Social media users are outraged after a video of a white male teacher using a racial slur in a Missouri classroom recently surfaced online. What makes the incident even more appalling is that the student who recorded the interaction was suspended.

Mary Walton, a sophomore at Glendale High School in Springfield, Missouri, told the Springfield News-Leader she wasn’t sure how the conversation began, but his repetitive use of the derogatory term prompted her to record it on her phone. In the article published over the weekend, Walton claimed the unidentified instructor said the N-word “six times in total.” She managed to film it twice before he noticed she was recording and demanded she stop.

“I know two of my classmates were talking, and he just kind of got in their conversation. He said something like, ‘Why are you allowed to say it and I am not?‘” the Missouri sophomore recalled. Walton added, “I wanted proof that he said it, so I could give it to the office and hold him accountable for what he said. I don’t think what he did was right.” Instead, she was placed on a three-day out-of-school suspension for “inappropriate use of electronic devices” that began on Friday (May 12). She is allowed to return tomorrow (May 17). The teacher was placed on paid administrative leave.

“Because as we know, exposing racism is worse than racism,” one person tweeted. Another wrote, “Mary Walton did the right thing and is suspended. The teacher who used the slur hasn’t been identified. So the school is protecting the racist teacher and is punishing the student. Missouri is such a backwoods state.” More users praised her actions with one noting, “The student, Mary Walton, is a hero for exposing the teacher. Let’s remember her name. Her [three-day] suspension will pass, and she will know she did the right thing.”

See what others are saying below.