Penn State's Cuts 'Undermine' Racial Justice, Lawmakers Say

STATE COLLEGE, PA — Penn State University is facing ire from racial justice advocates, lawmakers, and its own university community after choosing to slash its Center for Racial Justice amid rumors of budgetary cuts.

A rebuke from the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus Tuesday cited the university's broken promise to create the center following the social upheaval of 2020 and protests for racial equity on campus. It also pointed to a recently scheduled on-campus speaking engagement by the founder of the violent white nationalist Proud Boys movement. That event was only canceled at the last minute due to security concerns.

“The university’s recent actions appear to undermine, dilute, and divert from the racial and social justice initiatives championed by professors, administrators and students on campus in recent years," the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus said in a statement Tuesday, released by State Rep. Donna Bullock (D-Philadelphia).

Penn State announced the move in late October, saying that it would instead seek to "identify" existing diversity initiatives and fund them. They did not publicly say budgetary concerns led to the decision to renege on their commitment, but reports from Spotlight PA and the Post Gazette indicate money was the chief delay in finding a leader for the Center and moving forward with the project.

RELATED: Penn State Trustees Spent $318K For Meetings In Past Year

The reports also cite an unnamed Penn State dean who called the proposed Center “mainly performative."

"We have seen the press release and President (Neeli) Bendapudi is eager to speak directly with the caucus and will be reaching out shortly," a spokesperson for the university told Patch Tuesday. The spokesperson said that Bendapudi agrees with the Caucus' statement that “more can be done" for real inclusion and diversity at the school and that "the financial investment in (diversity) efforts will not falter."

Bendapudi will speak on the issue at a town hall meeting led by faculty senate on Friday, the spokesperson told Patch.

In a prepared statement in late October, Bendapudi said she had "determined that enhancing support for current efforts by people who know Penn State best will be more impactful than investing in a new venture."

A group of more than 400 Penn State professors and lecturers signed a letter in protest and questioning the school's leadership. They said that the recent broken promise is the latest in a string of similar letdowns on social justice and other issues from university adminstrators.

"The brash disregard for BIPOC voices and anti-racist protestors 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," the open letter reads.

The state's Legislative Black Caucus said that a higher standard must be expected from what is considered the state's flagship university. "We strongly urge university officials to work with the (faculty)," lawmakers said in their Tuesday statement.

They also called the timing of the canceled Proud Boys event "troubling."

The school previously came under fire in Nov. 2021 when it hosted alt-right figure Milo Yiannopoulos to deliver a speech titled "Pray the Gay Away." It's also drawn criticism recently for the handling of its budget while hiking tuition for both in and out of state students. The University Board of Trustees spent around $318,000 on expenses like food and lodging during meetings for its 38 board members over the past year, according to a media report and official documents. Board spending has exceeded $300,000 in each of the last four years, save for the 2020-2021 year including the bulk of the pandemic, which is actually a decrease over the $400,000-plus spent in 2014 through 2016.