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Back in October, VP Internal Brian Farnan sent out his usual weekly email — this one, including a line about midterm exams.

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In a statement issued to media, the Students’ Society of McGill University said vice-president of internal affairs Brian Farnan’s apology for widely emailing a doctored video of President Obama kicking open a door was a collective decision by the student council.

The video, sent out in an email to 22,000 students and meant as a joke about midterms, resulted in a single formal complaint of racial insensitivity. More than a month after sending it, he issued a long apology and committed to undergo sensitivity training, saying “the image in question was an extension of the cultural, historical and living legacy surrounding people of colour — particularly young men — being portrayed as violent in contemporary culture and media … by using this particular image of President Obama, I unknowingly perpetuated this living legacy.”

Microaggression, a term gaining ground on university campuses across North America, is subconscious insensitivity towards minority groups.

Right after the apology was issued Jan 25, “there was an influx of responses from students and other members of the McGill community,” the statement read — well before the apology was picked up by American conservative blogs this week.

“The majority of [students] expressed confusion, concern and disagreement with the necessity of an apology.” Most people felt the apology “reflected badly on the SSMU.”