University of North Texas, Denton. Photo: Wikipedia

An assistant general counsel of the University of North Texas System has resigned Friday after calls for her to lose her job started mounting when students said she used a racial slur during a discussion about free speech and civil discourse. 

While speaking on stage at an event Thursday night titled "When Hate Comes to Campus," assistant GC Caitlin Sewell, who is white, told students in attendance that "it's impossible to talk about the First Amendment without saying horrible things." 

Then, according to an audio recording posted on Twitter, she added, "Um, you know, 'You're just a dumb n—r and I hate you.' That alone, that's protected speech." In a video from the event posted on Twitter, students become outraged and Sewell attempts to apologize. 

"I did not mean to, by any means, offend anyone. I wish I had censored that word. It came out without thought … I literally have never said that word in a public setting before, and I was trying to be real," she said, before being interrupted by shouting students. 

The school's student newspaper, North Texas Daily, which broke the story, reported that Daniel Ojo, a representative of the student government association, said Sewell switched over to using the term "f-word" for the remainder of the discussion.

"So, you didn't censor the n-word, but you definitely censored f—," Ojo said. "Like, what's more damaging to people?"

Attempts to speak with Sewell were not immediately successful. She joined UNT in 2017, after leaving Houston law firm Roger, Morris & Grover, where she'd practiced employment law following a stint as a Texas state prosecutor. A partner at the firm, Clay Grover, spoke with Corporate Counsel on Friday about his time working with Sewell.

"Based on everything I know about Caitlin, she would not have had any offensive intent. She is an excellent attorney and wonderful person," he said. 

UNT president Neal Smatresk issued a written statement Thursday night in which he acknowledged that "a member of the UNT System legal staff used a racial epithet that was not reflective of the values of our university community.

"While the individual was trying to make a point about First Amendment speech, this language is never condoned in our community which prides itself on our diversity and caring nature," he added. 

Smatresk's response to the controversy appeared to further fan the flames, drawing widespread criticism on social media amid growing calls for Sewell to be fired or resign. 

University of Chicago law professor Geoffrey Stone said in an interview Friday that he used to use the n-word while teaching free speech courses. But he said he stopped last year after speaking with African American students and friends. 

"I came to the view that I misunderstood how distracting and hurtful it can be," he said. "What I decided was telling this particular anecdote, which was by no means necessary to what I was teaching, but simply and example that seemed useful, was not worth it given the distracting and negative effect it had simply from a pedagogical standpoint."

Considering the UNT situation, Stone said he believed that, for Sewell, "this is an educational moment in which she now understands something she didn't understand before.

"The more instances like this there are, the more people become cognizant of it," he added.

This story has been updated to show Sewell had resigned from her position.