In wake of the tragic murder of George Floyd in 2020, former Penn State president, Eric Barron, like other major universities made commitments to take action in battling racism on campus. In 2021, Penn State announced the formation of a new Center for Racial Justice that would bring together Penn State students and faculty across the Commonwealth and interdisciplinary institutes in order “to foster research addressing critical human and social problems.” Students and faculty applauded Barrons initiative and plan to solidify the center following decades of systemic racism seen on campus that was continuously swept under the rug. Plans were well in effect throughout the year as a nationwide search for a director for the Center continued.
Following the appointment of new president, Dr. Neeli Bendapudi, Penn States’ first woman and woman of color president, students hoped that Bendapudi would continue commitments made addressing the concerns of students and faculty regarding racial justice.
On Oct. 28, 2022, it was announced that Penn state was canceling its plans to launch the Center for Racial Justice citing “budget concerns”. The timely cancelation of the center sparked suspicion in connection to the heinous, Proud Boys event that was scheduled and later abruptly canceled due to escalating violence two days prior.
Students and faculty quickly called out Penn State officials for canceling the center and banded together to call for the re-implementation of the Center and its initiatives. University leadership, in the coming days, went back on their original statement citing “budget concerns”, saying that they instead felt that a Center would not effectively address racial injustice and that they were using the money initially intended for the center and funnel it into already implemented initiatives and scholarships dedicated to diversity and inclusion. In a letter signed by over 400 professors and lecturers, faculty called into question Bendapudi’s commitments to racial justice and the decision to cancel the project.
“While any plan that leads to systemic antiracism reform is welcome, these messages appear inconsistent and raise further concerns,” the faculty wrote. “Either the university did not have the resources for the center, or they had the money all along and were going to invest it elsewhere.”
Rightfully so, students and faculty called out university leadership for performative action in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, with no actual intentions to effectively implement initial plans.
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In a joint letter from the Black Caucus, Latino Caucus and APIDA Caucus, all student organizations that work tirelessly to support racial justice and equity on campus, urging the administration to reconsider their decision. Citing the significant impact that the implementation of the Center would have on the well-being and safety of students of color.
Since the cancelation of the Center, students and faculty alike have been working tirelessly to re-implement the initiative and denounce the decisions of the university administration. Their efforts have not gone unseen as the story began to take traction nationwide and caught the eye of reporters at The Washington Post. The piece, titled “How Penn State abandoned a big pledge on racial justice,” addressed the controversy and cited Penn State senior, Jada Okundaye, who represented the student’s voice. VALLEY had the chance to sit down with Okundaye and Maggie Bond.
Jada Okundaye, a fourth-year majoring in Social Health Policy Analysis with a minor in Social Justice in Education, is the current president of the Students Restorative Justice Initiative. Alongside SRJI vice president, Maggie Bond, a fourth-year majoring in Sociology and minors in French, Social Justice in Education and Education Policy Studies. Okundaye and Bond, shared their insight on the controversy surrounding the cancellation and their efforts alongside other student organizations to address the concerns of students of color on campus.
“We were not consulted, this university is not listening to our concerns they don’t care about us. The vast majority of students were not consulted in [the cancellation]. There were a lot of concerns about what that means for the existing spaces that exist for students, specifically marginalized students to feel a sense of belonging at Penn State,” Bond shared, “there is already a sense from the university that it’s ok for there to be things like the Proud Boys event happening. That it ok for there not to be adequate mental health services for students of color and concerns around the lack of responsiveness and the disconnect from students that are the university, like ‘we are’ Penn State, and it feels like the administration isn’t listening to those concerns.”
Okundaye and Bond shared the conversations and outrage students shared within SRJI meetings and their specific concerns now that the initiative has been slashed. “This is a great example of harm occurring in the community where the administration by canceling the Center for Racial Justice is causing harm to the student body, facility members, staff members to everyone that is a part of this community that is depending on this commitment to racial justice at Penn State,” Bond continued.
Okundaye went further calling out the university for using students of color to promote the false idea that Penn State is “inclusive and diverse” by plastering the faces of students of color around campus and for advertising purposes. Okundaye explained that time and time again students of color have been made to feel like tokens for the purpose of creating an illusion of an inclusive community when those are the same students that have been betrayed by the school that is meant to protect them.
“We as students must advocate for the change that we want,” Okundaye said, “it’s like every day we are fighting for our humanity on campus.”
Structural changes must be made in wake of the abandonment of the broken promises made by the university. Students, faculty and administration enter into a social contract when they commit their pursuit of higher education and time to represent the students that make up the university itself and vow to protect the interests and well-being of its students.
More insight on Okundaye and Bond’s commitments regarding the cancellation of the Center for Racial Justice can be found here.
The open student letter by Students United for Racial Justice at Penn State can be found here.
