Students at the Parsons New School for Design in New York have launched a petition against the disgraced fashion designer John Galliano, who was invited to teach a master class there. A petition on the website Change.org asks that the design college refuse to accept the controversial designer. Galliano in 2011 was fired from Christian Dior in Paris after he said to a Jewish couple in a Paris bar: "I love Hitler ... People like you would be dead. Your mothers, your forefathers, would all be f****** gassed."
The petition says that “Hiring someone who has made such horrific comments shows that the school values Galliano over their entire Jewish student body.”
The anonymous petitioner claims to be a student of Parsons, and states "We do not want money from our tuition going to this kind of person. We feel like we've been slapped in the face by our school."
Others share this opinion. One user, Jennifer Kaplan wrote on the petition message board, "As president of the Jewish student union [the oldest and largest club on-campus], I am shocked that The New School hired John Galliano."
Opinion on Galliano is divided. Many of his supporters have urged for the talented creative to be given a "second chance"; others are not convinced.
