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SUNY Geneseo Professor Investigated for Viral Transphopic Quiz

SUNY Geneseo Professor Investigated for Viral Transphopic Quiz

Transphopic professor

Professor David Sorbello asked students to take a quiz entitled "Female or SheMale." 

A sociology professor at State University of New York at Geneseo, who presented a quiz to his class last week entitled "Female or SheMale" in which he asked students to look at pictures of women to determine if they were cisgender or transgender, is now under investigation by school officials, according to Buzzfeed News.

Word of the transphobic quiz that professor David Sorbello forced students to take spread quickly on Friday after a student, Jasmine Cui, snapped a photo of the quiz displayed on a screen at the front of the classroom with the caption, "RT if you think the sociology department @SUNYGeneseo needs to rethink its approach to teaching about trans issues."

Responding to news that adjunct professor Sorbello presented students with a transphobic lesson plan, SUNY Geneseo President Denise A. Battles said in a statement, "A professor is reported to have presented materials and made comments about which some students have expressed concern. We are taking the matter very seriously and are gathering the facts to determine if and what action is warranted."

But according to students in Sorbello's class, the hateful remarks about trans people went beyond asking his students to label pictures of women.

One of the students who endured the quiz, sophomore Jillian Sternberg, told Buzzfeed News that Sorbello never offered an explanation or point to the impromptu quiz but that when she asked him about it after class, he told her it was in part for humor. Part of Sorbello's "humor," according to Sternberg, included him telling the class something along the lines of, "Be careful not to get too drunk or you'll take the wrong one home."

She added that as Sorbello presented the photos, "He would comment on some of the pictures like, 'I'm definitely not going to the bar with you.'"

Sorbello's response to his transphobia going viral on social media was to send out a class-wide email banning cellphones, laptops, and photography, although students had previously been encouraged to take pictures of slides for study purposes, according to a photo Cui, who posted the picture of Sorbello's quiz, posted online.

Cui, who leads a diversity group on campus, told Buzzfeed News that students had pressured administrators to address the issue. She also said they started a petition to push for policy changes that require professors undergo sensitivity training.

"This is emblematic of this larger problem," Cui said.

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