Professor Gets Cut After 30 Years for Singing Pharrell Williams Song

An adjunct professor at Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU) appears to have lost his job of 30-plus years after students reported him to the administration after he sung a Pharrell Williams song in class.

Eric Triffin has since 1986 served as an adjunct at SCSU, where he’s taught dozens of public health classes to thousands of students without complaint. The campus newspaper called him an “Unsung Hero” in 2015, and students call  him “kind hearted” and “lively.”

He’s known for his upbeat personality, and usually begins class by asking a student to pick and play a song. Oftentimes, Triffin sings along. This hadn’t been a problem for years, until one student picked “Best Friend” by Pharrell Williams this past February.

But that song features a line noting “I’m a happy n-----,” and Triffin, as usual, sung along. Immediately, a student called him out for using a racial slur. By the next day, the Black Student Union released a video demanding “nonviolent action and mediation.”

“Students of color should not be subjected to faculty and staff using racial slurs,” said Black Student Union president Eric Clinton in the video. “To the administration, please do not excuse the actions taken by professor Eric Triffin.”

The incident picked up so much steam that the school’s president, Joe Bertolino, emailed the entire campus to announce the school was "investigating the matter fully and will take appropriate action as a result of the findings."

SCSU immediately placed Triffin on suspension. He continues to be barred from class.

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