Woman Loses Job After Harassing Asian Students With Racist Messages

Kathryn Ralph, Ph.D., used to be on every social media platform.

An alumna of the University of Notre Dame, Ralph is reportedly completing her postdoctoral degree at the university’s psychology department. She previously had a respectable position at Heterodox Academy, a non-profit advocacy group of professors that aims to “broaden the diversity of opinions on college and university campuses.”

Ralph was terminated from her post as senior researcher for violating the group’s “standards of conduct,” according to Cory Clark, Academic Engagement Consultant at HxA.

Before losing her job and vanishing from social media, Ralph has been actively sending messages to Asian students, but not the inspiring and motivational points expected from her.

Her actions were exposed by Facebook user Sherrie Shaw, the mother-in-law of one of the students.

In her post on Thursday, Shaw called upon her social media friends to share screenshots of Ralph’s racist messages.

“Asian people are being targeted with racism, assault and violence. As long as the good Americans look the other way, this will continue,” Shaw wrote. “I don’t care what your political affiliation is, if you feel in your heart that to judge someone for the color of their skin, or the differences that make Americans who they are, then the only way we can stop it is to call out the people who are responsible for these actions.”

“She is sending texts and messages to Asian students,” she continued. “My son-in-law is Chinese. These posts are very racist and threatening. She graduated from the University of Notre Dame and she works for a right wing conservative Organization, Heterodox Academy. She needs to be held accountable for threatening college students who have no place to go.”

An image shared by Shaw showed this message allegedly sent by Ralph to her son-in-law:

“If you are a Chinese student milking this country the USA and for some reason unable to be educated in your overpopulated (2 billion) mess of a pollution, no responsibility for the complete destruction of planet country, and are curious why Americans are mad, go the f**** home.”

The message went on with even more racist stereotypes:

“-stop eating bats, (and cats and infectiously diseased animals)

-stop poaching rhinos for fake bullshit medicine (Africa is dead bc if you fools)

-and stop counterfeiting goods- it is a Chinese virus- you are 100% to blame- your dick isn’t getting bigger by killing all the rhinos

Stop it.

You are 1000000% to blame.

So when an American – sees Asian- when there are 3 billion of you – and you caused a global pandemic- expect a response.”

Her other messages are equally abhorrent:

Ralph’s messages angered many of those who saw Shaw’s post. The post drew thousands of reactions and shares, with many commenters saying they contacted Heterodox Academy by email to report her behavior.

When NextShark reached out to Heterodox Academy via Clark for comment, he confirmed that they were already made aware of the messages and have since taken action.

“Heterodox Academy learned this week that an HxA employee had made statements on social media that expressed contempt toward Chinese people and culture, particularly regarding the current coronavirus pandemic,” Clark responded via email.

“As an organization that champions responsible discourse and constructive disagreement, we promptly reviewed the posts and determined they clearly fail to exhibit the constructive, respectful engagement we expect of our employees and our members. The statements also violate our standards of conduct. Our working relationship with the individual involved has been terminated.”

The University of Notre Dame released a statement to NextShark, saying:

“We are aware of this situation and we’ve passed this information along to the appropriate office to take action. If any student feels harassed or uncomfortable due to messages they are receiving, please have them contact our Title IX office.”

Feature Image via LinkedIn

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