New report details discrimination, harassment concerns on Pennsylvania state universities

Black and brown students at universities in Pennsylvania’s state system are subjected to racial slurs and stereotypes, fail to receive the same educational opportunities as their white peers, and sometimes never get taught by a professor of color.

That’s according to a new report compiled by state Sen. Art Haywood, a Democrat representing parts of Philadelphia and Montgomery Counties, and the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission. The report follows on-campus interviews with students and alumni over a 20-month listening tour concluded in November.

“Black and brown students in the state system are alienated from the campus community in ways that are damaging to the students personally, to the Black and brown school community, and to the schools collectively,” the report said. “Pennsylvania must move beyond its racist past — there is no other option.”

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The findings are in contrast to the results of a climate survey conducted by the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education and released in October 2022 that said the majority of students of color who responded reported they are treated with respect on campus and do not face discrimination or bias.

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Findings of the new report were discussed at a news conference held at West Chester University on Tuesday and included comments by Haywood; Chad Dion Lassiter, executive director of the human relations commission; and Daniel Greenstein, state system chancellor.

“Thank you for the courage, shining a spotlight into the dark recesses where hate tends to thrive, and taking tangible actions to attack it,” said Greenstein, addressing Haywood’s efforts.

“The hate and the prejudice that these students speak to harm each and every one of us, every student, every employee, every alum,” Greenstein continued. “Let’s be clear — there is no place for hate on any college or university campus, in PASSHE, in Pennsylvania, and in the U.S., and we will continue to do everything we can to make sure our students feel welcome and have every opportunity to succeed.”

In a state where about 14% of 18- to 24-year-olds were Black in 2022, 9.8% of the system’s students, or 9,253, were Black. An additional 5,872 students, or 6.2%, were Hispanic. The Hispanic share of 18- to 24-year-olds statewide was nearly 11% that year. Overall, nearly 20% of students in the system identified as underrepresented minorities in fall 2022, according to the system’s diversity dashboard, while 11% of faculty and staff were in that category.

The most recent report detailed more than 170 concerns expressed by more than 100 students and alumni on the 14 campuses (six of the universities have since merged into two schools), enrolling 82,688 students. Haywood said college administrators chose some of the students to share their stories, while others volunteered on their own. But the report doesn’t disclose names or, in most cases, the specific campus in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education where the incident or concern was reported.

But the report did note that many comments “were nearly identical across campuses” and singled out three in Western Pennsylvania and one in north-central Pennsylvania as most problematic. They include the three campuses making up Pennsylvania Western University — Edinboro, Clarion and California — and Mansfield University, which is now a part of the newly merged Commonwealth University.

The campuses “were found to have the most egregious accounts of racism and should be considered hostile environments for Black and brown students,” the report said.

Some of the complaints were specific, while others were general.

“There was an incident where white students stole the belongings of a Black student and recorded a video pretending to lynch their teddy bear,” the report said. “This harassment caused the Black student to transfer out of the school, and there were few repercussions for the white students.”

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Others reported a Confederate flag being placed on a student’s dorm door, and a student chat group named after a Ku Klux Klan song. During one visit, 10 of 26 students raised their hand when asked if anyone in the room had been called the N-word by other students on campus or in the community off campus, the report said.

Addressing a question about the discrepancy between the “Enough” report findings and the 2022 PASSHE climate survey, Haywood responded that any incident of racial harassment was cause for concern.

“We don’t have to be called the N-word five times before it’s unacceptable,” Haywood said. The PASSHE “study was more statistical. I think the key difference between the two is that a survey, you fill in the boxes. Ours was students telling their stories live.”

Some allegations targeted behavior by professors. One cited the case of a social work professor who used the N-word in class, and another said professors told students they wouldn’t graduate and that “people of their skin color fail in certain majors.” Another said a professor during a lesson on slavery turned to two Black students in class and began asking them questions, “as if they had experienced it.”

The project, called “Enough: Listening Tour to End Racism on PASSHE Campuses,” follows a 2020 investigation by Spotlight Pa that found although the system heavily recruited students of color, it did little to support those students once they were on campus. While the system’s percentage of students of color had nearly doubled since 2008, their graduation rate was nearly 20 percentage points lower than that of white students, the investigation found.

In the aftermath of that article, students and alumni, along with Haywood, identified six areas that the system needed to address: ending racial harassment and speech, nurturing students of color, organizing an incident reporting system, mandating diversity training, improving mental health resources, and hiring faculty and staff of color.

The state system hired a chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer; mandated diversity training for faculty, staff and students; conducted a climate survey; and posted a public dashboard with diversity statistics for each campus, among other steps.

While progress has been made, it’s not enough, the report said.

Haywood, speaking during Tuesday’s news conference, began his remarks by holding up a stuffed teddy bear that belonged to a student of color interviewed during his tour. A rope was placed around its neck, put there by that student’s white roommate. According to Haywood, the student of color eventually withdrew.

In another story shared by Haywood, he described a student whose professor made an inappropriate connection between his skin color and the color of a black Lego brick.

“We have unfortunately heard dozens of these same stories,” Haywood said. “These students are being denied an education,” he added.

Haywood urged PASSHE college presidents to “get on the same page” about racial bias on their campuses, suggesting that each institution adopt a code of conduct on racial harassment, develop a reporting system that would allow students quick responses from campus leaders, and continue to develop retention programs to increase graduation rates for students of color. Haywood singled out Bloomsburg University’s program, which he said identified students requiring social and academic support early in their education.

“Each campus is doing something to respond to the incidents,” Haywood said. “Still, it’s not enough.”