Hundreds of staff members at Penn State University have signed a damning letter in response to the school’s abrupt cancellation of a major initiative focused on racial justice.
Over 160 members of the Penn State faculty this week have signed the letter, detailing their frustrations regarding the university’s Oct. 26 announcement that it will abandon the development of the Center for Racial Justice, according to StateCollege.com. In the letter, which circulated through an internal Google Form, faculty members chastised administrators’ decision to divest money from the center, which they called a “broken promise.”
“Last week, Penn State reminded us why it needs a space that is dedicated to the production of ideas and practices aimed at ending the structural racism that plagues its own campus and the nation as a whole,” faculty members wrote in the letter, State College reported.
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The letter claimed that those who were part of creating the center were never consulted about the project being canceled, even though university President Neeli Bendapudi previously said they were included in the decision.
Just days before the center was cut, the university was supposed to hold an ultra right-wing event, Uncensored America, featuring Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes and comedian Alex Stein. Administrators canceled the event due to alleged threats of violence, the school said in a press release.
“As the direct result of escalating violence between protesters and supporters of the event…a determination was made…to discontinue the scheduled event,” the press release read. “Despite the University’s goal of upholding free speech, given the agitated demonstrators, at least one known physical altercation, a crowd surge…and chemical spray of the crowd and officers, taken altogether, it was a safety risk to continue to move forward and we did recommend the event be canceled.”
The faculty letter expressed dismay that the concerns of protesters were brushed aside, and they were blamed for the violence.
“The brash disregard for [Black, Indigenous, people of color] voices and anti-racist protestors [sic] was a reminder of why Black faculty are leaving the institution at four times the rate of any other group and why so many students, faculty, staff, and alumni have concluded that they don’t matter to Penn State,” it said.
The letter called the administration’s response to the Uncensored America event “embarrassing, dehumanizing…to protests by those demanding an opportunity to learn without threat to their physical or psychological well-being.”
The university initially proposed the Center for Racial Justice as a response to the country’s racial reckoning following the murder of George Floyd in 2020. But Bendapudi ultimately backtracked on the plan and suggested improving current initiatives instead.
“I have determined that enhancing support for current efforts by people who know Penn State best will be more impactful than investing in a new venture, and so we will not pursue efforts to launch a Center for Racial Justice,” she said.
Members of the center’s planning committee, on the other hand, alleged the cancellation had to do with budget cuts, news outlet Spotlight PA reported.
“Each time, Penn State promised to do better and to invest in its infrastructure. Each time, as has happened again with the events of last week, the university’s actions prove that there is no institutional commitment,” the recent faculty letter read, according to Daily Collegian.
“The university’s actions prove that there is no institutional commitment.”
Penn State officials did not immediately respond to The Daily Beast’s request for comment Wednesday.
