A University of Colorado Boulder economics professor is being accused of making racist and sexist remarks on Facebook, which have been reported to the university and have earned condemnation from the Boulder County Democratic Party.
Professor Phil Graves commented on a Facebook post discussing a Daily Camera story, in which the original poster referenced Boulder Valley School District data that shows district students of color get referred to law enforcement at double or triple the rate of their white peers. The post was in a private Facebook group, Boulder Collective, that has more than 12,000 members.
“That is only a ‘problem’ if they do not commit crimes at 2-3 times the rate of other students. Any evidence of that?” Graves posted.
The original poster, Katie Farnan — who is listed as Katie Kelly on Facebook — responded to Graves, asking if he needed evidence to show that Black and Latin American people are less criminal than white people. Graves responded, “Yes.”
Farnan said she didn’t realize Graves was a CU Boulder professor until later.
“How much more time should we spend arguing about this than calling it out, especially knowing he’s someone with authority and knowing he’s responsible for students?” Farnan said.
The Boulder County Democratic Party on its Facebook page reposted some comments Graves had posted on his Facebook page, including a screenshot of a comment he made on a link to an article about the likelihood Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez would lose her seat in the primary election.
“I actually think she is pretty ‘hot.’ If she were just a normal bartender, I would probably be interested! But, she is not as bright as most bartenders and far too convinced that her opinions actually ‘matter,’” Graves wrote in a comment on his post.
Along with the screenshots, the political party called for people to contact CU Boulder if they didn’t think racism or misogyny had any place at the university.
Boulder County Democratic Party Chair Raffi Mercuri said the group re-posted Graves’ comments because it’s important to hold people in public positions accountable.
“I think that could potentially have an impact on the students he’s teaching,” Mercuri said. “It’s frustrating to see that anyone feels the way he does, and I felt alarmed that he was a tenured professor at CU and that he felt OK saying something like that in public.”
In an email, Graves told the Daily Camera he suspects people are just trying to “cancel” him.
“I am neither sexist nor racist, but sometimes (if you scroll through my posts) I have been known to be a tad ‘tasteless.’” Graves said. “But, of course, ‘popular speech’ has never needed the 1st Amendment … it is only unpopular speech that needs that protection.”
Mercuri said the group’s post did not call Graves a racist or a misogynist, but said his comments were.
CU Boulder spokesperson Deborah Mendez Wilson confirmed the university was aware of the posts and that they were reported to the Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance.
“This is the university’s first step in reviewing the facts and determining what actions can be taken, including investigating allegations of harassing behavior toward individuals based on multiple protected classes,” she said. “As Chancellor (Phil) DiStefano has underscored in the recent past, discrimination and harassment have no place at CU Boulder.”
In response to the university’s statement, Graves said that he agrees with DiStefano completely.
“I am neither a racist (had a concerned black friend just call me a second ago) nor am I a sexist,” Graves said in an email.
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