Penn State president offers apology, defends canceling the Center for Racial Justice
Penn State’s top executive defended Friday her decision to nix plans for the university’s Center for Racial Justice, but apologized to those hurt by the choice.
President Neeli Bendapudi’s defense during Friday’s board of trustees meeting marked her first public comments since hundreds of faculty voiced unease in a letter sent Tuesday about her leadership and commitments.
“I have had to make — and I’m sure I will continue to make — tough decisions, difficult decisions that I truly believe are the right ones for this university. I do not apologize for that,” Bendapudi said. “But I do sincerely apologize — I really do, from my heart — because ... I do know that for many, many parts of our community the decisions came across as a lack of commitment to racial justice and equity work writ large. That hurts me because I know that is not true for me; but that’s not important. I also know that, that is not the stance of this board.”
Bendapudi segued toward specific diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging initiatives that will be part of her annual evaluations.
They include increasing graduation rates for students across different identity groups, increasing diversity among faculty at all ranks and equitable professional development opportunities for all staff.
“We are proud of the actions we take, but to me, getting a check mark or getting a pat on the back for what we are doing [with] the inputs is not enough if the outputs are not there,” Bendapudi said.
The center was one of Penn State’s top commitments in response to summer 2020 protests against racial injustice. It was billed by the university as “just the beginning” of its anti-racism efforts.
A search committee for the first director had already been formed, before Bendapudi said in a news release that center funds would be more impactful by reinvesting, or “enhancing,” support elsewhere.
The letter that a number of faculty senators signed also pointed to Black faculty leaving the university at four times the rate of any other group. It also expressed disappointment that university leaders laid partial blame on student protesters for increasing “visibility” of an event featuring the founder of the Proud Boys.
Bendapudi is scheduled to answer questions about the cancellation of the center and the university’s response to the Proud Boys event during a town hall with the faculty senate Nov. 18.
“I do know that trust is something that you only build over time and you only build through concrete actions. Talk is cheap. I’ve said that everywhere I’ve been,” Bendapudi said. “People really look to your actions, so I definitely look forward to building that trust because this work is important to me and is what truly guides me and is my passion for being part of a land-grant university.”