Until you are tenure, you can be fired for anything. Even in a communications class, there are other ways to get your point across then the ‘n’ word.
Part of the problem with talking as a medium is that people might not see the scare quotes implied around certain freighted terms such as “nigger.” But again there are other clues such as tone of voice which do not come across in print.
And yet again, people should get a chance to clarify. Even communications experts may have to speak more than once to get their meaning across.