulfs."
"I have come to a new awareness of how the statements I did make could be misunderstood and of the pain that this experience has caused," Kaplan said in the statement. "I acknowledge that pain and regret (and) the part that my own limitations played in contributing to it."
Several professors, including faculty on the Committee for Academic Freedom and Rights, have expressed their concern regarding academic freedom and a potential "chilling effect" the recent events could have on professors.
"Although I strongly believe in academic freedom, I do not seek to cloak my statements in this protection," Kaplan said in the letter.
UW spokesperson Dennis Chaptman said there is a clear "disagreement" with the statements, but nonetheless, individuals found them hurtful — and for that, he said, Davis has apologized.
With the public statement now posted on the UW website, Althouse said she hopes the students involved will take into account Kaplan's side of the story.
"I would hope the students have good will and to think about it and put things together," Althouse said. "Obviously he expressed a lot of sympathy, and I would hope everyone could get together and reconcile."
KaShia Moua, who first circulated the e-mails, but was not in Kaplan's lecture herself, declined comment Monday.
