On behalf of several current and alumni students and supporting faculty/staff members on the occasion of working to do better AND implement change within Penn State’s system, curriculum, and culture: 

This letter addresses Penn State’s historical and current racism and lack of support for BIPOC students and voices. In it, we express the main issues and shortcomings as well as the change we expect to see IN both THE short and long term.

In 2016, the university stated the following as its core values: Integrity, Respect, Responsibility, Discovery, Excellence and Community — represent Penn State's core ethical aspirations for what we do every day as students, faculty, staff and volunteers.”

Penn State has failed its BIPOC and students of color in terms of holding true to these values. Instead of creating an environment of “WE ARE” the university has instead created an environment of “THEY ARE”-“they” referring to white people. 

If you ask any student or staff/faculty member whether they have faced a racist and/or discriminatory situation, almost all would say yes., almost all would say they have faced situations of both in some form. Whether one was called the N word in broad daylight while bystanders sit idle, or mocked by a white professor, or even neglected for merely existing as a person of color, these instances happen on a daily basis.

Penn State is not a welcoming, respectful, or excellent community for its BIPOC students.While the university flaunts supporting a diverse student body with empty promises, numerous accounts of blatant racism have been and continue to be reported to school officials with little to no substantial action. Over the past month, we have seen thousands of folks take to the streets in support of the Black Lives Matter movement and the streets of State College have been filled, as well. Penn State is not innocent. While walking on campus, your BIPOC and students of color should not fear how they will be treated or that their lives are threatened, but that is the environment that has been created. It’s toxic and unwelcoming and goes against everything the university claims to stand by. 

It is the responsibility of administration to create an environment free of racism, discrimination, and oppression, and to hire faculty and staff who share those values. Penn State has routinely failed to create this needed environment due to its minimal effort in protecting students of color, pro- AND retroactively.. We must be vigilant and active in combating white supremacy, white complicity, and white silence on our campus— or else words are futile.

Penn States prides itself on creating excellence and an extraordinary alumni base. But, is it white excellence that Penn State wants to see thrive? Is this white excellence even excellent if behind closed doors it’s fueled by racism and the oppression of its students of color? Is a legacy of oppression and discrimination one worth supporting? These are the questions the administration needs to be asking itself. The answer to them is simply no. Penn State needs to put in the effort to ensure this is not the “excellence” and legacy you are conceiving while preparing young people for the world beyond university.

There was recently an Instagram page created (@black_at_pennstate) that has given BIPOC students, alumni and faculty/staff members an anonymous platform to share their stories and testimonies of their time at Penn State. The stories are horrific, disturbing, and unforgiving. The lack of attention to these stories from the university is even more unforgiving. These stories are not here to create pity for Penn State’s BIPOC students. They are here to give evidence of the environment the university has fostered over many years and the continued lack of responsibility to combat racism and discrimination on campus. 

We call on the administration of The Pennsylvania State University, and the State College community as a whole, to acknowledge and address the pain felt by its students of color. Time and time again, the administration has reiterated that it cares and supports its students of color with no action behind those words. Empty words do not absolve us of guilt and complicity. We are stating that we will not accept this treatment any longer. We demand:  

An apology. Systematic racial inequalities have existed in the United States in all forms and facets of life since it first became a sovereign nation. This country was in large part built on free labor of Black people brought from African countries in 1619. To this date, the United States nor it’s institutions and systems have given a formal and adequate apology to it’s Black American citizens and communities. Penn State is a part of that. Just as America has done, Penn State has created this myth of what it truly stands for and morphed its history by denying and ignoring any maltreatment of its BIPOC students. “WE ARE” no longer going to allow this to happen and take place. For an institution who produces outstanding Black athletes, professionals, artists, and educators you would think it would induce an environment that protects, loves, and supports its Black students, but that is not the case at all. The University continues to use money and a fake system of “core values” to hide its racist and prejudiced ways. We will no longer sit back and watch as the university continues to disrespect and misuse its BIPOC students. WE would like a formal apology from the university addressing the lack of regard and attention it has given to the current race driven situations in America as well as those on its own campus. No, this is not enough nor all the university should do to address its wrongdoings, but it is a good starting point to create conversation and change for the university as a whole. 

