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(Courtesy photo)

ANN ARBOR, MI -- An adjunct professor recently was fired from Concordia University after refusing to apologize for remarks students and the university found to be "unfortunate and divisive."

Concordia Campus Chief Executive Officer Curt Gielow confirmed the university fired the part-time professor on Sept. 22 after she declined to apologize for comments she made during class a couple of days prior at the private liberal arts university in Ann Arbor.

A Facebook live video recorded by a student documenting what was supposed to be her apology shows the professor, Susan Quade, addressing the remarks on Sept. 22. Two days earlier during a discussion in her social psychology class, Quade responded to a student's question about her thoughts on NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick's decision to kneel during the national anthem in protest.

"I said I would kill him," Quade said in the video captured by student Humphrey Ihejirikah. "I'm not going to kill him. I'm not going to kill anybody. It was a figure of speech.

"I would be pissed off," she added, in the video. "That's disrespectful to my country and my flag."

The video, which Gielow also referenced, provides audio of the exchange between Quade, Ihejirikah and another student, but only Ihejirikah's face can be seen. Gielow explained the exchange about Kaepernick, characterizing her remarks as a "figure of speech" and "sarcastic" and that she didn't mean them literally.

Gielow said the fact that Quade did not apologize or show contrition ultimately led to her termination.

"She said some things that did not align with Concordia's values as a Christian university," Gielow said.

Quade could not be reached for comment.

Gielow asked Quade about the incident in question after a student in the class told Gielow that Quade's remarks made him uncomfortable. Gielow did not think Quade's comments were literal threats, but he determined the remarks were inappropriate. As a result, Gielow demanded Quade apologize the following day during the class.

When she didn't, she was fired.

"It depended on how sincere and forthright the apology was," Gielow said when asked if Quade would have been able to keep her job had she apologized to the class. "Everyone deserves an opportunity and second chance to correct themselves and apologize."

Although Ihejirikah was not in class during Quade's original remarks, he said her reaction to the situation showed that she did not recognize the impact her remarks had on her students.

"I just thought, 'Are you serious? You can't be serious,'" he said. "That's not a figure of speech and you don't say that sort of thing in a classroom. When a student says a statement made them feel a certain way, you can't just lessen the impact of it and say it's a figure of speech. I was shaking my head the whole time we were having the conversation."

Following the incident, Ihejirikah emailed Concordia President Patrick Ferry, at the president's request, to share his concerns about the racial climate at the university. Ihejirikah provided a list of "demands" to improve the campus experience for black students.

"We must use our platform as a university to help people on Concordia's campus and in the greater Ann Arbor community understand that black lives matter," Ihejirikah wrote in his email to Ferry. "My vision is to make it known that we as black students not only deal with the stress of trying to be successful in academics, but we deal with the burdensome thought that our lives are at stake. We can be pre-judged and mistreated for any number of things simply because of our complexion."

Gielow apologized to the class on Sept. 27 on behalf of the university and pointed out that Quade taught only one class at Concordia.

Following the incident, he emailed students to voice his desire for all students to feel safe in the classroom and at the university as a whole.

"It is our goal to build a diverse and welcoming learning community, where all people feel accepted, valued and safe," Gielow said in the email.

"We take our values as a Christ-centered university seriously," Gielow added in an interview. "I wish we could avoid these types of things and that I could know what's said in every class, but that's not possible."