Reevaluation and reconsideration of the demographics and make up of current and future faculty and staff members. BIPOC and other students of color deserve professors and mentors that look like them, have similar cultures and backgrounds as them, and will invest in them and their futures the same way white professors and mentors invest in their white students. If a university seeks some form of diversity and inclusion, the steps to making not only this happen need to be addressed and fixed. You cannot throw your BIPOC and other students of color into a pool of whiteness and expect us to automatically know how to swim. We must be implemented and integrated into that culture in a safe and welcoming manner, and this starts with having faces and bodies in spaces that reflect what BIPOC students see in the mirror. Through the Black at Penn State instagram account, there have been a number of white faculty and staff members called out by name for creating hostile and uncomfortable environments, as well as demonstrating racist and micro-aggressive behavior. Why are they still allowed to teach students and spread that kind of toxic behavior? Why are they not being replaced with faculty and staff members that are for the success and excellence of ALL students and not only white students? These are the questions that need to be asked in order for true work to begin in support for Black Lives on campus. We can no longer tolerate racist adults in positions of power on campus who thrive in an environment where BIPOC students are constantly disrespected and discriminated against. We must continue efforts to recruit and retain Black faculty. Hiring racist white faculty will no longer be accepted nor condoned, and this should be a priority and standard for the university at all times. 

Decolonization of Penn State's Eurocentric curriculum. Most American history only covers the mythical white American history and is not inclusive of the horrific truths of America’s past. In short, it is a sugar coated white history. American history is written from the perspective of white American men, but Penn State shall not continue to teach it that way. Ethnic studies and/or social justice courses should be required courses for any and every student who attends Penn State. This not only helps BIPOC and students of color further their knowledge of their own cultures, but it also helps white students confront their white privilege and address their learned biases against people of color. Unlearning racism and prejudice towards marginalized groups should be a key goal for Penn State students and faculty, and providing courses to help with that should be a high consideration. If mandatory courses aren’t seen as a viable option in the near future, then the current diversity requirements and expectations should be narrowed in scope. Maybe the infusion of diversity and social justice courses in all areas of studies is more of a viable option f0r now. Required courses down the road must be enforced later on though. Clearly, there is a need to teach Penn State students and faculty/staff members about tolerance and civility. Just as the university requires English and speech courses to be taken by all students, it should do the same for race relations and disparities. If these courses are deemed as creating a quality education, then why wouldn’t courses that deal with racism and oppression be as well? Are they not seen as important and necessary? If so, then how does that speak to the importance and priority of such issues? “When a University does not consider diversity and inclusion integral to a quality education, and therefore make them high priorities, it sets an example for white students on campus” (The Chronicle of Higher Education 27 Jul. 2001). Everyone can have agency to promote change, and it can start in the classrooms. WE must find ways to create change and get involved, even if that is taking a race/ethnic course and pondering and reflecting on our thoughts and behaviors. WE can no longer have a curriculum that fosters the superiority of white history over America’s true history. This can not fall solely on professors of color to enforce this way and style of teaching. It has to fall on all professors and be a priority for all professors. If this institution truly wants to create excellent future alumni, then it will take this step towards helping to promote that in future years to come. 

Suggested text for classrooms for implementation of racial texts:

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang
Black Americans by Alphonso Pinkney
Black Wealth/White Wealth by Melvin Oliver and Thomas Shapiro
Code of the Street by Elijah Anderson
Dear Martin by Nic Stone
Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin 
How to Be Less Stupid About Race: On Racism, White Supremacy and the Racial Divide by Crystal Fleming
Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present by Harriet Washington
Patient by Bettina Judd
Race and Racisms: A Critical Approach by Tanya Golash Boza
Racism without Racists: Colorblind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in the United States by Eduardo Bonilla-Silva
Racist America: Roots, Current Realities, and Future Reparations by Joe Feagin
Still Brave: The Evolution of Black Women’s Studies edited by Stanlie M. James, Frances Smith Foster, and Beverly Guy-Sheftall
The Ethnic Project: Transforming Racial Fiction into Ethnic Factions" by Vilna Bashi Treitler
The Hollywood Jim Crow: The Racial Politics of the Movie Industry by Maryann Erigha
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
The Mis-Education of the Negro by Carter Woodson
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration In The Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon
There There by Tommy Orange 
Two Faced Racism: Whites in the Backstage and Frontstage by Leslie Picca and Joe Feagin
UNESCO General History of Africa, Vol. I by Joseph Ki-Zerbo and Vol. II" by G. Mokhtar
Washington Black by Esi Edugyan 
When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost: A Hip-Hop Feminist Breaks it Down by Joan Morgan
White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo
White Rage; the Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide by Carol Anderson

Required diversity and inclusion training for anyone hired working and hired at Penn State. Ingrained biases and beliefs about different cultures and races don’t change easily or without effort. Diversity training brings issues of cultural bias and discriminatory practices to light and confronts people with their individual opportunities for improvement. This can be used as a great learning tool for faculty/staff members and a recurring reminder/accountability check that things can always improve and get better. This should already go without saying. If an institution wants more diversity, the training to foster and properly teach and educate those students needs to take place. 

The creation of diversity and inclusion committees that involves both students and faculty/staff. It must be a priority to amplify voices of those from marginalized groups and acknowledge the intersectional oppressions these groups face. There is no way to suggest and offer solutions to race issues without first hearing the concerns and stories from these marginalized groups and the severity of their circumstances. This is another starting point to vocalize and point out the issues and struggles BIPOC and students of color face on a daily basis while on campus. Committees with students and their professors also ensure that conversations continue to happen and that actual change is a priority. There needs to be long term commitment to finding solutions--committees will help set up those long term goals. “Clear, permanent lines of communication must be established between leaders of minority student groups and the administration and faculty if we are to make real progress. These channels should not be based solely on individual relationships, but must be made permanent in nature, to ensure involvement of future generations of student leaders” (Hoecker). Transparent conversations and communication are a must for the permanent change we are seeking and the presence of committees will hopefully successfully foster that environment.

Change in policies regarding zero-tolerance punishment. We have recently seen that this idea of “zero-tolerance” for disruptive behavior has been in fact a failure as this institution has allowed for one of its own white students to spread hate and racist remarks without any form of repercussion. The idea that hate speech is protected under freedom of speech is appalling. If it were a Black student spewing racial slurs and offensive language towards a white student, would the situation have panned out the same way? Would that student have been expelled or harshly punished in some other way? I think we all know the answer to that question due to the unfortunate reality we live in. Penn State cannot on one hand tolerate racist behavior while on the other say they are in support of Black Lives. The two do not go together and never will. Restorative justice is a solution to replacing zero-tolerance for disruptive behavior, but policies regarding the hate speech that leads to restorative justice need to be changed and enforced. 

Investment in bringing in speakers and scholars to educate students and faculty/staff on topics of white supremacy, social justice, and racial disparities. Speakers are brought in to speak on issues and obstacles students will face once in the real world, but race relations and racism are rarely, if ever, covered unless the speaker was brought in by one of the ethnic studies departments. Penn State is located in a white, suburban bubble and it is important to gain knowledge and tools on how to combat race issues and tensions once graduated. This is another demand that should not fall solely on the professors of color. This needs to be a full “WE ARE” effort. This allows an additional path for confronting personal biases and feelings towards marginalized groups while also being informative and useful for future purposes. No, this should not only take place during months that specifically celebrate a certain race or ethnicity. This needs to be a norm that happens year round. 

Penn State is now at a crossroads. It has a choice to make. Will it opt for diversity initiatives and courses that help the different groups on campus to understand each other? Will it follow through with promises for equality and combating racism? Will we be seeing a plentiful harvest of change and integration, or famine among students hungry for civility and understanding? It is time to decide. Penn State will create its own answer by choosing whether to work towards meeting the proposed demands:

-An apology.
-Reevaluation and reconsideration of the demographics and make up of current and future faculty and staff members.
-Decolonization of Penn State's Eurocentric curriculum.
-The creation of diversity and inclusion committees that involves both students and faculty/staff.
-Change in policies regarding zero-tolerance punishment.
-Investment in bringing in speakers and scholars to educate students and faculty/staff on topics of white supremacy, social justice, and racial disparities.

WE ARE tired of the broken promises and partial support for your BIPOC and students of color and so passionately want to change the way of life at Penn State. This is an institution that is supposed to be for all people, and we plan to continue to call out and hold Penn State accountable until we see the change and progress that is needed to foster a safe environment for students of all backgrounds, cultures, races, sexual orientations, genders, and ethnicities.